London-based Claret Capital raises €297m fund for tech startups

The firm closed over its original target of €250m. The final close of Fund III includes commitments from a range of institutional investors, including five new backers: Allied Irish Banks, Aozora Bank, Banca March, HNA and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). Repeat investors include EIF, British Business Investments, RAG-Stiftung, Certior Capital and KfW Capital. Entrepreneurs and industry experts also committed to the fund.

In addition to the final close of Fund III, a number of co-investment agreements have been finalised, allowing the firm to offer loan facilities of up to €50m.

With roots going back to 2013, Claret was formed through the MBO of Harbert European Growth Capital in 2020. It funds high growth business with proven management teams in need of less dilutive capital to drive their growth. Loans vary in size but are typically between €1-50 million.

Since the first investment from Fund III in March 2021, Claret has added 29 businesses to the Fund III portfolio. Fund III will continue to invest in innovative growth-stage technology and life science businesses throughout Europe – primarily to support organic growth and M&A. Taken together, the final close of Fund III and the co-invest vehicles will enable Claret to support businesses with over €500m of capital in the next three years, the firm said in a statement. This should translate to support for an additional 50-60 new companies, it added.

Over the past nine years, Claret has backed more than 150 companies and deployed more than half a billion euros. Recent exits include Packlink (acquired by Auctane), Aava (acquired by Pepperl & Fuchs), Bright Computing (acquired by NVIDIA), Miss Group (bought out by Perwyn & management), SuperAwesome (acquired by EPIC Group), Synthesio (acquired by IPSOS), AdaptiveMobile (acquired by Enea), Longboat Clinical (acquired by Advarra) and Decibel (acquired by Medallia).