Largest fund yet for early-stage B2B software in Europe? Dawn IV closes at $400 million

London-based VC Dawn Capital has successfully raised Dawn IV, a $400 million fund dedicated to early-stage B2B software investments, from existing and 14 new blue-chip investors. This brings the firm’s total assets under management to over $1 billion, after closing its $125 million Opportunities Fund for later-stage startups just last year. According to a press release, Dawn IV (claimed to be the largest yet for exclusively early-stage B2B investment) was oversubscribed and closed within six months of launch, attracting new investors from the US, Europe and Asia. Though the fund is described as “early stage”, for Dawn Capital this means investing in Series A and B rounds, then continuing to fund the best-performing companies through growth rounds to successful exits. Initial cheques of $5 million to $20 million will go to four sectors in particular: data and analytics, security, fintech and the future of work. The approach has worked pretty well so far. Dawn’s previous investments include Mimecast, recently listed on the NASDAQ with a $3.1 billion market cap, and iZettle, recently acquired by PayPal for $2.2 billion, to unicorns such as data intelligence startups Collibra and Dataiku. Overall, since getting started in 2007, the firm has invested in nearly 40 companies across 14 European countries. For an in-depth profile of the VC, check out tech.eu's Reverse Pitch with Dawn Capital from this past January.

Photo: the Dawn Capital team