Axial Capital Partners

30/01/2025

The active world of VC fund investing - summarised with a leader board for yet another perspective. If you’ve wondered who writes some of the bigger cheques for the region’s investment houses, read on..

Across this side of the Atlantic there are some big hitters putting capital behind the funds that play a part in the growth-investing ecosystem, with Isomer Capital’s fund of funds being a significant life source for capital distribution. Making a couple of new commitments every month they have backed some notable names including Seedcamp, Atlantic Labs, and OTB Ventures. Supporting further liquidity through actively taking positions in secondaries really anchors how they play a key part in backing the monetary supply that fuels innovation in our markets.

See a headline leader board below, and a great summary from Sifted for even more detail: https://shorturl.at/N0zic

1. European Investment Fund

European VC funds backed since 2015: 671 (confirmed)

HQ: Luxembourg

2. Bpifrance

European VC funds backed since 2015: 196 (confirmed)

HQ: Paris

3. KfW Capital

European VC funds backed since 2015: more than 130 (confirmed)

HQ: Frankfurt

4. Isomer Capital

European VC funds backed since 2015: 86 (confirmed)

HQ: London


5. British Patient Capital

European VC funds backed since 2015: 82 (confirmed)

HQ: London


6. Molten Ventures

European VC funds backed since 2015: 79 (confirmed)

HQ: London

7. Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP)

European VC funds backed since 2015: 50 (confirmed)

HQ: Oslo

8. Tesi

European VC funds backed since 2015: 44 (confirmed)

HQ: Helsinki


9. Ireland Strategic Investment Fund

European VC funds backed since 2015: more than 30 (confirmed)

HQ: Dublin

10. British Business Bank

European VC funds backed since 2015: 29 (confirmed)

HQ: London


11. NRW.Bank

European VC funds backed since 2015: 29 (confirmed)

HQ: Dusseldorf

12. Saminvest

European VC funds backed since 2015: 26 (confirmed)

HQ: Stockholm


13. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance

European VC funds backed since 2015: 25 (PitchBook data)

HQ: Espoo, Finland


14. Korys Investments

European VC funds backed since 2015: 19 (PitchBook data)

HQ: Halle, Belgium

Sifted found out and listed the LPs which have been writing the most cheques to VCs in Europe in the last 10 years.

09/12/2024

"like mini celebs", a good description of those cyber & AI firms that have delivered on breakthrough technology, as well as being useful benchmarks for when we look at the scale of innovation that's demonstrated (or not..) in the decks we review each week. An interesting table highlighting a few of those that have performed in 2024:

Cybersecurity stocks rallied by 400% to 500% over last 5 years but also come with high volatility. Cybersecurity ETFs could be the way to go.

05/12/2024

59% of business leaders stated that the cost of the recent budget will be a direct carve-out from their net margin. Whilst that's a headline, it speaks volumes that a focus on sustainable positive cashflows should be the theme (we would hope..) of every pitch-deck we receive going forward!

More than half of firms surveyed by the Bank of England expect to raise prices due to the Budget, with job cuts also likely.

29/11/2024

"In the fast-paced world of startups, waiting around isn’t an option — especially when building your team. As a founder, how can you ensure your strategy attracts top talent? What happens if hiring takes too long?" Insightful words ahead of Sifted's team building talk next month, and echoes the sentiments we shared in one of our Insights earlier this year:

https://www.axialcapital.co.uk/insight/equity-for-your-efforts/

26/09/2024

We have looked at investing into various drone-based businesses from blood delivery to automated crop management, and a snippet from today's headlines suggests the day of the drone may indeed be coming..

Fleets of autonomous drones will operate routinely across Britain within three years for quicker deliveries and emergency services

09/09/2024

With rumours of CGT and other tax rises following the appointment of a new government in the UK, flows of new money into tax-efficient business investment structures have spiked 188% on an annualised basis in just the two months following the election. This is great news for increased investment inflow for innovative businesses, but contrasted with a worrying bellwether for another possible hammer-blow by the new governing party:

https://ifamagazine.com/seis-flows-jump-188-since-election-result/ #:~:text=Flows%20of%20new%20money%20into,the%20number%20of%20investors%20trebled.

19/06/2024

Most businesses that we invest our resources into are tech-enabled, or in some form rooted in innovative IP. But this week's Future Flight investment session at Level39 was a concentrated dose of some of the most exciting innovation out there - from fully automated drone-led infrastructure inspection, through to UAV-charging vertiports for inner city transport hubs, it was a really good day shared with other investors and business founders at Canary Wharf:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7209105341484015616

28/05/2024

The proof is in the pudding (or in the product-market fit, if you prefer).. The notion of demonstrating that the market is consistently buying what you're selling, before asking others to put up their money, is once again becoming the norm.

And rightly so in the majority of cases. From riding the investor cycle to the heights of the Nasdaq, this article portrays a sound voice of reason:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7201245459858739200

14/05/2024

Whilst the question remains for many companies that have reached the nexus of the broader capital markets - to go public or not to go public - it was generally positive on all accounts at last week's IPO Forum at the London Stock Exchange. From BNP to Blackrock, interest remains right through the growth & investment cycle of compelling businesses, with sentiment being that London will remain a £50m+ market even for early stage companies looking to IPO. With two IPO's heading toward the book-runners this month perhaps the second half of this year will look a little brighter across London..
www.linkedin.com/posts/axial-capital-partners_ipo-blackrock-londonstockexchange-activity-7196088556094722051-qsoG?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

11/04/2024

In line with our model of corporate investment, we are excited to see the government getting behind innovation across a number of our focus verticals like Agritech and AI-enablement:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7184144025153622016

20/03/2024

A nice snapshot to highlight the dispersion of innovation in Europe today. And at a time when Axial is re-engaging with the small cap IPO market (the long winter in the capital markets brightening at last!) the key drivers are proving to be business fundamentals (as should always have been the case in our view) and ideally patented IP.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/axial-capital-partners_a-nice-snapshot-to-highlight-the-dispersion-activity-7176150736416702466-ZzFW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

05/03/2024

Making warehouses more exciting.. technology & efficiency in logistics is an area we think holds huge potential in the decade ahead, so it's great to see the government getting behind innovation in the sector:

The Treasury has announced a £360m funding package for UK R&D and manufacturing ahead of the Spring Budget.