CPE News (10/25/2021) – White Star Capital has closed its third flagship fund with $450 million in total committed capital, above its original target of $375 million.
Limited partner investors include Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Investissement Québec (IQ), Desjardins, Kensington Capital Partners, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, BDC, Beneva, Roynat Capital, Harbourvest, and Ubisoft.
Many of White Star Capital’s current and previous entrepreneurs also participated in Fund III. They include Andy Tian (Co-Founder and CEO; Asia Innovations Group), Andrew Graham (Co-Founder and CEO; Borrowell), Kevin Glynn and David Nolan (Co-Founders and Co-CEOs; Butternut Box), Dr. Christopher Oster (Founder and CEO; Clark), Cherif Habib (Co-Founder and CEO; Dialogue), Max-Josef Meier (Co-Founder and CEO; finn.auto), Roger Hassan (former CEO; Echo, and former COO; TIER Mobility), Michael Wystrach and Carter Comstock (CEO and Co-Founder, and Co-Founder respectively; Freshly, sold to Nestle), Frederic Bastien and Aditya Pendyala (CEO and Co-Founder, respectively; mnubo, sold to Aspen Tech), Alex Gayer (CFO; TIER Mobility), Julien Bonneville (Founder and CEO; TheGuarantors) and Etienne Lacroix (Founder and CEO; Vention)
Following two previous funds of $90 million and $230 million, announced in 2015 and 2018 respectively, White Star Capital plans to deploy Fund III initial investments between $5 million and $20 million in 15 to 20 startups across North America, Europe and Asia seeking financing at Series A and beyond.
Fund III has already made several investments, including finn.auto (Germany), Percent (U.S.A.), Flash Coffee (Singapore), Novisto (Canada), 900.care (France) and Numan (U.K.), and seeks to invest in emerging technology companies in the A.I., Digital Health, Fintech, Foodtech, Future of Work, Industrial Technologies, Mobility and Wellbeing sectors.
White Star Capital has successfully raised in excess of $625 million over the last 18 months, and now manages $1 billion of assets, including $65 million from its recently announced Digital Asset Fund and more than $110 million raised from co-investment vehicles.
White Star Capital also announced it will open an office in Singapore.
photo credit: White Star Capital
News Release
White Star Capital Announces New Fund; Firm Now Has More Than $1 Billion of Fresh Capital to Invest Globally
Firm has raised a new $450 million early growth fund to back founders building and scaling global businesses
October 25, 2021, White Star Capital, a multi-stage global technology investment platform, announced it has secured $450 million* for its third flagship fund, above its original target of $375 million, to invest in exceptional entrepreneurs building ambitious, global businesses. The firm has successfully raised in excess of $625 million over the last 18 months, and now manages $1 billion of assets, including $65 million from its recently announced Digital Asset Fund and more than $110 million raised from co-investment vehicles. The firm also announced it will open an office in Singapore.
Following two funds of $90 million and $230 million, announced in 2015 and 2018 respectively, White Star Capital plans to deploy initial investments between $5 million and $20 million in 15 to 20 startups across North America, Europe and Asia seeking financing at Series A and beyond. The firm has already made several investments from Fund III, including finn.auto (Germany), Percent (U.S.A.), Flash Coffee (Singapore), Novisto (Canada), 900.care (France) and Numan (U.K.), and seeks to invest in emerging technology companies in the A.I., Digital Health, Fintech, Foodtech, Future of Work, Industrial Technologies, Mobility and Wellbeing sectors.
The founders, Eric Martineau-Fortin and Jean-Francois Marcoux, met as two fellow ski instructors working at a ski resort in Canada. This initial connection developed into a friendship, a working relationship and a first investment by Eric into the video game developer Ludia, co-founded in 2007 and fully exited in 2013 by Jean-Francois, which was eventually to lead them to the founding with their team of global firm White Star Capital in 2014.
The two founded the firm on the belief that entrepreneurialism is borderless and that innovation will lead to a brighter, healthier and more inclusive future. Through local investment teams and a unique international platform, White Star Capital is well positioned to partner with exceptional founders to create new companies and business models that will lead the industries and markets of tomorrow. The firm is also committed to investing in emerging technology companies building transformative global businesses at every stage of their growth.
Today the firm is made up of a multinational team of investors and operational professionals including General and Venture Partners: Sep Alavi, Christophe Bourque, Matthieu Lattes, Shun Nagao, Julie Plouffe, Patrick Recasens Morente, Nick Stocks, Joe Quinn Wei, and Nicolas Zylberstein.
Multi-Stage Global Platform Expands Reach
Now with more than 30 team members in nine locations around the globe, White Star Capital supports investors by taking a platform approach to investing. This not only includes providing direct investment through dedicated and specialized funds but also offering Limited Partners opportunities to directly co-invest in the firm’s fastest-growing portfolio companies.
Limited partners in the new fund include both new and previous institutional and sovereign investors, which reflects the international footprint of the firm. These include LP’s from France, Germany, Guernsey, Japan, Monaco, Poland, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S. Several Canadian institutional investors also participated in Fund III, including the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), IQ, Desjardins, Kensington Capital Partners, FSTQ, BDC, Beneva (created by the coming together of La Capitale and SSQ Insurance), Roynat Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scotiabank, Harbourvest, and Ubisoft.
Also, participating in Fund III, were many of White Star Capital’s current and previous entrepreneurs including; Andy Tian (Co-Founder and CEO; Asia Innovations Group), Andrew Graham (Co-Founder and CEO; Borrowell), Kevin Glynn and David Nolan (Co-Founders and Co-CEOs; Butternut Box), Dr. Christopher Oster (Founder and CEO; Clark), Cherif Habib (Co-Founder and CEO; Dialogue), Max-Josef Meier (Co-Founder and CEO; finn.auto), Roger Hassan (former CEO; Echo, and former COO; TIER Mobility), Michael Wystrach and Carter Comstock (CEO and Co-Founder, and Co-Founder respectively; Freshly, sold to Nestle), Frederic Bastien and Aditya Pendyala (CEO and Co-Founder, respectively; mnubo, sold to Aspen Tech), Alex Gayer (CFO; TIER Mobility), Julien Bonneville (Founder and CEO; TheGuarantors) and Etienne Lacroix (Founder and CEO; Vention)
Proven Track Record
The announcement of Fund III builds upon the firm’s significant momentum since starting seven years ago. This includes the recent IPO of Dialogue Health Technologies (TSX: CARE), the sale of Freshly to Nestle for $1.9 billion, the recent close of its $65 million Digital Asset Fund with the support of the French public investment bank bpifrance, and receiving CVCA’s 2021 VC Global Dealmaker Award.
Since its inception, White Star Capital has had 10 exits and two IPOs, backed five unicorns and has invested in more than 55 companies that have gone on to collectively raise over $2.5 billion, employ more than 7,300 people and are generating close to $1.9 billion in yearly revenue. This includes backing rapidly growing companies such as; Butternut Box (U.K.), Clark (Germany), Dollar Shave Club (U.S.A), Drop (Canada), The Guarantors (U.S.A), KeyMe (U.S.A.), Meero (France), Mnubo (Canada), Parsley Health (U.S.A.), Red Sift (U.K.), TIER Mobility (Germany), Uncapped (U.K.), and Vention (Canada).
“Our philosophy has always been to partner with founders who have global ambitions and support them through our deep networks and regional expertise across nine locations in North America, Europe and Asia,” said Eric Martineau-Fortin, Founder and Managing Partner of White Star Capital. “With the opening of an office in Singapore, the firm has cemented its position as the partner of choice for founders building truly global businesses. Our funds are top-decile performers and our growing global team looks forward to building upon our proven global platform model.”
Chairman of the Board, Chief Catalyst Officer and CTO Appointed to Expand Expertise
White Star Capital also announced the appointment of Patricia Barbizet as Chairman of the Board, Cristina Ventura as Chief Catalyst Officer and Alberto Lopez Toledo as Chief Technology Officer.
Based in Paris, Patricia Barbizet served as the first female Chief Executive Officer of Christie’s, Executive Director of Groupe Artémis from 1992 until 2017; and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Kering SA and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Christie’s. She is now her own investment and advisory firm, Temaris & Associes.
Singapore-based, Cristina Ventura has worked in retail and technology roles for over 20 years helping brands like Prada, Gucci, LVMH, and Apple. NY-based Alberto Lopez Toledo is the CTO and Technical Co-Founder of Freshly. Both will also serve as Venture Partners and together bring years of experience in strategic planning, leadership, creativity, and innovation to the firm’s partners and ecosystem.
Learn more about White Star Capital Fund III on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Medium and watch a video on Vimeo.
QUOTES FROM PARTNERS AND INVESTORS
“This investment in White Star Capital’ Fund III is in line with our strategy to support innovative tech companies as they expand internationally,” says Mario Therrien, head of investment funds and external management at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. “We are delighted to pursue our commitment to their team, here in Québec and around the world, and to continue evaluating co-investment opportunities with White Star Capital.”
“White Star Capital has a proven track record of backing start-ups that have changed markets and redefined industries while bringing fantastic returns to their investors,” said Win Bear, managing director, Kensington Capital Partners. “They’re also able to provide us with direct co-investment opportunities in many of their portfolio companies, which enables us to expand our investment reach while yielding greater returns.”
“White Star Capital was instrumental in guiding us from Series A funding to IPO,” said Cherif Habib, co-founder and CEO of Dialogue. “They partnered with us on everything from our go-to-market strategy to our mission and vision for our integrated B2B Virtual Care Platform. Early on, the team recognized our potential to bring telehealth to Canada and they went out of their way to help us achieve that goal. We congratulate them in this new fund to support entrepreneurs building ambitious, global businesses.”
About White Star Capital
White Star Capital is a global multi-stage technology investment platform that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs building ambitious, international businesses. Operating out of Guernsey, New York, Paris, London, Montreal, Toronto, Singapore, and Hong Kong, our presence, perspective, and people enable us to partner closely with our founders to help them scale internationally from Series A onwards.
*All financial figures are denoted in CAD.
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