Hamburg, Germany / MenloPark, USA / Tel Aviv, Israel / 20 September 2022 – DTCP has successfully completed the first closing of its Growth Equity III Fund (“GE III” or “the Fund”) at $300 million. The Fund was launched in March 2022 and has raised capital from new and existing investors including Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank Group International, alongside other institutional, pension fund, corporate, and family office investors. DTCP plans to continue to raise significant capital for the Fund and aims to close fundraising in 2023.
Following the proven proprietary data-driven investment strategy of DTCP, GE III invests in cloud-based enterprise software and business Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies in the fields of cybersecurity, web3, AI, fintech, vertical SaaS solutions as well as IT applications and cloud infrastructure software. The Fund is targeting about 25 equity investments in the range of $20 to $25 million for businesses in early growth or growth stage, typically as part of a Series B to D or late-stage funding round. The Fund focuses on category leaders in Europe, Israel, and the US with a defensible market position and technological advantage.
The predecessor growth equity funds GE I (launched in 2015) and GE II (launched in 2018) have invested c.$410 million into 32 enterprise software companies across Europe, Israel, USA and Asia – 11 of which have been acquired or gone public, including: Auth0,Fastly, Signavio, Pipedrive and Guardicore, realizing high multiples and already having returned over 50% of the capital to its LPs. The funds maintain top quartile returns with low loss ratios.
Thomas Preuss, Managing Partner at DTCP Growth, says: “Our GE III fund is the continuation of a proven strategy, and we would like to thank our existing and new investors for their support and trust. With one of the largest specialist teams focusing on cloud-based enterprise software in Europe, we’re excited about the continued opportunity to back outstanding entrepreneurs and category leaders in the fast-growing cloud-based enterprise software ecosystem and to create attractive co-investment opportunities for our investors.”
Jack Young, Managing Partner at DTCP Growth, says: “The current market environment and the recent valuation reset offer unique opportunities to invest in great companies and the category leaders within the enterprise software market. We will be patient and disciplined in deploying the Fund carefully balancing risks and rewards. Using our automated proprietary benchmark system and deep industry knowledge, we can continue to identify leaders in our target markets and help them scale to reach their full potential.”
The Fund has closed its first deal with a $15 million investment into Cognigy.ai as part of its Series B funding round. Based in Dusseldorf Germany, Cognigy.ai is a conversational AI and automation platform that enables enterprises to communicate effectively and intelligently with customers and employees 24/7 across more than 20 languages on all conversational channels including chatbots, virtual assistants or voice-bots over the phone.