DTCP (Digital Transformation Capital Partners), an early growth VC firm headquartered in Germany, has announced the first close of its Growth Equity fund at $300 million. The fund was launched in March this year and has raised capital from new and existing investors, including Deutsche Telekom (that recently backed two German tech startups including everphone, Code Intelligence, and more) and Softbank, alongside other institutional, pension fund, corporate, and family office investors.
Plans to back web3, AI, fintech startups
DTCP plans to continue to raise significant capital for the fund and aims to close fundraising in 2023. GE III will invest in cloud-based enterprise software and business Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies in the fields of cybersecurity, web3, AI, fintech, vertical SaaS solutions as well as IT applications, and cloud infrastructure software.
The fund is targeting about 25 equity investments in the range of $20 to $25 million for businesses in the early growth or growth stage as part of a Series B-D or late-stage funding round. Further, the fund focuses on category leaders in Europe, Israel, and the US.
Thomas Preuss, a Managing Partner at DTCP Growth, said: “Our GE III fund is the continuation of a proven strategy, and we would like to thank our existing and new investors for their support and trust. With one of the largest specialist teams focusing on cloud-based enterprise software in Europe, we’re excited about the continued opportunity to back outstanding entrepreneurs and category leaders in the fast-growing cloud-based enterprise software ecosystem and to create attractive co-investment opportunities for our investors.”
Jack Young, a Managing Partner at DTCP Growth, said: “The current market environment and the recent valuation reset offer unique opportunities to invest in great companies and the category leaders within the enterprise software market. We will be patient and disciplined in deploying the Fund carefully balancing risks and rewards. Using our automated proprietary benchmark system and deep industry knowledge, we can continue to identify leaders in our target markets and help them scale to reach their full potential.”
$15M investment in Cognigy.ai
Further, the fund has already closed its first deal with a $15 million investment into Cognigy.ai as part of its Series B funding round. The startup is based in Dusseldorf in Germany and is a conversational AI and automation platform that enables enterprises to communicate effectively and intelligently with customers and employees 24/7 across over 20 languages on all conversational channels including chatbots, virtual assistants or voice-bots over the phone.
Ambitious VC firm
DTCP was founded in 2015 by Thorsten Langheim and Vicente Vento in Hamburg, German. Headquartered in Germany, the VC firm has offices in Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, San Francisco, Seoul and Tel Aviv.
Focused on growth equity and digital infrastructure, the VC firm has raised more than $1 billion in funds from corporate and institutional investors and invested in over 60 companies. DTCP Growth invests in enterprise application and infrastructure software companies. DTCP Infra invests in mobile access, fiber, and data center infrastructure.
DTCP’s predecessor growth equity funds GE I and GE II have invested $410 million into 32 enterprise software companies across Europe, Israel, USA and Asia. 11 of these companies have been acquired or gone public, including Auth0, Fastly, Sagnavio, and Guardicore, realising high multiples and already having returned over 50% of the capital to its LPs. The funds maintain top quartile returns with low loss ratios.
