E.ventures launches $150 million fund for early-stage European startups

E.ventures, a global investment firm with offices across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, has announced a new $150 million fund targeting early-stage European startups.

Founded in 1998 as BV Capital, the organization unified its various international funds under one umbrella back in 2012, when it rebranded as E.ventures. Today, the firm says it manages more than $1 billion and has some notable names in its portfolio, including App Annie, Sonos, Groupon, Azimo, and Delicious.

In addition to the new $150 million fund, E.ventures will draw on a $290 million pot to begin making growth investments across Europe, with the plan to “accompany entrepreneurs through the full investment life cycle,” it said.

“This fund will allow us to utilize our methods to support a greater number of the next generation of high-growth firms across Europe,” said Christian Leybold, cofounder and general partner at E.ventures. “Our willingness to explore every corner of the continent and provide operational support to the businesses we invest in increases the potential of our funds.”

E.ventures also announced that it’s adding a new partner — Bernardo Hernández, who founded real estate listing platform Idealista.com and has also served as senior director of product at Google and general manager at Flickr. Hernández isn’t new to the investment realm either, having previously started StepOne Ventures in San Francisco back in 2008, a firm geared toward helping European startups hit the U.S. running.

E.ventures’ latest fund is just one of many to arrive on the scene in recent times. Notion Capital introduced a $120 million fund for cloud startups last year, while Lakestar launched a $400 million fund for both European and U.S. startups.

More recently, Index Ventures closed a fresh $550 million fund for seed and venture investments in Europe, the U.S., and Israel; Accel unfurled $500 million for Europe and Israel; a Chinese investment vehicle announced $715 million to help European startups target China; and just this week, Runa Capital raised a $135 million fund for later-stage U.S. and European startups.