Pentech Brings in $35.3M for Fund I

Pentech Ventures, the Glasgow-based early stage fund focused on software investments in the U.K., has closed its first fund, Pentech Fund, above target at $35.3 million. The close came following a final commitment from the European Investment Fund (EIF) of over $7.85 million. The fund was launched in July 2001 with an original target of between $23.5 million and $31.4 million.

“I’m delighted that EIF has invested in Pentech. The fund raising climate is extremely difficult, and so to exceed our fund raising target, with an investor of this quality, demonstrates that we have a strong business model, and the team in place to carry it forward,” says Pentech Founder Eddie Anderson.

The new fund will invest between $400,000 and $1.5 million in early stage technology companies that have intellectual property with software content. It will specifically focus on voice, infrastructure, telecom, publishing and software solutions and financial analysis tools.

To date, Pentech has completed four investments totalling $7 million. The investments are in Applied Generics, an Edinburgh-based mobile location company; Rhetorical Systems, a spin-out from the Edinburgh University that develops text-to-speech software; Automsoft, a Dublin-based provider of advanced database solutions to process industries; and Aircraft Management Technologies, an aviation industry software provider, also based in Dublin.

“Our deal flow is exceptionally strong and the outlook for the fund is very encouraging,” says Anderson.

To insure good investment practices, Pentech uses an advisory group of five technology entrepreneurs based both in the U.K. and the U.S., who have had the experience of building a startup and taking it to the public market or to trade sale.