There’s more evidence of European VC stocking up before a potential LP winter. This time it’s e.ventures, which has closed a new $150 million early-stage fund to invest in European startups.
The VC, which has offices in Berlin, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow and São Paulo, is also announcing that Bernardo Hernández is joining e.ventures as a general partner. Hernández has founded multiple companies, including real estate listing site idealista, and has been a senior director of product at Google and the general manager at Flickr.
Bernardo Hernández also has 10 years of experience investing, including founding his own VC firm in 2008, StepOne Ventures in San Francisco, in a bid to help European companies access the U.S. market. Mobile marketplace Wallapop, social network Tuenti, and retail CRM Index are some of Hernández’s more notable investments.
Meanwhile, e.ventures’ new fund will be focused on seed and Series Arounds, and, says the VC, will be deployed alongside its existing $290 million growth fund, which invests at later stages and is used for subsequent funding rounds.
In this regard, e.ventures is talking up its ability to support its portfolio startups with capital and operational expertise through the “full investment lifecycle,” although that isn’t entirely unique in European VC or elsewhere.
Most Series A funds put capital aside for follow-on rounds so as not to get too diluted, and a number of VCs operate both an early-stage and so-called growth-stage fund.
Interestingly, in a statement, Hernández makes reference to the use of data when assessing potential investments, something that Google’s venture arm is notoriously known for but e.ventures has been doing for a good few years now.
“Joining e.ventures appealed greatly to me as our investment philosophies are the same. Its’ use of technology to identify investment opportunities and the always available operational support to entrepreneurs are features I believe will come to define venture capital in the future,” Bernardo Hernández says.