Yet another early-stage VC fund has closed in Europe this week, as Elkstone finalized a €100 million ($108 million) pot aimed at Irish startups. It comes a day after Lifeline Ventures closed a €150 million ($163 million) fund for fledgling startups in Finland, while several others have landed across the continent in the past few months.
Elkstone, a wealth management firm that for the past decade has invested privately at the seed stage in future unicorns such as Flipdish and LetsGetChecked, has launched its inaugural venture capital fund with the backing of the state’s Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and Enterprise Ireland (EI).
The new fund claims around 250 limited partners (LPs) in total, including a host of undisclosed business people from Ireland.
A year in the making
Elkstone first announced plans for its VC fund in January last year, initially targeting €75 million. Within three months, though, it revealed it was raising the ceiling to €100 million, with a view toward backing seed and pre-Series A startups with investments in the range of €1 million to €2 million.
Although the fund has on …
