Early-stage venture capital firm Peak, based in Amsterdam, announced that it has opened its fifth Seed fund with a €150 million investment goal to support startup SaaS, marketplace, and platform creators across Europe.
Over 50% of the most recent fund’s commitments came from European creators, according to the Dutch VC. According to Peak, the first three investments from this new fund have already been made. However, the VC withheld the identities.
Peak’s most recent fund plans to make first investments in 50 firms for a total of €250k to €4M.
“We’ve seen numerous ‘new normals’ over the years investing through crises and hypes,” says Johan van Mil, co-founder, and managing partner. Along with the shifting environment, we had to reinvent ourselves, but we stuck to our core values: supporting outstanding founding teams as they tackle difficult problems in a sustainable, scalable way.
Peak was established by Heleen Dura-van Oord and Johan van Mil as an angel network that later transformed into a venture capital firm, and is an expert in platforms, marketplaces, and SaaS. The VC makes investments all around Europe and is currently active in the Nordic, DACH, and Benelux regions.
Peak has invested in more than 50 businesses, including Catawiki, Hygraph, StuDocu, Circula, Channable, Trengo, Breyta, Creative Fabrica, Blidz, Whale, and Seatti, across five funds.
The fifteen-year-old company runs out of offices in Stockholm, Berlin, and Amsterdam.
The definition of “large” has changed significantly over the last 15 years, according to partner David Zwagemaker. “Only €6.5 billion had been invested in European founders before Peak started investing in them in 2007. It was €138 billion last year. As success ripples through the ecosystem, technology advances more quickly, and entrepreneurs become more knowledgeable, the meaning of “large” will continue to expand. In Europe, scalability is a given. We feel honored to have a part in it.
According to managing partner Stefan Bary, “I am especially proud to see investors sticking with us through our funds and most importantly, that many founders we’ve backed in our portfolio are now investing in our funds.”
“Beyond new tools and technological improvements, the IT environment has evolved dramatically in the last years,” says Stockholm-based Partner Indra Sharma. The market currently has more resources, expertise, and skill than ever before thanks to recent successful entrepreneurs. Future entrepreneurs will have a leg up and plenty of tools. With Peak 5, we’re prepared to keep growing alongside tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
Image Credit: Peak Capital
