Based in San Francisco, but an investor in several European startups, Runa Capital typically spends between $1 million and $10 million in early-stage companies. [Read: How to write an email pitch VCs will actually read] Historically, the fund has had a strong interest in companies working on cloud infrastructure, open source software, AI and machine intelligence, and B2B SaaS. With this latest fund, known as Runa Capital III, the venture capital firm is also looking to target deep tech and quantum startups. Founded in 2010, Runa Capital which has to date raised three funds totalling $427 million, has already invested in more than 70 companies. Portfolio companies include Nginx (acquired by F5 Networks for $670 million), MariaDB, Zopa, Brainly, drchrono, Smava, and Mambu. The firm’s founding partners have built several software companies, including Acronis (raised a $147 million round by Goldman Sachs in 2019), Parallels (acquired by Corel), Odin (acquired by Ingram Micro), and Acumatica (acquired by private equity fund EQT Partners). Runa’s fundraise comes just a week after Partech, a French VC firm, announced the closure of a $100 million Seed fund to invest in post-COVID19 trends in health, work, commerce, finance, mobility, and computing. Atomico and Blossom Capital have also raised new funding to back European tech startups. With recent reports suggesting coronavirus will have a devastating effect on the world’s startups, this is definitely good news. It’s very difficult to say, though, whether VCs are actively investing in new companies or whether they’re just focusing on their existing portfolio for the time being. But with new funds being announced almost every month, at least it’s somewhat reassuring to know that venture capital investors are still fundraising.
