Denmark’s Heartcore Capital has announced a fresh lining of the coffers at $250 million to support European consumer-focused technology companies. $200 million is specifically allotted to pre-seed, seed, and Series A investments, with $50 million set aside for follow on rounds.
With a large number of European VC firms focusing squarely on B2B and/or software companies, Heartcore travels in a different direction, differentiating itself as Europe’s only VC firm specialising in consumer technology.
Looking at the 500 million European consumers spending $11 trillion annually, Heartcore sees the market as on par with the US, and, in so much, a unique investment opportunity. The firm notes that B2B winners are almost always global players (and often originate in the US), whereas B2C winners often tend to be much more domestic, regional champions.
One glaring case in point would be the pandemic, and how a series of lockdowns forced an entirely new segment to experience/experiment with consumer technologies. Heartcore is estimating that in many categories, 7-8 years of adoption have been compressed into 1; another factor propelling its thesis.
Further proof of this is evidenced in the firms’ investments to date. Last year, portfolio companies raised close to $1 billion in follow-on rounds, with 3 new unicorns minted, and lest we forget about portfolio star Tink and its $2.2 billion acquisition by Visa.
Heartcore’s new $250 million in investable capital was raised via a number of institutional investors including Industriens Pension as well as 25 portfolio alumni and current founders including Hermann Haraldsson (Boozt), Andrew Stalbow (Seriously), Phillip Chambers and Kasper Hulthin (Peakon), Paul Crusius and Marco Vietor (Audibene), Morten Strunge (Podimo, Mofibo), and Max-Josef Meier (Finn).
“We have backed Heartcore Capital across four fund generations since inception in 2007. The investments in all the funds have contributed with attractive and very satisfactory returns to our members and it has been exciting to follow their journey from their origin as one of the firms pioneering venture capital in Denmark to the dominant consumer technology VC firm in Europe,” commented Industriens Pension’s Frederik Fischer Hjerl.
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