23 July 2015, London: Notion Capital has completed the first close of its third fund at $120m, focussed on European Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies at Series A stage. The final close is expected later this year with a target of $150m, taking the total funds under management at the firm to in excess of $300m. As such Notion Capital represents by far the largest dedicated B2B SaaS fund in Europe.

In two previous funds, the firm has invested in 33 companies, including some of the most exciting and fastest growing in Europe. That includes breakout success stories like NewVoiceMedia and Tradeshift, who have together raised over $200m from leading international growth investors. It also includes major European exits such as Shutl, to Ebay and Star, to Claranet.

At the same time, its portfolio includes many of Europe’s most exciting and high potential SaaS companies, including Adbrain, Brightpearl, Currency Cloud, Duedil, Dealflo and MOVE Guides.

Specialists in SaaS...

These companies come to Notion Capital for its laser focus and experience. The partners are best known for founding and building MessageLabs, which became the biggest EU SaaS exit in Europe at its $700m sale to Symantec but the team had previously taken a similar journey with two previous businesses. On top of that, working closely with all of its portfolio companies, it has developed a collective experience and ecosystem that simply can’t be found elsewhere.

Recognised as an “Equity Gap Fund of the Year” winner in GP Bullhound’s Investor AllStars awards, the firm has won widespread recognition for offering portfolio companies as much value through their help and guidance as through funding itself.

The new fund is backed by existing and new investors at multiple institutions as well as family offices and high net worth individuals, including several world-renowned technology entrepreneurs. It also continues to be supported by the European Investment Fund and British Business Bank, extending their on-going partnership with Notion in helping entrepreneurs in Europe build global, category leading, SaaS businesses.

...And SaaS keeps growing

Cloud / SaaS Market Size

• Global Public Cloud Market Size: c.$150bn, 17% CAGR (Gartner)
• European Public Cloud Market Size: c.$37bn, 17% CAGR (Gartner)
• SaaS is $23bn in 2013 out of $134bn spent on Enterprise Applications. c. 17% (IDC)

Demand for SaaS enterprise applications is accelerating and exceeding the demand for on-premise applications by five times; SaaS forecast growth 17.6% CAGR, on-premise 3.1%. Saas predicted to be $51bn by 2018 (IDC)

Stephen Chandler, Managing Partner at Notion Capital comments on the news:

“Our strategy remains to only invest in what we know and we think this gives us a strong advantage in the market for both evaluating and supporting companies. We aim to identify emerging entrepreneurial talent in Europe and help them build global category leaders. There are tremendous opportunities in this part of the world and the market remains undersupplied with high quality capital. This new fund helps us change that.”

As the portfolio continues to grow, so does the team and its experience. Chrys Chrysanthou, already an executive-in-residence at the firm, moves to a full time role for Fund III as a Principal in the investment team. Chrys brings with him a wealth of experience from Cisco, Amazon Web Services and Accel Partners, across USA, EMEA and Asia, with roles including M&A, venture investing, angel investing, mentoring, ecosystem development and startup operating roles.

Adam Shepherd and Dan O’Toole have also joined as Associates with expertise and experience in their respective fields.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Wayne Gibbins: wgibbins@notioncapital.com 07872 464688

About Notion Capital:

Notion is a venture capital firm focused on high potential businesses in the Cloud Computing and Software-as-as-Service (SaaS) markets. The Notion team has unique expertise and experience in the Cloud Computing market having founded, built and exited two highly successful businesses in the space - Star and MessageLabs. The four partners at Notion are Stephen Chandler, Ian Milbourn, Chris Tottman and Jos White. Companies within Notion’s portfolio include Adbrain, Currency Cloud, Duedil, IOCS, MOVE Guides, NewVoiceMedia and Tradeshift. For more information go to: www.notioncapital.com

About the EIF:

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment. EIF’s total net commitments to private equity funds amounted to over EUR 8.8bn at end 2014. With investments in over 500 funds, EIF is a leading player in European venture due to the scale and the scope of its investments, especially in high-tech and early-stage segments. EIF’s guarantees loan portfolio totalled over EUR 5.6bn in over 350 operations at end 2014, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor.

The fund is supported by the European Union through the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (“CIP”).

About The British Business Bank:

The British Business Bank makes finance markets for smaller businesses work better, enabling the sector to prosper, grow and build economic activity.

Its objectives are to:

• Increase the supply of finance available to smaller businesses where markets don’t work well.
• Create a more diverse and vibrant finance market for smaller businesses, with a greater choice of options and providers.
• Build confidence in the market by increasing smaller businesses’ understanding of the options available to them.
• Achieve this whilst managing taxpayer resources efficiently and within a robust risk management framework.

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales registration number 08616013, registered office at Foundry House, 3 Millsands, Sheffield, S3 8NH.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, it is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government which is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, one of which is authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.

A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found atwww.british-business-bank.co.uk

The investment in Notion is made from the Bank’s VC Catalyst fund.

About the VC Catalyst Fund:

The VC Catalyst Fund is supported by British Business Bank Investments Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc. Business Bank plc is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. Neither British Business Bank Investments Ltd nor British Business Bank plc are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Other:

Notion Capital III LP is not open to investment from members of the general public. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance and the value of investments can go up as well as down.

Notion Capital Managers LLP, the operator and manager of the fund, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN number: 565008) with registered address Notion House, 8b Ledbury Mews North, London W11 2AF.

US Investors:

This press release is directed only to countries other than the United States. The fund is not being offered in the United States or to U.S. persons at this time.

For information:

Osborne Clarke were legal advisors on the process