EIF supports Frontline Ventures EUR 60 million fund closing

Frontline Ventures, a leading early-stage venture capital firm with offices in Dublin and London, announced today the closing of Fund II at EUR 60 million supported by the EIF. The firm invests in B2B software companies at the pre-seed and seed stages, with investments ranging from EUR 200,000 to EUR 3 million.

Frontline raised its first fund of EUR 50 million in 2013 and to date has invested in 27 software companies across Europe. Exits to date include Logentries, acquired by Boston-based Rapid7 (NASDAQ:RPD), and Orchestrate.io, acquired by CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL).

Notable investments in the Frontline portfolio include Qstream (total funds raised USD 22 million), Dublin-based money transfer company CurrencyFair (total funds raised USD 25 million), and London-based StreetTeam (raised USD 10 million in October 2016).

The firm is led by partners Shay Garvey, Will Prendergast, William McQuillan, and Stephen McIntyre.

“The pace at which software companies are redefining industries is accelerating. Our first fund has shown us that some of the world’s most ambitious founders are right here. With this Fund II, Frontline is positioned to be the investment partner of choice for ambitious software entrepreneurs building out from Europe to the US,” said Frontline partner Will Prendergast.

Investors in Frontline Fund II include Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Enterprise Ireland, European Investment Fund, Allied Irish Banks, and a number of pension funds and family offices.  This transaction benefits from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe.

Eugene O’Callaghan, Director of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, said, “We are delighted to extend ISIF’s partnership with Frontline through this latest Fund given the encouraging performance and impact of Frontline Fund I, which has already seen the creation of 350 new Irish jobs and played a major role in supporting the development of innovative start-up software companies in Ireland.”

Walter Hobbs, Executive Director, Investment and Finance, Enterprise Ireland said, “Ireland is fast becoming an international leader in business and a world-class innovator in some of the technology sector’s most exciting and disruptive new fields. One of Enterprise Ireland’s key roles is to develop and support this innovation and we recognise the value of venture capital funding to high potential growth companies in the software sector. We are delighted to support Frontline, whose portfolio is a testament to the calibre of high-quality entrepreneurs coming out of Ireland.”

European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen said, "There’s no shortage of ambitious ideas in Europe. I am glad that the Investment Plan can play an important role in backing those who back the startups that bring these ideas to life."

Commenting on the signature, EIF Chief Executive Pier Luigi Gilibert said, “EIF is very pleased to invest in Frontline, one of the key funds in the early stage Irish ICT-sector. The investment activity of Frontline clearly contributes to a strengthening of the Irish VC and start-up ecosystem and we are happy to be able to support this effort.”

“As an early stage and software ICT investor, Frontline’s unique experience will allow the fund to quickly identify and invest in emerging champions. The European Investment Bank Group is pleased to support Frontline which will play a key role in supporting new Irish companies,” said Andrew McDowell, European Investment Bank Vice President.

About Frontline Ventures

Frontline Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in and accelerates ambitious B2B software entrepreneurs. The fund is managed by partners Shay Garvey, Will Prendergast, William McQuillan, and Stephen McIntyre from offices in Dublin and London. For more information, go to www.frontline.vc

About the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (EUR 8.1 billion at end Sept. 2016) has a statutory mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. The fund, which is controlled and managed by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), has made investment commitments to date of EUR 2.4 billion (including investments made by its predecessor, the National Pensions Reserve Fund). For more information about the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and how it invests visit www.isif.ie

About Enterprise Ireland

Enterprise Ireland is the Irish government agency responsible for the development and growth of Irish companies internationally in order to grow exports and jobs. Enterprise Ireland works with entrepreneurs and businesses to help them to start-up, develop innovative products and services, and scale internationally. Enterprise Ireland facilitates access to international markets through its international office network, supports business strategy & management capability training and provides finance, investment and research expertise. For more information, go to www.enterprise-ireland.com

About European Investment Fund

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment. More information on EIF's work under EFSI is available here.

The Investment Plan for Europe focuses on breaking down barriers to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects and making smart use of new and existing financial resources. It is already seeing results. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI so far are expected to mobilise over EUR 164 billion in total investments across 28 Member States and to support more than 385 000 SMEs. Based on this success, on 14 September 2016 the European Commission proposed extending the Plan, increasing its capacity and duration and reinforcing its strong points. The latest figures on EFSI by sector and country can be found here.

About InnovFin Equity

This financing is supported by InnovFin Equity with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments established under Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council establishing Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020) and the European Fund for Strategic Investment (“EFSI”) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing. For more information, go to http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/equity/single_eu_equity_instrument/innovfin-equity/index.htm

About Allied Irish Banks

AIB is a significant investor to the Irish seed, venture and growth capital funds with commitments currently totalling EUR 140 million to eleven funds.  These funds have a combined fund size of c.EUR 800m, a large part of which is providing equity finance to Irish SMEs with high growth potential including the emerging companies in the Technology and Life Sciences sectors.

Press contacts:

EIF: David Yormesor
Tel.: + 352 42 66 88 346, E-Mail: d.yormesor@eif.org

Frontline: Kim Pham, Head of Platform
E-mail: kim@frontline.vc

Ireland Strategic Investment Fund: David Clerkin
E-mail: ntma@gordonmrm.ie

Enterprise Ireland: Nicola Corboy, Press & Media Relations
E-mail: Nicola.Corboy@enterprise-ireland.com