Funds News in Brief 1

Earlybird catches €65m worm

German VC Earlybird has raised €65m at the first closing of it latest fund, Earlybird IV. The fund will invest in first and second funding rounds of European technology companies, specifically targeting those that operate in embedded software, communication technology components, internet services, cleantech and medtech.

Mithras secures cornerstone

New London-headquartered private equity fund-of-funds manager Mithras Capital has landed £120m for its maiden fund from Mithras Investment Trust and Legal & General Assurance Society. The firm is aiming to raise £250m with a final closing planned for late this year. It is on the verge of making its first investment and has two further investments in the pipeline, although it will not be investing in any more than 10 funds.

PIP looks for £100m

Pantheon International Participations (PIP), the listed private equity investment trust, is to raise up to £100m through a placing and ordinary share offer. PIP wants to increase its purchasing capacity for its secondary programme with this new money, adding to the £281m it has already committed in the nine months to March 31, 2007, to both primary and secondary investments, including venture funds through to large buyout funds.

Venture debt firm raises €200m

European Venture Partners (EVP), the UK venture debt firm, has raised €200m for its third fund and renamed itself Kreos. The fund, Kroes III, has equity capital of €200m that can be recycled multiple times and offers individual financings of up to €16m both through venture loans (secured loans) and venture leases (lease structures) to venture capital backed start-up companies across Europe and Israel. Kreos’ funds now include investments from a dozen global institutional investors such as Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and the European Investment Fund.