Good News for later-stage European Startups!

Today the London-based Octopus Ventures launches a new $140 million fund to provide growth capital to “ successful fast-growing later-stage companies across Europe”, reports Tech Crunch.

Last year, Octopus Ventures revealed it had a $91.3 million early stage funds. Today, they launched a new fund focusing on later-stage startups across Europe. Furthermore, the Octopus Zenith Opportunities II LP (also known as the “Octopus Opportunities fund”) will also provide follow-on investments into existing companies, which are already present within the Octopus Portfolio. The investments will be between £250,000 and £25 million. The first investment was Secret Escapes, a London-based member-only luxury travel site, with Octopus leading the $60 million round alongside Google Ventures.

“As the European ecosystem continues to develop and mature, this $140m fund allows Octopus to continue backing talented entrepreneurs from an early stage, but then to provide crucial on-going support”, says Alex Macpherson, head of Octopus Ventures.

A new trend of growth funding

Europe welcomes this growth funding, as it tends to be starved for these kinds of funds, forcing startups to head abroad when they want to scale. The move follows the new trend of growth funding in Europe. Fidelity Growth Partners Europe announced in June announced in June, a new £150 million (nearly $250 million) new fund and have made a complete rebranding under the new name: Eight Roads Ventures.