Enterprise Investors announces closing of Enterprise Venture Fund I

Enterprise Investors announced the final closing of its new fund – Enterprise Venture Fund I. The total size of the fund, which is the first venture capital fund in the EI group, is €100 million.

Enterprise Venture Fund I (EVF I)
Enterprise Venture Fund I will target companies in the technology sector (IT, telecoms and media) as well as attractive projects from such sectors as retail, manufacturing, business and financial services, and consumer goods. EVF I’s investments will range from €1 million to €5 million per project. The fund will focus on providing expansion capital.

During its first year of activity EVF I will predominantly invest in Poland, but thereafter it will expand to those countries of Central and Eastern Europe where Enterprise Investors is already present.

The largest investor in Enterprise Venture Fund I is the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which along with its Argonaut Ventures unit has invested more than $1 billion in privately-held companies and venture capital funds globally. The other investors in EVF I are international financial institutions that have been working with EI for several years.

The first venture capital fund in the Enterprise Investors group has been formed in response to the market’s demand for capital to finance the dynamic development of SMEs in Central and Eastern Europe. It is the largest fund of its type in Poland and the CEE region.

Enterprise Investors (www.ei.com.pl)
Enterprise Investors is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms in Central and Eastern Europe. With the closing of EVF I, total funds raised by EI amount to €1.7 billion. To date, the six private equity funds managed by Enterprise Investors have invested €1.1 billion in 108 companies across many sectors in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the Baltic States. EI funds have exited 91 investments, achieving total proceeds of €1.3 billion. Twenty-five of these exits have been IPOs on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.