KPN Ventures invests in Speedinvest III; pan-European fund investing in early-stage technology companies

KPN Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of KPN, has invested in the third investment fund of Speedinvest, a pan-European cross-sector fund focussed on early-stage European technology companies in the field of Consumer and Industrial Technology, Fintech, Marketplaces and Digital Health.

Speedinvest, with offices in Berlin, London, Paris, Munich, San Francisco and Vienna, provides a unique growth support platform for early-stage European tech companies through a dedicated team of 40 investment professionals, 20 in-house operational experts and by leveraging its strong partnerships across Europe with accelerators, research institutions and universities.

With a total fund size of €190M, Speedinvest III will focus on pre-seed and seed investments in Deep Tech, Fintech, Industrial Tech, Marketplaces, Digital Health and Consumer Tech across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, broader Western Europe and Central & Eastern Europe. Speedinvest III will build on the fund’s nine-year experience in investing in European startups, and on the success of the Speedinvest I and II funds.

Marcel van der Heijden, Partner at Speedinvest: “We’re impressed with KPN Ventures’ strategy to gain early access to new innovations and are thrilled to be part of their portfolio. The partnership has already proven productive and valuable for Speedinvest in terms of sharing and creating market opportunities, as well as having access to specific domain expertise in the KPN organization."

Hans Söhngen, Managing Director KPN Ventures: “Over the last decade, Speedinvest has successfully developed a unique operational platform to support promising early-stage European technology companies in accelerating their growth. We are excited to work with Speedinvest as a way to further expand the scope and opportunity for KPN to engage in partnerships with innovative European technology companies, particularly in the Germany, Austria and Switzerland area, in order to bring value to KPN’s customers.”

This is KPN Ventures’ ninth fund-in-fund investment. Previous investments include participations in Paris-based PSL Innovation Fund (managed by Elaia Partners), Cambridge-based IQ Capital and Lisbon-based Armilar Venture Partners. Through these investments, KPN Ventures aims to create early access in European innovation hubs and technology partners and thereby supporting KPN to build valuable partnerships in order to experiment, improve and expand KPN’s offerings to better serve its customers.

About KPN Ventures
KPN Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of KPN, the leading telecom and ICT provider in The Netherlands. KPN Ventures aims to build value-creating partnerships with innovative technology companies, providing access to capital, infrastructure, expertise, network, and customer channels. The fund focuses on direct and indirect (fund-in-fund) investments in early-growth stage European companies in the following segments: Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Data/AI, Digital Healthcare, Internet of Things, Networking Technology, and OTT Services. KPN Ventures has offices in Amsterdam and Rotterdam and has invested in 9 funds, and 19 direct investments, such as Actility, EclecticIQ, Cybersprint, Minut, Viloc, and ZecOps.

About Speedinvest
Speedinvest is a European venture capital fund with €400M+ AUM and more than 40 investment professionals working from Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, Vienna and San Francisco. Employing a sector-focused investment structure, we fund innovative early-stage technology startups in the areas of Fintech, Digital Health, Consumer Tech, Network Effects, Deep Tech and Industrial Tech. Speedinvest actively deploys its global network and dedicated team of in-house operational experts to support our 170+ portfolio companies, including with US market expansion. Learn more: www.speedinvest.com