Germany-based venture capital firm Fly Ventures has closed a second fund backed by insurance group Axa’s corporate venturing arm, Axa Venture Partners, at €53m ($59.4m), according to Tech.eu.
The European Union-owned European Investment Fund (EIF) and KfW Capital, a public VC vehicle formed by German state-run development bank KfW, were also among the fund’s limited partners.
Founded in 2016, Fly Ventures targets Europe-based enterprise and deep technology developers specialising in areas such as insurance automation, cybersecurity, clinical trials optimisation and anti-money laundering technology.
The firm’s active portfolio companies are located in Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Estonia. The firm will invest between $560,000 and $1.5m per deal out of its new fund and generally focuses on seed-stage deals.
Matt Wichrowski, a partner at Fly Ventures, said: “We will also use Fund II to become a greater source of positive change for diversity within the startup community. As VCs, the greatest impact we can make is through the founders and teams we back.
“We are currently working through how we can bring about greater diversity and equality to our portfolio. We will listen, discuss and share our thinking and performance within the community.”
EIF had already backed Fly Ventures’ first fund, which closed at $48.7m in late 2017 with commitments from Korelya Capital, a VC vehicle sponsored by internet group Naver, and undisclosed family offices from Europe and the United States.
