New fund for start-ups

A venture capital (VC) firm is about to launch a $500m fund that will invest primarily in the UK’s start-up community in a cross-sector of industries, in a bid to “support the next generation of entrepreneurs” across the UK.

Accel, which was an early backer of Facebook, has most recently invested in Deliveroo, the restaurant-standard food home delivery firm, and has raised some £351m for this new fund, called Accel V, which will invest in start-ups across Europe and Israel.

They have chosen these regions because, in the words of one their partners, entrepreneurship is flourishing everywhere in Europe and Israel and the VC firm wants to help the start-ups build the next generation of “truly great, enduring businesses”.

He added that the fund will remain focused on the UK, Europe and Israel and on consumer investments and enterprise software, but said that alternative finance is one of “the big ones” when it comes to investment opportunities.

One of the reasons the firm is focusing on London for this is because it has the highest concentration in the world of talent to make that work and Accel believes that the financial services industry is ripe for disruption.

Accel set up in the UK some 16 years ago and 2015 saw the London team’s investments generate over $15bn in exit value alone. Lately, the VC firm has invested in its first artificial intelligence company, Lola Travel, a mobile travel agency. However, when it comes to virtual reality, another hot tech trend this year, Accel is still looking for the “right one”, so VR start-ups in the UK should think of applying.

The firm’s spokesman said that they are grateful to be backed by many of the world’s best institutions, including premier endowments, pension funds and research institutes, adding that Accel will continue to work hard to generate superior returns so that they too may be successful in serving their communities.