Sapphire Ventures has announced the closure of an additional $1bn fund to invest in tech startups worldwide.
Although based in the US, the fund will seek to invest a portion of their investments in EMEA with a focus on the UK and Israel.
“We continue to be bullish on making investments in the UK and Europe. Like all of our investments, we look for companies with demonstrated product/market fit, strong revenue momentum (at least $5m to $10m, or more, in annualized revenue) and the potential and ambition to become category leaders worldwide,” Nino Marakovic, CEO and managing director of Sapphire Ventures, told Tech City News.
The fund, Marakovic said, will continue to focus on innovative, fast-growing companies in the enterprise technology sector whilst noting that sectors including AI; machine learning; cloud computing; SaaS; Big Data; HealthTech and FinTech were considered to be “particularly exciting”.
For direct investments in expansion-stage companies, Marakovic explained that Sapphire Ventures typically invest between $10m to $20m (with flexibility to invest more or less) as part of its initial investment. The fund, the added, also has additional capacity for follow-on investments.
Sapphire Ventures, which participated in London-based firm Qubit’s $40m Series C round in February, also boasts the likes of Apigee, Box, Fitbit and Square as part of its investment portfolio.