News & Analysis

Amadeus closes $310m fund above target

UK-based Amadeus Capital Partners has overcome a difficult fundraising climate for European venture firms by closing a $310m fund, slightly above its original target.

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Amadeus Capital Partners has closed its third fund on more than $310 million (£160 million), just above its initial target.

The firm is also currently investing a $19 million Amadeus & Angel Seed fund, which was closed in November 2006, bringing its current firepower to about $330 million of equity. It has already made nine investments from the new fund.

The fund, Amadeus III, will pursue the strategy of previous funds, backing European companies that manufacture semiconductors, wireless technologies, digital media and software.

Investors include Partners Group, Adams Street Partners, Pantheon Ventures, Alpinvest, Capital Dynamics, Access Capital Partners, Parish Capital Advisors and the European Investment Fund.

Amadeus’s previous investments include Optos, a manufacturer of laser retinal scanners, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. Solexa, another of the firm’s portfolio companies, merged with US genetic technology business Illumina in November 2006.

Last week another of Amadeus’s portfolio companies, mobile wireless provider Nomad Digital, bought QinetiQ Rail, the commercial rail division of UK defence company QinetiQ, in exchange for 8.6% of Nomad’s share capital.

Founded in 1997, Amadeus is based in London and Cambridge, and has backed more than 60 European technology companies.