UK

The Spex Venture HealthTech Fund will make seed to Series A investments of up to €5m in digital healthcare and medical technology companies worldwide.

At 29, Dan Chaplin has been promoted three times in five years and now co-leads the London VC firm’s fintech and digital assets segment.

Amadeus Capital Partners and Apex Ventures have held a first close on €28m for a joint venture fund that will invest in European deep tech start-ups. The fund is targeting €80m.

Rob Kniaz, co-founder of London-based venture capital firm Hoxton Ventures, is in talks with potential LPs about forming a new deep tech-focused venture capital firm, according to a report by CNBC.

Planet First Partners, a London growth investor that focuses on partnering with "disruptive entrepreneurs to scale tech-enabled businesses," has closed its debut fund on €450 million, surpassing its initial target of €350 million.

Global VC fundraising finally came back to earth in 2022 as firms worldwide closed on funds totaling $165.9bn, down about 8% from their record haul of $179.7bn in 2021.

Representatives of AP4, CalPERS, the European Investment Fund, IH International, StepStone Group and Railpen share their insights for GPs with funds focused on sustainability.

LPs including AP6, Hamilton Lane and Harvard Management Company told the Principles for Responsible Investment that they are looking more carefully at how general partners manage ESG risks internally and within their portfolio companies.

Union Square Ventures, which has invested in 17 climate-related companies in the past two years, has closed on $200m for its second climate fund to keep the dealmaking momentum going.