Keen Venture Partners, a new VC firm operating out of London and Amsterdam, has announced the launch of its €90m inaugural tech investment fund.
Called Keen Venture Partners Fund LP, the fund will look to invest in between €5m to €10m per early stage tech company.
In Europe, the fund will focus on innovation hubs across the UK, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. Additionally, it will also consider US-based tech companies looking to expand into Europe.
Robert Verwaayen, general partner of Keen Venture Partners, said: “This new fund is the first from Keen Venture Partners and we are pleased with the exceptional range of high-profile institutional and private investors, demonstrating a high level of confidence in the new fund.”
Founded by Ben Verwaayen, former CEO of both BT and Alcatel-Lucent; Alexander Ribbink, former COO of TomTom; and Robert Verwaayen, former principal at Prime Ventures, drew support from the European Investment Fund, Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), ING Netherlands and KPN Ventures.
Ribbink, general partner of Keen Venture Partners, added: “As a team we are passionate about supporting scale-up technology companies to become globally leading businesses. With our collective backgrounds, approach to investing and fresh capital we believe we can support the most ambitious entrepreneurs.”
Keen will look to invest in companies operating in specific areas of information and communications technology consistent with the team’s vision, expertise and professional backgrounds.
Pier Luigi Gilbert, chief executive at the European Investment Fund, said: “EIF currently supports over 400 private equity funds across Europe, including first-time teams. Keen’s partners are among the most experienced operators we’ve seen starting a new venture capital fund, which is good news for the venture community. With offices in London and Amsterdam Keen has a wide geographic reach across Europe, and a strategy that can support European SMEs.”
Several private investors and entrepreneurs also supported the fund.