International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised InReach Ventures, the AI-powered Venture Capital firm, on the first closing of a new fund of €53m, targeted at early stage European technology companies. This first closing surpassed the original fund target of €50m.
InReach Ventures is pioneering the use of software and Artificial Intelligence to discover, evaluate and support investments in the most promising early stage European startups. Like the tech disruptors it is looking to finance, the firm has a strong technology background. It has invested over €3m in the development of its own proprietary technology over the last three years, and over half the team are software engineers.
The firm’s mission is to uncover and fund game-changing tech startups from all over Europe, without geographic boundaries. Its proprietary software-based approach, underpinned by machine learning, generates and evaluates deal-flow significantly more efficiently than traditional venture firms. Through the firm’s software stack, the InReach team is uniquely positioned to discover and analyse thousands of new opportunities each month, helping it to unleash technology entrepreneurship emanating from any corner of Europe. The firm’s objective is not to automate the actual decision making process for investing in startups, but to use technology to make this process far more scalable, efficient and informed.
The Osborne Clarke team who advised on the transaction was led by Partner Helen Parsonage and supported by Associate Nick Dashfield.
Helen commented: "AI is shifting the ways in which information is being generated and evaluated and InReach has found a truly innovative solution to support investments in European startups. Given Osborne Clarke's expertise in AI, venture capital and fund formation we were delighted to be working with InReach on this significant project."
John Mesrie, co-founder of InReach Ventures, commented: "Osborne Clarke provided invaluable support on our fundraise, helping us navigate all the legal, regulatory and commercial aspects of raising our first institutional fund. Helen and her team were highly efficient, pragmatic and responsive throughout the process, enabling us to achieve a successful timely fund closing."
The Osborne Clarke Funds team boasts an impressive portfolio of work covering all alternative asset classes and styles of fund with a particular focus on private equity, VC and real estate funds. It advises on first-time funds as well as large, complex, cross-border structures, and supports fund managers on all aspects of their business. Its clients range from multinational financial institutions and fund houses to first time managers and start-ups and it has one of the largest venture capital funds practices in the City, led by Helen Parsonage.
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