Venture Capital Firm 83North Raises $550 Million for Sixth Fund

(Bloomberg) -- Venture capital firm 83North Ltd. has raised $550 million for its sixth investment fund to back European and Israeli entrepreneurs, taking advantage of what it says is a maturing market for technology companies in those markets as investments pour in.

The group, with offices in Tel Aviv and London, now has more than $1.8 billion in capital under management, the partners said in an interview. It will use the new money to invest in startups across sectors such as health care and automation and put additional growth funds into its existing portfolio.

“Our fund is small and we’ve never been in a hurry to do thousands of investments; that allows us to have a big proportion of winners,” said London-based partner Laurel Bowden. “There’s a coming-of-age of tech and the ability to build phenomenal companies in Europe.”

Formerly affiliated with Silicon Valley-based Greylock Partners while operating independently, the firm rebranded as 83North in 2015. It last raised funds in 2019, and the latest money comes from existing backers among U.S. endowments and family offices.

83North said it backs a dozen startups valued at more than $1 billion, and portfolio companies include Finnish delivery company Wolt and payments firm Marqeta Inc., which just filed for an initial public offering. It’s exited 21 holdings so far out of more than 70 investments. They include the sale of iZettle AB to PayPal Holdings Inc. and Just Eat’s London IPO in 2014.

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