Pan-European firm Claret Capital Partners has just launched a new €72 million Opportunity Fund, earmarked to provide follow-on funding for its high-performing portfolio. The London-based company has backed a number of European success stories and this provides a welcome boost.
With an aim to support the continued growth of its portfolio, Claret Capital Partners has unveiled its first Opportunity Fund: Claret European Growth Opportunities Annex Fund I. It’s a key part of the firm’s strategy to back its portfolio in the long term, encouraging sustainable and profitable growth.
Today’s economic climate is a tough nut to crack for startups and growing businesses. While funds have still been launched, they’ve tended to centre around smaller tickets for earlier stages. This fund, by contrast, will provide follow-on funding, helping startups that are performing strongly to continue growing and give them the support they need to exploit opportunities across markets.
The fund has been launched with a total of €72 million. It follows the launch of Claret’s €297 million European Growth Capital Fund III (‘Fund III’) in August last year. The opportunity Fund includes commitments from a range of leading institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
It’ll be used to back successful businesses in existing funds, allowing the firm to focus additional capital on strongly performing portfolio companies that require further funding or support.
Johan Kampe, Senior Managing Partner at Claret Capital Partners: “In the last few weeks we’ve witnessed a shakeup in the venture debt market, and are seeing more companies looking to move credit facilities and lending opportunities. The Opportunity Annex Fund demonstrates our continued commitment to supporting the growth and development of strongly performing portfolio companies. We are excited about the opportunities that this fund will provide for our portfolio companies, and we look forward to working with them to help them achieve their full potential. As well as providing funding, we’re proud of the network we’ve built at Claret and look forward to continuing to work with startups and growing their businesses alongside them as partners.”
Since 2013, Claret Capital has been providing advice and growth capital to innovative growth-stage businesses. So far, it has backed over 150 European SMEs from a wide range of geographies across Europe. The firm typically provides loans between €1 million to €50 million.
Portfolio companies include stand-out names like Butternut Box (UK), Exoticca (Spain) , Holidu (Germany), JobValley (Germany), Market Logic Software (Germany), Paysend (UK), Wefox (Germany and Switzerland) and Zai (Ireland).
David Nolan and Kevin Glynn, co-founders of Butternut, an Opportunity Fund investment: “Butternut is driven by our founding purpose of delivering health and happiness to dogs and their humans all over the world. With the help of Claret Capital we have been able to make a long-term investment into this exact purpose. Our facility has enabled us to expand our operational footprint in order to expand our fanatical base of Butternut customers across the UK and Europe. Claret Capital are an amazing partner and we are delighted they are part of the Butternut journey.”
