London, 2nd July 2020: Kennet Partners Limited (“Kennet”), a leading European technology growth equity investor focused on bootstrapped and capital efficient companies, has raised $250m (€223m) for its fifth fund, Kennet V* in partnership with Edmond de Rothschild. The Fund exceeded its target and secured new investors from across Europe and Asia.
Kennet V has already started to deploy the capital into new investments in Business to Business (B2B) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies. The Fund has made investments in four companies in the UK, Europe and the US and has a strong pipeline for further investments.
Kennet specialises in investing in established, high growth technology companies which are founder-owned and ‘bootstrapped’ – built without significant external capital. Typically, the investment from Kennet is the first external funding that companies receive and is used to finance sales and marketing expansion, particularly internationally.
Kennet is one of the longest established technology growth investors in Europe with over 20 years of experience and a proven track record across multiple technology cycles. Kennet’s cumulative assets managed are approximately $1 billion.
Kennet V’s investments include companies such as Eloomi, a fast growth cloud-based Performance Management and Learning Management System and Codility, a remote-first platform for hiring software engineers. Investments from previous funds include Receipt Bank, the leading pre-accounting tool for accountants and bookkeepers, Nuxeo, a leading content services platform, Rimilia, a financial automation software platform as well as numerous exited companies.
Michael Elias, Managing Director, Kennet Partners, said, “This fund raise is an important milestone for Kennet and demonstrates the success of our partnership with Edmond de Rothschild, which has provided us access to a range of new investors. Our experience investing in technology companies through multiple market cycles, has shown that it is a good time to invest during times of profound change. We therefore believe that the coming 2-3 years will be a very interesting time to deploy a fund.”
Hillel Zidel, Managing Director, Kennet Partners, said “The current pandemic has significantly accelerated the move to digitisation. COVID has required that people around the world change the way that they live and work. These changes are creating a structural shift that is forcing companies to turn to technological solutions. This has created strong longer-term opportunities for software businesses.”
Johnny El-Hachem, CEO, Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity1, said “Convinced that technology plays a critical role in the transformation of our economies and societies, our group has always been committed to promoting the emergence of innovative and value-creating companies. We partnered with Kennet, because we liked the dynamism of the team coupled with their strategy of financing businesses providing mission critical technology solutions. The COVID crisis has underscored the importance of many of these tools to business continuity.”
1Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity» refers to the Private Equity division of the Edmond de Rothschild Group. In addition, it is the commercial name of some of the asset management entities dedicated to Private Equity (including branches and subsidiaries) of the Edmond de Rothschild Group.
Media enquiries to:
Newgate Communications
Alistair Kellie, Tali Robinson, Jessica Hodson Walker and Jamie Williams
KennetPartners@newgatecomms.com
+44 (0) 20 3757 6865
Notes to Editor:
About Kennet Partners
Kennet is a leading international growth equity firm that invests in high-growth companies in Europe and North America. With offices in London and Silicon Valley, the firm supports entrepreneurial technology businesses with expansion capital to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value. Kennet is an experienced investor with approximately $1 billion of cumulative funds under management. For more information: www.kennet.com.
Kennet Partners Limited is authorized and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority.
*About Kennet V
Kennet V is composed of Kennet V SCSp and Kennet V FPCI, unregulated alternative investment funds formed under Luxembourg (SCSp – société en commandite spéciale) and French (FPCI – fonds professionnel de capital investissement) laws. Kennet V is primarily invested in companies providing technology products and/or technology services, and presents specific risks including capital loss risks, liquidity, the risks of the relevance of an investment in the Fund, the risks inherent in investments in development capital and the lack of performance (ROI) insurance. Kennet V SCSp and Kennet FPCI and the funds of previous vintages are closed to new investors.
About Edmond de Rothschild
As a conviction-driven investment house founded in the belief that wealth should be used to build the world of tomorrow, Edmond de Rothschild specialises in Private Banking and Asset Management and serves an international clientele of families, entrepreneurs and institutional investors. The group is also active in Corporate Finance, Private Equity, Real Estate and Fund Services.
Its resolutely family-run nature gives Edmond de Rothschild the independence necessary to propose bold strategies and long-term investments, rooted in the real economy.
Created in 1953, the Group now has CHF 173 billion (€160 billion) in assets under management, 2,600 employees and 32 locations worldwide.