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Dawn Capital raises $120 million for second later-stage fund, Dawn Opportunities Fund II, bringing total raised over last 12 months to $520 million
LONDON, July 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dawn Capital, Europe’s leading specialist B2B software investor (“Dawn”), has closed Dawn Opportunities Fund II, raising $120 million to continue funding its best-performing portfolio companies through growth rounds to substantial exits. This is Dawn’s second later stage fund, which follows in the footsteps of its predecessor Dawn Opportunities I, which made its first investment, in a Series D round for Collibra, the world’s leading data intelligence platform, in January 2019 and is already fully invested. The fund has also invested in global enterprise AI platform Dataiku, digital-first media company Minute Media, sales enablement platform Showpad and contextual decision intelligence platform Quantexa. All five companies are stand-out B2B businesses founded in Europe and, through their delivery of exceptional technology and products, continue to grow strongly across the globe. The new fund will invest up to $30 million in the Series C+ growth rounds of the top-performing companies within Dawn’s underlying flagship portfolio, following the same, successful strategy as its predecessor. As a fund focused entirely on best-of-class, it will make investments into the companies that continue to prove their value and category dominance, in turn enabling Dawn’s investors to capture the inherent value in these companies to exit. Over the last 14 years, Dawn has built a strong track record of helping European founders scale B2B companies to large, successful outcomes globally. It has been a longstanding investor in three of Europe’s largest B2B exits; email security provider Mimecast, now NASDAQ-listed with a $3.5 billion market cap, mobile payment provider iZettle, which was acquired by PayPal in 2018 in a $2.2 billion transaction, and most recently Tink, Europe’s leading open banking platform, which recently signed an agreement with Visa to be acquired for $2.2 billion. Together, iZettle and Tink mark the second and third largest fintech M&A exits in Europe, with Dawn the only investor in both. B2B software is a trillion-dollar industry and Europe has become the centre of industry-defining tech, from innovative startups through to global chapions. Europe has proven in-built advantages over other markets, with a strong pool of experienced talent and an established ecosystem of investors and advisers. With this later stage capital, Dawn can provide founders with a source of European investment for their whole journey. As a specialist, hands-on investor it also ensures Dawn’s portfolio company founders benefit from the long-term support and expertise of Dawn’s team as they help guide them from Series A to successful IPOs and large M&A transactions. The fund received strong support from Dawn’s existing LP base as well as attracting new investors from the US and Europe. The investors committing to the fund comprise global blue-chip institutions investors, including endowment funds, fund of funds, asset managers and family offices, as well as an illustrious group of HNWs which include Dawn’s portfolio founders. Haakon Overli, General Partner at Dawn, said: “There has never been a better time to be a B2B founder in Europe. As a market with significant tech and operational talent, a sophisticated investor and adviser network, and a growing catalogue of success stories, the opportunity to build a new class of B2B software leaders has never been greater. We raised our first Opportunities fund and now its successor, as part of our long-standing commitment to our founders, so we can continue to meaningfully support their journeys and back them from Series A to substantial exits. We look forward to seeing where the next generation of success stories within our portfolio take us.” Florian Douetteau, Co-Founder and CEO at Dataiku, said: “Since their first investment, Dawn has been a very supportive and strategic partner. They have participated in our funding rounds through both their flagship and opportunities funds, ensuring they have remained deeply invested in our success. As a European investor, they are somewhat unique in being able to support their companies from Series A to exit. So I see the closing of their latest fund as a great opportunity for more Dawn founders to gain longstanding access to the expertise and networks they bring.” Mina Mutafchieva, Partner at Dawn, said: “The last 18 months have been pivotal for B2B software. Defined by substantial societal, economic and technological shocks, the spotlight was firmly cast on the power of software to save and define enterprise. Across the board we saw the value of our companies, as they facilitated productivity, collaboration and distributed working at scale. The fantastic support of our investors for our latest Opportunities fund shows the significant appetite they have to continue to gain greater access to these category-defining companies, whose tech is powering the software stacks of hundreds of thousands of enterprises globally.” Dawn Capital was founded in 2007 by Norman Fiore and Haakon Overli. It recently announced the promotion of Mina Mutafchieva to partner alongside Evgenia Plotnikova and Josh Bell, taking the number of partners to five. Since January, Dawn has made seven investments from its fourth flagship fund, Dawn IV. These include its latest investment in the $127 million Series B of next-generation cloud data warehouse, Firebolt. The firm also recently realised its investment in Europe’s leading open banking platform Tink, through its agreement to be acquired by Visa for $2.2 billion. Most recently, it co-led the $70 million Series B fundraise for real time data company, Ably. Through the clear and consistent application of its investment strategy, Dawn has consistently delivered superior returns for investors and it ranks in the top 10% of VC firms for performance globally. Media enquiries
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