Venture Capital fund Blossom raises £316m in funding for investments

A London-based venture capital firm, Blossom Capital, has raised 432 million dollars (£316 million) in its latest funding round, hitting almost one billion dollars in funding in three years.

Bosses said they plan to invest a third of the money raised in its third funding round into crypto firms as it emerges into the mainstream arena.

Previous investments by the VC include checkout.com, the UK’s biggest privately owned fintech business worth 40 billion dollars (£29.3 billion); Moonpay, a major crypto infrastructure provider valued at 3.4 billion dollars (£2.5 billion); and Duffel, which helps airlines integrate more easily with online travel businesses.

Managing Partner Ophelia Brown, who previously worked for VC giant Index Ventures, said she has secured funding from some of the biggest US universities and endowments.

She added: “They share our conviction that early-stage capital can have outsized impact on the trajectory of a company.

“With this new fund, we are continuing with our high-conviction strategy of providing foundational capital to entrepreneurs.”

Blossom recently recruited new managing partner Alex Lim from investment firm IVP, based in Silicon Valley whose prior investments feature Discord Hopin and UiPath.

The VC explained that around 30% of the deals it has signed were sourced using AI technology rather than through traditional methods.

Mr Lim said: “Fund III is the latest step in our mission to support a new generation of world-beating companies from Europe.

“Founders need more than just capital from an investor at the early stage; they need partners who go above and beyond to make them successful.

“We have built a diverse partnership and tailored services offering, and are constantly pushing ourselves to provide ever-higher levels of service to European founders.”

European tech companies had a record year in 2021, as the total amount of venture capital raised increased 2.5 times from 42.9 billion dollars (£31.4 billion) to 109.3 billion (£80.1 billion).

At the same time, however, the number of deals completed rose by only 10%, according to figures from data analysts Dealroom.co.

This shows that individual round sizes are getting significantly larger.

Blossom said that, despite having more money at its disposal, it plans to not increase the number of investments but raise the amount it spends instead.