- Claret Capital Partners has just completed its fourth growth debt fund, raising €575 million, becoming the largest independent manager of growth debt funds in Europe.
- It provides continuous financing to rapidly growing businesses, enabling initial investments of €3.2 million to grow to over €50 million over time.
- More than 90% of the new fund’s capital is provided by organisations such as the European Investment Fund, the British Business Bank, Germany’s KfW and Ireland’s ISIF.
Claret Capital Partners, a London-based specialised venture debt and growth credit fund manager, has closed its fourth flagship fund, Claret European Growth Capital Fund IV, at €575 million, exceeding its target of €500 million. It comprises €440 million from direct commitments and €135 million from affiliated discretionary mandates.
David Bateman, managing partner at Claret Capital Partners, tells Tech Funding News that Claret is Europe’s largest independent, team-owned growth debt manager when judged by total capital raised, assets under management, and the number of companies in its portfolio.
According to Bateman, over 90% of Fund IV’s capital comes from institutional investors, including European and North American pension funds, two European banks, and sovereign-linked lenders such as the European Investment Fund, British Business Bank, Germany’s KfW, and Ireland’s ISIF.
An additional €70 million was raised through Banca March, a Spanish private bank, via an ELTIF structure for high-net-worth individuals. Family offices and direct investments by entrepreneurs account for the remaining 10%.
Johan Kampe, also managing partner at Claret, added: “As equity markets remain more selective and founders look for ways to grow without unnecessary dilution, we expect demand for flexible, non-dilutive capital to keep accelerating, and Fund IV positions us to meet that demand at scale.”
The relending model explained
Claret’s position is more dependent on continuous support than on the size of the fund.
For instance, Open Cosmos, a satellite launch company based in the UK and Spain, was given an initial loan of €3.2 million and has since obtained over €50 million when its revenue rose from €2 million to more than €50 million per year.
In a similar situation, HOLIDU, a holiday rental platform based in Munich, started with a loan of between €4 million and €5 million and has since borrowed more than €100 million.
“As well as lending them almost twice the amount, we do so because even while these companies are repaying us, we lend them more money as they grow,” Bateman says.
He adds that Claret generally begins by providing companies with loans ranging from €2 million to €5 million and then increases the amount as the companies expand, thereby avoiding the need for a new funding round each time.
Investment strategy and outlook
Claret invests in technology, life sciences, and impact companies, with a range that includes Butternut Box, a UK dog food subscription service, and Cinclus Pharma, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company.
The next phase will focus more on deeptech, semiconductors, and dual-use technology closely tied to defence applications, following where venture capital is going.
“If today the venture capital community is putting a lot of money into AI, we will probably do more AI in the future years, because a lot of our business is referral-based,” Bateman notes.
Speaking about the investment approach, Bateman lists three things: proof that the business is already operating and receiving real market feedback, a founding team that has demonstrated it can deliver, and a cap table set up for long-term growth rather than an early exit.
Since Claret lends money rather than taking equity, Bateman clarifies the firm does not pressure companies to exit at a specific time: “We don’t have a sort of institutional agenda to say you have to sell here… we are quite neutral as to when they exit.”
Claret now has 31 employees and plans to add one more by October. The firm will open a Paris office in late 2025 and expects to hire in Berlin before the end of 2026. The team has managed over €1.3 billion in investments since 2013 across more than 210 companies.
