Industrial Field: 14 Private Equity Investors in Western Europe Who Provided the Biggest Sums of Money

Intro

Unlike some other sectors, the Industrial field focuses on developing supplies, equipment, and machinery for further production of various goods rather than for sales to direct consumers. All those processes have undoubtedly suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact; for instance, the chemical industry experienced a 5.2% decrease between January and June 2020. Another branch of the Industrial field, manufacturing, plunged by 11.1% in March the same year. Apart from these two categories, the mentioned sector includes mining, chemical engineering, animal husbandry, geospatial services, and many other components.
However, the last months of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 showed plenty of positive improvements in recovery and returning to the pre-pandemic paces of development. Moreover, as the crisis changed the workplace and the traditional production processes, the industry opened up for brand-new initiatives, including those offered by startups. Venture capitals and corporate investors in Western Europe are among the ones providing financial support, with USD 1.1 billion of private equity funding raised over the last four years. This amount makes up 1.5% of all money collected over the mentioned period of time. According to the sums they put into, 14 most active investors line up as follows:

Industrial Field: 14 Private Equity Investors in Western Europe Who Provided the Biggest Sums of Money
data provided by Unicorn Nest

Key takeaways

• Funds Geography – In the majority, the VCs are located in the United Kingdom, which hosts 7 funds. Another half comes from a range of European countries, including France, Switzerland, and Belgium. All seven UK-based firms are grouped in London; other popular cities of origin are Paris, Zürich, and Lyon. Geographically, the priority of investments falls on the United States and France. Projects from the United Kingdom and Morocco are also likely to attract financing. Roughly half of the investors prefer to put money into the startups from their fund’s country of establishment; others are not subjected to this tendency.
• Industry Focus – While paying the most attention to the Finance sphere, the sampled firms also invest in Medical Service, Business Development, and Art (Auctions). Some examples could be LoanSnap (the US), Apiax (Switzerland), and EQRx (the US).
• Important Years – The oldest fund in the sample, Sofina, was established in 1898. The newest one, Business Growth Fund, started operating a decade ago, in 2011. From the rest of the companies many were founded in 2004. In the 2011-2020 period, the VCs accomplished the most deals, with 2019 being the most active year for some of them. The maximum of successful exits happened between 2007 and 2021. Certain firms experienced this peak in 2013.
• Investments – The number of rounds the VCs participate in varies from 2 to 6 per year, with 2 prevailing. At maximum, the firms took part in 312; the minimal number, 12, differs from that by 300 rounds. The average and the median for standard investments are 80.6 and 40.0, respectively. The lead investments’ maximum reaches 222; its average is 33.6, and the median is 9.0. Most commonly, the funds become lead investors 7 times. Calculated in percentage points, index of difference for lead investments and the average rests between -49.53 and 29.0, Hence, some funds from the list, such as Manta Ray Ventures, choose to lead the financing less often than others, like Business Growth Fund. This difference’s average value is -2.58, and the median equals 1.04.
• Typical Rounds – To participate in rounds, the sampled VCs usually present 1-2 or 3-4 investors. Most commonly, they issue a check of less than 100 000 US dollars. Not so often, a size of 50 – 100 million can be observed. With a 9-digit maximum at 451000000.0, the funds’ multiplicator among the portfolio companies has an average value of 32214285.86. The median and mode for this figure both equal 0.0, as does the minimal multiplier (according to the last known valuation).

Focusing primarily on the Finance sector, top 14 private equity investors in Western Europe contribute to Medical Service, Art (Auctions), and Business Develoment fields. Their common funding round has 1-4 investors and a check size of less than 100 thousand; sometimes, the sum offered reaches 50-100 million. Every year, the sampled VCs tend to participate from 2 to 6 times.