Keen Venture Partners Holds First Close of Maiden VC Fund, at €90M

keenKeen Venture Partners LLP, a venture capital firm operating from London and Amsterdam, announced a €90m first close of its inaugural fund.

Key investors in Keen Venture Partners Fund, L.P., include the European Investment Fund (which benefits from EU support under the COSME program funded by the European Commission), Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), ING Netherlands, and KPN Ventures in addition to several private investors and entrepreneurs.

Set up by Ben Verwaayen, former CEO of both BT and Alcatel-Lucent, Alexander Ribbink, former COO of TomTom and Robert Verwaayen, former principal at Prime Ventures, the fund will seek to provide early growth capital for technology companies across Europe with a particular focus on innovation hubs in the UK, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. In addition, it will consider North American-based technology companies looking to expand into Europe.
The fund will invest €5m to €10m per company.

The firm, which is targeting a final close in 2017, has also appointed a number of “network partners”, technology professionals focused on providing investment advice and support portfolio companies. These network partners include Marcus Weldon, CTO of Nokia and President of Bell Labs, Clare Johnston, Founder and CEO of The Up Group, among others.

FinSMEs

04/11/2016

 

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