Image credits: Peak
Amsterdam-based Peak, an early-stage venture capital fund, announced on Thursday that it has launched its fifth Seed fund at €150M to invest in early-stage SaaS, marketplace, and platform founders across Europe.
The Dutch VC has raised over 50 per cent of the latest fund in commitments from European founders. Peak says it has already completed its first three investments from this new fund. The VC, however, didn’t disclose the names.
With its latest fund, Peak aims to invest in around 50 companies with an initial cheque of €250k-4M per company.
Johan van Mil, co-founder and Managing Partner, says, “We’ve seen many ‘new normals’ over the years investing through crises and hypes. We had to reinvent ourselves alongside the changing landscape, but we stayed true to our principals: invest in great founding teams solving big problems in a scalable, healthy manner.”
Peak: What you need to know
Heleen Dura–van Oord and Johan van Mil founded Peak as an angel collective that evolved into a venture capital fund. The VC invests Europe-wide and has active investments in the Benelux, DACH, and Nordic regions.
The VC specialises in SaaS, marketplaces, and platforms.
Allocated over five funds, Peak has invested in over 50 companies like Catawiki, Hygraph, StuDocu, Circula, Channable, Trengo, Breyta, Creative Fabrica, Blidz, Whale, and Seatti.
The 15-year-old firm operates from its offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Stockholm.
“The biggest difference in the past 15 years is what ‘big’ means,” says partner David Zwagemaker. “When Peak began investing in 2007, a mere €6.5B was invested in European founders. Last year this was €138B. The definition of ‘big’ will continue to grow as success feeds back into the ecosystem, technology moves faster, and founders continue to get smarter. Europe knows success at scale. We’re honoured to contribute to that success.”
“I am especially proud to see investors sticking with us through our funds, and most of all, that many founders we’ve backed in our portfolio are now investing in our funds,” says Managing Partner Stefan Bary.
Stockholm-based Partner Indra Sharma says, “Beyond new tools and technical advancements, the tech ecosystem has evolved significantly in the last years. Thanks to successful entrepreneurs in the recent past, there is more capital, knowledge, and talent in the market than ever before. Tomorrow’s founders have a head start and a wealth of resources. With Peak 5, we’re ready to continue learning and unlearning together with the founders of tomorrow.”