United Ventures, the European technology-focused Venture Capital firm, has today announced the closure of its first fund with $80 Million. The new fund, entitled United Ventures One, is a significant milestone for the Milan-based Venture Capital firm and signals a renewed interest by investors into the European tech sector. The firm to date has already invested over €16 Million in nine companies operating across Europe and North America including significant investments into MoneyFarm, Cloud4WI, Halldis and Appsbuilder as well as 20Lines, Marinanow, LoveTheSign and Badseed. Investors in the fund are two-thirds comprised of institutions, banks and fund of funds and one-third individuals. The objective is to invest an average of €1-6 million across a total of 20 companies in Italy and Europe across sectors that include Digital Technologies, Software, Mobile, Commerce and Gaming. “We are delighted to announce the final closing of our first fund,” says Massimiliano Magrini, Co Founder and Managing Partner of United Ventures. “With a skilled team of finance, technology and management experts at the helm focusing on just one key vertical we are looking forward to growing the next wave of tech startups through a multi-stage strategy and expanding them on a worldwide scale.” The fund’s strong closing, which was oversubscribed, is indicative of a significant surge of interest in the European start up sector where companies have raised more than $2.8 billion (€2.1 billion) from VCs in the second quarter of 2014, the highest quarterly total since the dot-com bust year of 2001. Launched in 2013 by Massimilano Magrini and Paolo Gesess after 15+ years in the tech VC space with successful IPOs and exits under their belts, United Ventures is dedicated to driving visionary entrepreneurs with a passion for disruptive, scalable technologies to success on a global stage. Spotting talented startups at early stage and following through with investment as the company scales up, the Venture Capital firm adopts a hands on approach that allows its portfolio companies access to a wealth of experience and networking opportunities. At a time of heightened interest in technology companies, the fund closing follows 92 European tech exits in the second quarter of 2014, of which 10 were IPOs. This is up from 54 deals tracked in Q1 2014, an increase of about 70 percent. The recent sale of DeepMind to Google and Natural Motion to Zynga, both for in excess of £1 billion, has also excited the interests of investors globally. Magrini concluded, “The European tech scene is coming of age and United Ventures is hugely excited to be participating with a significant role in its maturation”.
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