Swedish private equity firm EQT, has recently raised a new €2.4bn fund, the largest first-time growth fund based in Europe.
This round underlines the strong investor demand for EQT Growth’s where they plan to back 20 to 25 European and Israeli scaleups with cheques of €50m to 200m and, reportedly, plans to hold stakes of between 5 and 40% in these businesses.
They plan to back strong management teams of companies supported by secular macro trends primarily within four tech sub-sectors, including enterprise, con/prosumer, health, and climate.
The fund has over two-thirds of capital available and has made seven investments to date, including some of Europe’s most innovative companies in its portfolio, such as Epidemic Sound, Mambu and Vinted.
Marc Brown, Partner and Head of EQT Growth’s Advisory Team, said: “The speed at which the European and Israeli tech ecosystem has developed over the past decade is a testament to the number of innovative, young companies that call the region home. However, a lack of growth-stage capital and European investors with scale-up expertise has meant that many of these firms have gone elsewhere when embarking on the next step of their journey. With this fund, EQT Growth has the experience, expertise and now capital to change this. We’re excited to actively partner with a select group of Europe and Israel’s tech champions to help drive them to the world stage.”
Per Franzén, Head of Private Capital and Deputy Managing Partner at EQT, said: “Closing the largest ever first-time growth equity fund raised in Europe clearly illustrates the demand for EQT’s active ownership approach and thematic investment strategies. In a strong vote of confidence for our multi-strategy approach, the fund received support from a significant portion of investors in existing EQT funds. We are honoured by their ongoing support and look forward to continuing to earn their trust.”
Proprietary AI-driven investment platform
Founded by Conni Jonsson in Sweden in 1994, EQT has €77 billion in assets under management across 36 active funds as of June this year.
EQT Growth’s value-add approach is enhanced by Motherbrain, its proprietary AI driven investment platform designed to enhance every decision in the investment process. It also benefits from EQT’s broad suite of inhouse experts, which includes dedicated digitisation, sustainability and capital markets teams.
The fund is backed by a global and diverse group of investors including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers and high-net-worth individuals from across Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East.
