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* Fourth fund to invest in cloud-computing startups
* Notion manages over half a billion dollars
* Brexit uncertainty keeps European Investment Fund away
By Douglas Busvine
BERLIN, Oct 3 (Reuters) - British tech investor Notion
Capital has raised $150 million for its fourth venture fund
dedicated to European start-ups offering software as a service,
bringing total assets under management to more than half a
billion dollars.
The fund launch comes as Notion marks its 10th year of
investing in cloud-based software firms that have the potential
to shake up industries by offering online services that are easy
to use and can be quickly scaled.
Notion invests in companies that have received initial
support from individual investors and are in need of 'post-seed'
funding. They typically have $1 million in annual revenues.
"We then look to take them on the $1 million to $100 million
journey," Managing Partner and Co-founder Stephen Chandler told
Reuters in an interview.
Notion has achieved returns approaching three times on its
first fund and investments it has sold on include marketing firm
NewVoiceMedia, acquired by Vonage a year ago for $350
million.
That doesn't include investments that the fund still holds,
such as invoicing platform Tradeshift, in which Notion invested
$7 million in 2011.
Tradeshift raised $250 million in a Series E funding round
led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments in May
2018, and is on course to float on the stock market within the
next couple of years, said Chandler.
A more typical exit route for Notion would be to a trade or
strategic investor, meaning it doesn't face the wide difference
in valuations on private and public equity markets that have hit
big U.S. tech IPOs of late.
Notion, which describes itself as Europe's largest dedicated
financier of business-to-business software firms, was itself set
up by alumni of cloud-based security provider MessageLabs, sold
to Symantec in 2008 for $700 million.
Backers of its fourth fund include British Patient Capital,
Texas A&M University Endowment and S-Cubed Capital, as well as
founders of firms including MoneySupermarket, Moonpig,
Ocado, Play.com, TAG, FeelUnique and others.
One name missing from the roster is the European Investment
Fund, which had previously supported Notion but was unable to
agree terms to address Britain's planned exit from the European
Union.
Chandler, who expessed dismay at the political uncertainty
around Brexit, said Notion would continue to invest in
contintental Europe and hoped to work again in future with the
European Investment Fund.
(Editing by Deepa Babington)
