London venture capital firm Kindred Capital closes second £81m fund
London venture capital firm Kindred Capital has closed its second fund for seed-stage startups at £81m.
Kindred has invested in the likes of self-driving car startup Five, software firm Paddle and will-writing startup Farewill.
It backed a total of 29 companies using its first fund, which closed at £80m in 2018.
Partner Leila Zegna said the second fund was “significantly oversubscribed”, with 70 per cent of its initial investments going on to secure additional capital.
“This is the right size for a seed fund in Europe, it will enable us to invest in great companies, and keep the majority of capital in reserve to follow on. We look forward to working with many more phenomenal companies on the road ahead,” she added.
Though it focuses on the earliest seed-stage of financing, Kindred will often follow on its investments into series A rounds.
It also promotes a unique investment strategy of giving back funding to founders in its portfolio, giving them small stakes in the fund’s success as part of the deal.
Kindred said it had already begun to invest in companies using the new fund, making 10 injections so far.
Backers of Kindred’s second fund include British Patient Capital, Legal & General and tech founders such as Transferwise’s Taavet Hinrikus and Oaknorth’s Rishi Khosla.