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UK startups to get some post-Article 50 cheer as two VCs close major new funds

A pair of London-based venture capital firms have closed sizeable new funds in what could prove to be a significant boost for some of the country’s early-stage businesses as the government’s Brexit negotiations rumble on.

Both Shoreditch’s Forward Partners and UK/Isreali VC 83North have raised funds which will be funnelled back, at least partly, into UK startups.

Firstly, Forward Partners’ new £60m fund, which the firm claim’s is the largest early seed fund in the country, will be put to use supporting the next generation of tech businesses with a particular focus on seed and idea stage companies.

Having previously invested in companies including Appear Here, Zopa and Hailo, the VC, which is headed up by Managing Partner Nic Brisbourne, will now sniff out more UK startups to add to its portfolio of over 30 investments thus far.

Similarly, London and Tel Aviv-based 83North has closed its latest fund, the $250m 83North IV fund which, like Forward Partners, is their largest to date.

The investment firm said it would be looking to invest in startups from the UK as well as Europe and Israel, with 83North’s London Partner, Laurel Bowden, talking up the continent as the stage for building global, industry-leading businesses in the last few years.

She said: “It’s very encouraging for the European market to see such huge ambition to build global, category-leading companies.

“There have been fifteen exits valued at more than $1bn that originated from Europe in the past five years compared to only a handful prior.”

However, while the closure of such meaty funds bodes well for startups and tech firms in the current porous political and economic climate, Bowden went on to warn that VCs such as 83North will look increasingly to European tech hubs once the UK drops out of the EU.

She added: “As we look to the future, the UK’s exit from the EU will accelerate activity in European tech hubs outside the UK. We believe this presents a big opportunity for venture funds, like 83North, that are already well-established in the wider European region.”

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