White Star Capital, the 'transatlantic' VC firm co-founded by former Google and Facebook executive Christian Hernandez Gallardo, has announced the final close of its first institutional fund.
The investment firm was established in 2013, but only recently fully closed its first fund, coming in at $70 million. White Start has already deployed $25 million of its available capital to invest, backing the likes of KeyMe (New York), IoT analytics firm mnubo (Montreal) and exchange Cryex (Stockholm).
As you can tell, White Star's focus isn't entirely on Europe. The firm has offices in London and New York, but also strong ties with Canada (more on that below) and a presence in Montreal.
The firm says it will invest between $500,000 and $5 million in initial investments into companies in North America and Western Europe, and its founders have brought previous angel investments (which include betaworks, Summly and MUBI) under the White Star roof.
There's no particular focus on verticals, but White Star is usually charmed by companies that have inherently data-driven businesses, Hernandez told me in a phone interview earlier this week.
He also said there remains room for another Series A-focused fund (and then some) in the markets it generally looks at, and that White Star will happily work with local investors and or establish syndication deals with other similarly-sized funds for opportunities in these aforementioned markets and beyond.
The $70 million fund was raised from sovereign and institutional funds such as Isomer Capital but also entrepreneur friends from White Star's founders, as well as family offices from over 18 countries. One of the anchor investors is, notably, a subsidiary of the Business Development Bank of Canada.
In other news, Jean-François Marcoux, the co-founder of gaming company Ludia, joined Hernandez and the other co-founder, Eric Martineau-Fortin, as general partner of the VC firm.
The FT broke the news this morning (or the embargo, not sure).
**Also read:**
EU Commission: We’ve funded over €1 billion in equity financing for European startups
Swiss-German VC firm b-to-v Partners joins the fundraising craze with a €100 million+ third fund
German late-stage technology investment firm Acton closes fresh $200 million fund
Highland Europe raises €332 million fund to back growth-stage startups
Nauta Capital announces first close of 2015 fund at $70 million
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