Eight Roads Ventures announced it had closed a $375 million third fund (ERVE III) for scaleups in Europe and Israel.
With Israel establishing itself as a leader in a number of fast-growing verticals, this market stands out for its global ambitions and talented pool of engineers.
The larger fund reflects the increasing number of growth stage companies looking for investment.
ERVE III will provide funding for fast-growing technology companies across enterprise, consumer, fintech and healthcare IT sectors. The London-based team will work to fill the resource gap which exists for many growth stage technology companies in Europe, and continue to help founders with key priorities from building out sales and marketing to geographic expansion. They will look for scaleup companies across Europe and Israel, backing a total of 15 to 20, with an average investment size of $10m to $30m.
Eight Roads Ventures said that, "With Israel establishing itself as a leader in a number of fast-growing verticals including cybersecurity, fintech, autonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence, this market stands out for its global ambitions and talented pool of engineers. Eight Roads has been investing in Israeli entrepreneurs for close to a decade, with companies like AppsFlyer, a global leader in mobile marketing attribution, and Hibob, an emerging leader in Human Resources for small and medium enterprises."
Eight Roads Ventures Europe managing partner and head Davor Hebel said, "We find ambitious entrepreneurs across the continent but there is a real lack of credible scale-up advice and business-building experience to help them beat the odds. We will continue to support our entrepreneurs with our global platform and value-add team of operators as they take their companies from 50 to 500 employees and beyond. We are confident that with the right help the European ecosystem can systematically create $10bn+ global tech businesses."
Israeli startup AppsFlyer cofounder and CEO Oren Kaniel said, "Eight Roads led our Series B round back in 2015 and since then has been a key partner as we've scaled our business internationally, growing from 75 to 400 employees in 13 offices around the world. They've remained a committed investor through our subsequent funding round in 2017, and the scale-up capital Israeli Operation Protective Edge to July 20, 2014, at least four Israeli tanks of senior commanders were protected by the Trophy system in the Gaza Strip.
The first generation of Merkava IV fitted with the Trophy APS has only one Elta EL/M-2133[1] F/G band fire-control radar with four flat-panel antennas (sensors) mounted on each side at the front of the turret. Sensors include radar with four antennas placed around the vehicle. Trophy provides 360° coverage against anti-tank rockets, anti-tank missiles and tank HEAT (high-explosive anti-tank) rounds. Once Trophy has detected a threat, it is tracked and classified and the optimal intercept point is computed, prior to launching a countermeasure.
Trophy protects Merkava IV from a wide variety of threats ranging from rockets, ATGMs and platform-fired High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds. Trophy offers 360° protection in azimuth, as well as extensive elevation coverage, while maintaining a pre-defined safety zone for friendly troops on the ground. The neutralization process is initiated only if the threat is about to hit the vehicle.