Dawn Capital, a European B2B software investor, has just closed $700 million in a new fund. It will be used to invest in the next generation global software leaders. Investors in the fund include leading sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, endowments, funds of funds, family offices and high net-worth individuals, as well as Dawn’s portfolio founders.
The fundraise includes the $620 million flagship fund Dawn V, the largest dedicated early-stage B2B software fund ever raised in Europe. Dawn V will back European software innovators at Series A and B stage with initial investments of $10 million to $40 million, and provide capital for follow-on rounds.
The new capital also comprises an $80 million follow-on fund, Dawn Opportunities III, a later-stage fund raised to strengthen Dawn’s ability to invest in its sector winners from Series C stage onwards.
In addition to the fund, Dawn Capital announced the promotion of Hannah Gubbins, Head of Investor Relations and Marketing, to Partner on the back of this notable fundraise and her overall contributions to Dawn.
Hannah Gubbins, Partner at Dawn Capital, said: “I’m honoured to have joined Dawn’s Partnership, and it is incredibly rewarding to be part of a firm that continually champions and recognises team members’ contributions and achievements. Our promise to European entrepreneurs is that we will support them to scale their products, teams and capabilities and expand into new global markets. We are also transforming Dawn into a data-led business to harness the power of technology to make us a better investor. Today, we are entering a new cycle of ambitious investment at Dawn, and I am excited to continue building our legacy.”
Eyes to back European B2B software companies
Using Dawn V and Dawn Opportunities III, the investor will double down on its established strategy of backing world-class founders building category-defining software across the technology stack, from infrastructure to end-user applications. Together, the funds will enable the firm to continue to back European B2B software companies from Series A all the way to exit.
The B2B software market is worth over $1 trillion annually and the ecosystem in Europe has never been deeper and richer. Innovation continues apace as every business is becoming a software business. Europe offers significant structural advantages to businesses in this sector over time.
With access to deep pools of competitively-priced talent, European companies lay strong foundations early in the journey for international expansion. Also, the regulatory leadership creates natural advantages for companies to scale platforms that exploit emerging technologies such as AI.
Dawn’s new funds will continue to invest in the best-of-the-best European founders standing at the forefront of these technology innovations that are driving monumental platform shifts.
The firm has already made three exciting investments from Dawn V. Dawn has backed the exceptional founding teams at tax compliance platform, Fonoa, embedded insurance platform, Cover Genius, and application modernisation platform, FlowX.AI. These startups exemplify Dawn wants to support companies delivering strong traction with market-leading products and the ability to capture multi-$bn global market opportunities.
Haakon Overli, General Partner at Dawn Capital, said: “Our new funds will enable us to remain laser focused on opportunities, with the capital to meaningfully support founders from Series A to exit. We can’t wait to see where our future entrepreneurs take us with our new funds and greatly appreciate the support of all our investors, team and founders.”
Norman Fiore, General Partner at Dawn Capital, said: “We are at the very beginning of another major technology shift. As our entrepreneurs like to remind us, AI has been around for a long time. The change today is that AI has pushed its way from the engineering teams into the boardroom. Its coming prevalence makes it both an investment area in itself as well as a disruptor to every software category we’ve been investing in since we founded Dawn. We were therefore determined to raise funds of commensurate scale to the enormous opportunity before us.”
Notable previous investments
Dawn is led by General Partners Josh Bell, Norman Fiore, Haakon Overli and Evgenia Plotnikova and was launched in 2007. It has raised over $2 billion from leading global investors to invest in best-of-breed European B2B software. The firm has invested in more than 80 category-leading companies founded across 16 European countries, including Mimecast, iZettle, Tink, LeanIX and current established unicorns Collibra, Dataiku and Quantexa.
In addition to capital, founders also benefit from invaluable mentorship, depth of experience, strategic guidance and a unique founder community. The team offers wide-ranging expertise, connection to an extensive network of industry leaders and a hands-on approach to helping companies successfully scale across Europe, the US and globally.
Vishal Marria, CEO and Founder at Quantexa, said: “Dawn is an invaluable partner to have on side. The firm has brought huge value and insights to our business, and the team is deeply invested in our success at all levels. Dawn has invested in Quantexa through both its flagship and opportunities funds, participating in every follow-on round and helping us scale to reach our goals.”
