White Star Capital has closed its second institutional fund, White Star Capital II family of funds, at US $180 million, significantly exceeding its initial target of US $140 million. White Star Capital closed its first fund with US $70 million in 2015.
Limited Partners (LPs) for the second fund are from North America, Europe and Asia. Notable LPs include Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Fonds de solidarité FTQ (FSTQ), the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Investissement Quebec, Portag3 Ventures, the Consolidated Reserve Fund of the States of Guernsey, Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC), ARKEA Group, Mizuho Securities, Swen Capital Partners, Isomer Capital, Walter Financial, Clerville Investment Management, Temaris Capital, Simone Investments, alongside multinational corporate groups including Veolia, La Capitale, Corporate Groupe ADP, Ubisoft and Unisys Corporation through Canal Ventures.
White Star Capital has already invested in eight companies from its second fund. The firm has opened new offices in Paris and Tokyo and is announcing the addition of Matthieu Lattes as its new Partner in Paris, Sep Alavi as a Venture Partner in New York and Shun Nagao as a Venture Partner in Tokyo.
Lattes joins co-founders, Eric Martineau-Fortin (Guernsey), Jean-Francois Marcoux (Montreal), Christian Hernandez Gallardo (UK), and newly appointed GP Lylan Masterman (New York).
photo credit: White Star Capital
News Release
White Star Capital announces second fund of US$180 million to continue helping transatlantic companies to internationalise
New US$180m fund significantly oversubscribed and above initial target of US$140m; to be invested in around 20 new companies with an initial investment of US$1m to US$6m
White Star Capital has backed 26 core companies since 2014. It has already invested in eight companies from its second fund
This second fund from White Star Capital follows its first US$70m fund closed in 2015
The firm has opened new offices in Paris and Tokyo and is announcing the addition of Matthieu Lattes as its new Partner in Paris, Sep Alavi as a Venture Partner in New York and Shun Nagao as a Venture Partner in Tokyo
4th June 2018 — London, New York, Montreal, Paris and Tokyo: White Star Capital, a global venture capital fund with offices in London, New York, Montreal and now Paris and Tokyo, today announces its second institutional fund of US$180 million. The fund, which was oversubscribed, has already closed significantly above its initial US$140m target. It will back around 20 new companies with an initial investment of US$1m to US$6m. The fund will continue to focus on companies that use data as a competitive advantage and where the fund’s operational experience and physical presence can help companies scale internationally.
White Star Capital has already begun investing from its second fund and has led or co-led investments into eight companies to date. Investments have ranged from Seed to Series B and include fintech and insuretech companies Borrowell (Canada) and Clark (Germany) as well as disruptive commerce models Vention (Canada), Meero (France) and Butternut Box (UK). The fund has also invested in digital health companies Echo (UK) and Dialogue (Canada) as well as data-as-a-service company Unacast (USA).
White Star Capital has built a global investor base for its second fund, with Limited Partners from North America, Europe and Asia. Notable backers include institutional investors such as Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Fonds de solidarité FTQ (FSTQ), the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the Consolidated Reserve Fund of the States of Guernsey, Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC), Investissement Quebec, ARKEA Group, Mizuho Securities, Swen Capital Partners, Isomer Capital, Walter Financial, Clerville Investment Management, Temaris Capital, Simone Investments, and Portag3 Ventures alongside multinational corporate groups including Veolia, La Capitale, Corporate Groupe ADP, Ubisoft and Unisys Corporation through Canal Ventures.
The new fund follows White Star Capital’s first fund of US$70m, which it began investing in 2014. The global team has continued to build an exceptional track record in early stage venture, with investments in 26 core companies, which have gone on to raise more than US$650m in total funding, employing 1,600 people across close to 20 different countries.
Since launching its first fund, White Star Capital has significantly expanded its international presence. In addition to existing offices in London, New York and Montreal, a new office has been opened in Paris, with Managing Partner and co-founder Eric Martineau-Fortin relocating from New York to Paris to lead the firm’s presence there.
White Star Capital was founded by Eric Martineau-Fortin, an experienced transatlantic technology M&A banker, Jean-Francois Marcoux, the former co-founder of mobile game publisher Ludia, and Christian Hernandez Gallardo, a former Facebook executive. It has recently promoted Lylan Masterman, a computer scientist, former Microsoft executive and a Kauffman Fellow, to the partnership for its office in New York, and it has appointed Matthieu Latte, previously an entrepreneur and venture capital specialist at Rothschild, to the partnership to strengthen its newly opened Paris office.
White Star Capital has also recruited into its team two new well-rounded professionals as Venture Partners, Shun Nagao in Tokyo and Sep Alavi, an experienced fintech investor, in New York. A team of twelve investment professionals support the partners across its five offices. All members of the White Star team have entrepreneurial and operational experience having founded and scaled technology companies internationally.
Eric Martineau-Fortin, co-founder and Managing Partner of White Star Capital said: “We have purposely sought a diverse and global investor base for our second fund, many of whom are repeat investors from fund one, and we would like to thank them for their continued support. Our growing team has extensive operational experience and we are passionate about supporting ambitious entrepreneurs with truly global ambitions. Internationalisation represents a huge opportunity for many high-growth companies and our global reach means we can support companies looking to scale outside of their home market. We become active partners to all the entrepreneurs we work with and the new fund will enable us to help even more companies realise their potential.”
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SUPPORTING QUOTES FROM LIMITED PARTNERS
Christian Dubé, Executive Vice-President, Québec at Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec said: “This investment is consistent with our strategy to finance and support the international expansion of innovative emerging technology companies. Moreover, CDPQ is delighted to collaborate with the team of White Star Capital that runs its Canadian operation at Espace CDPQ, located at Place Ville Marie in Montreal”.
Alain Denis, Senior Vice-President, Innovation, Fonds de Solidarité FTQ said: “With a well capitalized new fund, White Star is a fast-growing manager with a strong presence around the world, including Montreal. Its willingness to open international markets to startups is good news for entrepreneurs in Canada and elsewhere in the world. White Star will bring much needed capital to companies looking to complete A Round financing.”
Ronan Le Moal, Deputy CEO of Groupe Arkéa, said: “ARKEA Group is very proud and excited to support the establishment of White Star Capital in France. The recognized rigor and expertise of the team in the digital and technological ecosystem will ensure White Star Capital has significant success in the French market.”
A spokesperson for Mizuho Securities said: “White Star Capital is among the most internationalized venture capital funds across the globe. Their exceptional multinational background and footprint, especially centered around transatlantic regions, provides unique value within the world’s leading startups ecosystems. We are very grateful to play a meaningful role in their journey, serving as a lighthouse in Asia including Japan.”
Joe Schorge, Managing Partner, Isomer Capital, said: “As a European Fund of Funds focused on early stage technology investing, we track over 500 VC firms and we were proud to back White Star Capital in its first Fund, and to do so again for its new Fund. The team’s operational experience has truly proven to be of value as they support their founders in scaling and internationalising beyond their home market.”
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About White Star Capital
White Star Capital is an early-stage Venture Capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs building ambitious, data-driven businesses. Based out of London, New York, Montreal, Paris and Tokyo, our presence, perspective and people enable us to partner closely with our Founders to help them scale internationally from Series A onwards .
Find out more about how we venture beyond at www.whitestar.vc or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
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For more information
Ballou PR for White Star Capital
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