Berlin-based early stage VC La Famiglia — backer of Deel, Personio and Forto, and led by two female partners — has raised €255m. The capital will be spread across a third seed fund and a new €90m growth fund, the fund’s first to back companies post-Series B.
The third seed fund
La Famiglia typically focuses on verticals such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, logistics and supply chain, consumerisation of B2B, fintech and insurtech, sustainability and Industry 4.0.
Since 2017, the VC has financed 70 companies at the seed-stage across Europe and the US, including data ops cloud platform Y42, carbon management software Sweep and machine learning-driven demand forecasting software Buynomics.
With its third seed fund, of €165m, La Famiglia plans to make initial investments of up to €5m in early-stage B2B startups.
An example of a company that the new seed fund has already backed is Ethon.ai, a Zurich-based quality management platform.
Entering growth investing
The €90m growth stage fund will focus on investments in companies from Series B and beyond. The fund will invest in both existing portfolio companies and companies not previously part of the La Famiglia portfolio, but La Famiglia will not lead deals.
"Our growth co-investment fund allows us to double down on the winners from our portfolio as well as co-invest alongside leading funds into growth companies where we can add value through our platform. It is a strategy that we have always pursued through dedicated SPVs (special purpose vehicles) and have now formalised in a fund structure," says Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, founding partner of La Famiglia.
Already, La Famiglia has made follow-on investments from the new growth fund in its portfolio company and decacorn Deel, as well as co-investments in US companies such as family health platform Maven Clinic, cybersecurity platform Material Security and Applied Intuition, which offers autonomous driving infrastructure.
La Famiglia’s LPs include a roster of entrepreneurs, including Personio founder Hanno Renner, Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen and Qasar Younis, founder of Applied Intuition.
With the new financing, La Famiglia has also expanded its range of LPs to include institutional investors such as endowment funds, foundations, European sovereign wealth funds and international fund of funds.
