Invesco Closes $150M EuroMedia

After a year of soliciting commitments for its $530 million Chancellor V pool of funds, New York-based VC Invesco Private Capital announced last week that it closed the group’s third and final investment vehicle.

Dubbed the EuroMedia Venture Fund because its backers are all European media enterprises, Invesco’s newest offering was able to hit its $150 million target despite a recent flight to quality trend that has seen many limited partners pull back a bit on their VC allocations, said Alessandro Piol, a managing director with Invesco.

EuroMedia’s prestigious limited partner roster includes Fininvest SpA, Ciao Holding, 21 Investimenti, KirchGruppe, ENEL, Mediaset SpA, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA, Mediolanum, Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro SpA, and Monte Dei Paschi di Siena.

Like Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers’ 1996 Java Fund which focused primarily on companies specializing in Java-based technology EuroMedia will slant its strategy mostly toward tech companies with a media bent. More specifically, it will invest in early- and expansion-stage plays in the information technology, communications, broadband infrastructure and global commerce industries.

“[With this fund], we’re trying to bring value to our portfolio companies by opening a window of opportunity in Europe for them,” Piol said. “There is a huge unexplored opportunity there to be had in the short-term.”

Basically, Invesco intends to help the firms it invests in to forge strategic relationships with big-time European players. Interestingly enough, most of the fund’s portfolio will be represented by U.S.-based companies looking to sell their products and services in Europe.

Invesco will invest in the neighborhood of $10 million to $15 million over the life of each company. As such, it plans to seal about 30 to 40 deals over the next three years or so, Piol said.

All tolled, the entire Chancellor V family of funds has invested $41 million in 16 companies so far, he added. The $230 million fund’s, and its $150 million CitiVenture 2000 sister fund, closed in March.

Following the closing of the EuroMedia fund, Invesco now has more than $2.3 billion in assets under management.