Venture capital firm Act Venture Capital has reached the first close of its sixth fund of €140m.
the company said that 80% of the ACT VI fund is committed with the final closing planned for later in the year.
ACT's previous fund raised €92m in 2016.
Act said ACT VI has a broad investor base made up on institutional investors, including European Investment Fund, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Enterprise Ireland, and AIB. and a focused group of entrepreneurial family offices for strategic support and co-investment capabilities.
The bulk of the funding commitments have been made from investors who contributed to ACT's previous funds, which the company has taken as a show of confidence in its team and strategy.
In Association with
The fund will aim to invest in around 35 companies across technology sectors and areas of interest such artificial intelligence and machine learning, enterprise, deep tech, health, energy and climate, with maximum investments of €10m per company.
ACT said the fund is positioned as a long-term partner for company founders from the seed stage through several expansion rounds, and has the capacity to add significant additional co-investment through its international investors and extensive family office base.
“The Irish market has doubled in size in the past four years, and we are excited about the future of Irish tech companies and the increasingly ambitious founders that are building them”, said John Flynn, managing partner.
“A feature of our maturing market has been the recycling of capital and talent from the increasing number of successful exits, and we are seeing very strong network effects from repeat entrepreneurs. This will see Ireland build larger and more impactful companies”.
Debbie Rennick, general partner at ACT Venture Capital, added: “We will continue backing founders who have a mission and values that go beyond financials.
"Companies that prioritise their ESG impact have proven that, on top of making a positive change, they attract better talent and provide better returns for investors."
ACT VI recently completed its first Series A investment into e-commerce data analytics platform Conjura, and the fund has also partnered with Enterprise Ireland to establish a Seed Sidecar Fund, which has completed four seed deals into Plasmabound, Trustap, Clearword and Inferex.
The Seed Sidecar Fund allows Act to make 70% of its investments at the seed stage.
Act's portfolio comprises of 47 companies including Ekco, Gridbeyond, Cubic Telecom, Deciphex and Provizio.
The firm has had 20 exits in the last five years, including SilverCloud Health, which was acquired by Amwell; Decawave, acquired by Qorvo; Corvil, bought by Pico, and Ocrex, purchased by Sage.
Photo: (l-r): Sarah Matthews, Andrew O'Neill, Lorraine Paton, John Flynn, Cathy McBride, Debbie Rennick, Shanice Callinan, John O'Sullivan, Conor Mills and Vaibhav Tandon of Act Venture Capital.
