London-based Bloc Ventures, the VC focused on early stage European deeptech, today announces it has raised over €23.9 million in equity funding from UK industry leaders.
The latest funding round was led by IPGL Limited and supported by a number of industry leaders including Warren East, Christopher Miller, Gavyn Davies, Stuart Roden, and Stephen Catlin, who also serves as a non-executive director on the Bloc Board. As part of the round, Samantha Wren, CEO of IPGL, also joins as a non-executive director.
Bloc was founded in 2013 by CEO Bruce Beckloff, CTO David Leftley, technology industry veterans from ARM and Vodafone respectively, and Chairman Paul Roy, to fill the gap in Europe for expert led funding of early stage deep technology companies. Andrew Griffin, former managing director of European technology equity research for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, joined as CFO in early 2019.
The team has already built a portfolio of nine companies and will use the new funds for new portfolio additions and follow-on investments in line with Bloc’s strategy to create companies of global scale with enduring value in the European deeptech market. Sectors in which Bloc has invested include high performance computing, wireless communications, networking infrastructure, security, and the Internet of Things.
Commenting on this announcement, Paul Roy, Chairman of Bloc said, “We are very pleased to have reached this significant milestone and to welcome further notable new shareholders to Bloc, and Sam Wren to the Board. Sam brings considerable expertise and a full understanding of the perspectives of the professional investor to the table. Existing and new investors have supported Bloc in this funding round, and we are excited by the opportunity to accelerate the growth and success of our current portfolio and continue our disciplined approach to investing in new companies in the deep technology space.”
Bruce Beckloff, co-founder and CEO added: “Our approach is to invest in companies in the deep technology sector that provide the picks and shovels for the digital world. With Bloc’s hands on approach and complementary mix of experience and expertise, we are uniquely placed to identify and invest in the next generation of technology companies, whilst de-risking the journey for our shareholders by actively helping our companies optimise and scale. It is a significant endorsement of our strategy to have such notable industry players backing Bloc. We look forward to continuing our journey to build a global brand for investing in deep technology in Europe.”
