Nauta Capital, the pan-European venture capital firm investing in capital-efficient B2B software companies, has today launched its fifth fund, Nauta Tech Invest V, with a €120M first close. With the fund’s first close reaching double its previous fund’s initial closing, Nauta Tech Invest V is expected to exceed the2016fund which was a €155M— taking the firm’s total assets under management to over half a billion.
As part of the news, it was announced that the first company to be backed from Nauta’s new fund is NumberEight which has raised a $2.3 Million Seed round led by the VC firm. The UK-based contextual intelligence platform for mobile devices predicts consumer context to enable the delivery of the right content at the right time while preserving user privacy by not sending or storing sensor data beyond their device. The startup leverages advanced context recognition and on-device AI techniques to predict over 100 contextual signals such as ‘travelling to work on a bicycle”, thus providing mobile apps with real-time behavioural and situational consumer insights.
Commenting on the news, Carles Ferrer, Nauta’s London-based General Partner, said: “We have been very disciplined in backing companies that take a leaner approach; whether that is during fundraising or how they leverage cash efficiently to achieve growth. At a time when we are navigating a global pandemic – where the global economy has taken a severe hit – it’s more apparent than ever that our conviction in capital-efficiency maximises sustainability and leads to greater long-term outcomes for entrepreneurs, regardless of their stage.”
“NumberEight’s ability to apply edge AI and mobile sensor data to truly power real-time user context is a highly compelling proposition. The company has built a best-in-class solution providing powerful consumer insights while putting privacy first. We are thrilled to join the team as they go on to scale their context-as-a service offering.”
NumberEight’s technology can power the entire mobile app ecosystem across various sectors, however, the company is currently focused on the $150B Media and Entertainment market– from music streaming and online radio to mobile gaming and advertising.
Abhishek Sen, NumberEight’s co-founder and CEO said: “We are very excited to have Nauta Capital lead our investment round and join their impressive portfolio of companies. Their ability to truly grasp the potential of contextual intelligence and its implications for the entire mobile ecosystem has been seriously impressive and we are delighted to have them join our team.”
Primarily focused on investing in capital-efficient B2B software companies from Seed and Series A, Nauta’s main areas of interests include B2B SaaS solutions with strong network effects, vertically focused enterprise tech transforming large industries as well as those leveraging deep-tech applications to solve challenges faced by large enterprises.
As a pan-European fund, Nauta operates from three European hubs; London, Barcelona and Munich, and will invest in companies mainly based in the UK, Spain, Germany as well as those based in other continental European countries with plans to significantly increase their presence in one of Nauta’s key geographical hubs.
“As we start investing from our new fund, our thesis will continue to be focused: seeing beyond the hype to truly back founders solving big problems in large, inefficient markets. From our earlier funds, we have seen that given the current circumstances, companies built more efficiently are more resilient in weathering the storms.”
The fund’s first close is joined by both existing and new investors from continental Europe, UK and the Americas including fund of funds, financial institutions, insurance companies, and large family offices that lead large corporates with strong synergies with Nauta’s portfolio. “We have doubled the first close compared to our 2016 fund in record time against a backdrop of a global pandemic. With more than 80% of the contributions received from existing LPs, we are humbled to see that our thesis has resonated with so many of our current LPs who have joined us again,” explains Carles.
An active early-stage investor for nearly two decades, Nauta Capital has invested in over 50 companies. Some of Nauta’s portfolio companies include: Brandwatch, a UK digital consumer intelligence company with $100M ARR; Onna, a knowledge integration platform that unifies workplace knowledge platforms for the likes of Facebook and Dropbox; PromoteIQ which was acquired by Microsoft in 2019; zenloop, a Berlin-based experience management platformas well asMishiPay, a mobile self-checkout technology.
“As we start investing from our new fund, our thesis will continue to be focused: seeing beyond the hype to truly back founders solving big problems in large, inefficient markets. From our earlier funds, we have seen that given the current circumstances, companies built more efficiently are more resilient in weathering the storms,” adds Carles.
Nauta completed the investment period of its 2016 fund in March 2020.
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