VC agency Educapital lately introduced that it has reached the primary shut of its second fund. The staff has already secured $105 million (€100 million) and now needs to achieve $160 million (€150 million) to spend money on edtech startups in addition to corporations engaged on the way forward for work.
I caught up with Marie-Christine Levet, one of many agency’s two co-founders with Litzie Maarek, in order that she may inform me about Educapital’s funding thesis and objectives with this second fund.
“We created the agency 4 years in the past. We have been the primary European edtech fund. In 4 years, we invested in 20 corporations, principally in Europe. We now have a large funding spectrum from early childhood to vocational coaching,” Marie-Christine Levet advised me.
Some corporations within the portfolio of the agency’s first fund embody 360Learning, Labster, Preply, LiveMentor, Simundia and PowerZ.
Up to now, Educapital has generated two exits (Lalilo and AppScho), and quite a lot of the portfolio corporations have raised follow-on investments. Round 40% of Educapital’s portfolio corporations have been based or co-founded by a lady.
“The COVID disaster has been a catalyst — historical past has accelerated. We’ve saved 5 to 10 years,” Levet mentioned.
With Educapital’s second fund, the staff needed to boost €100 million. But it surely’s been fairly straightforward as they reached that objective with the primary closing of the fund. Educapital now needs to achieve the fund cap at €150 million.
“We predict there was an entire change. It’s more durable than ever to attract a line between work, college {and professional} coaching,” Levet mentioned.
Educapital needs to spend money on one other 20 corporations. A typical Educapital spherical is something between €3 million and €10 million, most probably on the Sequence A stage. Three corporations have raised from Educapital’s second fund already — Chance, Fourth Rev and Invivox.
With regards to restricted companions, a lot of Educapital’s present backers determined to spend money on the second fund. These traders embody Hachette Livre, Bayard, Training for the Many, and so on. New traders embody Éditions Francis Lefebvre, the Jacobs Basis, UMR, BNP Paribas Innovation, Arkea, Matmut and others.
In my dialogue, Marie-Christine Levet additionally insisted that Educapital isn’t a strictly edtech fund — regardless of the title. The agency now additionally needs to spend money on “future of labor” startups.
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