Aldea Ventures has today announced a €60M first close of a target €100M first fund to invest in 700 technology-enabled startups across Europe. The firm takes a hybrid approach. Firstly, as a fund of funds Aldea invests in up to 20 early-stage micro VC funds across Europe and secondly, as a co-investment platform, the company will back the most promising startups from Series A upwards.
The Pan-European fund’s vision is to invest in cutting-edge technologies and industries, and support growth across Europe, connecting VC talent and startup ecosystems across entrepreneurial hubs. The diverse portfolio will also provide the firm with deep knowledge and insights across the European tech landscape. The fund is expected to reach a final close of €100M later this year.
Aldea Ventures is led by Managing Partners Carlos Trenchs, formerly at Caixa Capital Risc, the largest seed fund in South Europe; Alfonso Bassols, previously at Nauta Capital, investing in early-stage across Europe and US East Coast; Josep Duran, who invested in VC funds across the EU and Israel from the European Investment Fund; and Gonzalo Rodés brings his 30 years of entrepreneurial experience to the team as Chairman. Aldea Ventures is partnering with Meridia Capital, a leading Spanish alternative investment fund manager.
Carlos Trenchs, Managing Partner of Aldea Ventures, said, “We believe Europe will continue to grow in influence and play an integral part in the next decade of technology. The future tech champions are being developed today. Europe is a global powerhouse in deep technology and we have a rapidly growing number of serial entrepreneurs. Our dual model as a fund of funds and co-investor into scaleups is the first of its kind in Europe. Seen only in Silicon Valley until today, we’re putting this model to work to fuel the next generation of growth across the European ecosystem.”
Aldea Ventures will be present in over 18 hubs around Europe via its fund of funds programme. The firm has already made investments into six micro VCs; Air Street Capital and Moonfire in London; Helloworld in Luxembourg; Inventures in Munich; Mustard Seed Maze in Lisbon; and Nina Capital in Barcelona.
Aldea Ventures considers five key factors when selecting its micro VC managers. The firm’s thesis, whether they are specialist, thematic or generalist. Location, whether they invest across Europe or are local players. The experience of the partner, backing those with solid venture experience or previously successful entrepreneurs, the size and whether the fund is emerging or established. Aldea Ventures builds a portfolio that is diversified across all factors, with an optimal split across specialist, thematic and generalist funds, technologies and industries, and geographies.
Josep Duran, Managing Partner of Aldea Ventures, added “European technology is growing at an unparalleled pace thanks to immense entrepreneurial talent, world-class research, and vibrant capital markets. Today, venture capital is a maturing asset class in Europe thanks to an increasing number of category-defining companies and successful venture capital firms. Taken together, this has created a new generation of European VC funds that is challenging the status quo. At Aldea, we will partner with the next wave of VC managers that have been trained in some of the best companies and funds globally, and are ready and eager to shape further the future of the European ecosystem.”
Nathan Benaich, Founding Partner of Air Street Capital, commented, “Investing in European AI-first companies is a huge opportunity, with almost one-quarter of top global AI talent earning their university degrees here. Air Street Capital identifies the most promising AI-first companies from their earliest stages in what is a rapidly evolving technical field. Our partnership with Aldea demonstrates a shared conviction that specialist managers with deep sector-specific knowledge will accelerate the success of tomorrow’s category-defining European companies that are AI-first by design.”
For co-investment opportunities, Aldea Ventures will proactively identify the best-performing companies from its micro VC network and personal networks. Providing investment alongside an unparalleled network and knowledge from across its micro VCs and portfolio companies. The firm has already invested in London-based Job and Talent and most recently, Copenhagen-based Podimo’s Series A with this strategy.