Hoxton Ventures
Hoxton Ventures is a European venture capital firm, based in London.[1] It was launched by American partners Hussein Kanji[2] and Rob Kniaz in December 2013 after previously working at Accel (venture capital firm) and Fidelity Ventures (now Eight Roads Ventures) respectively[3]. Hoxton also has a venture partner Dylan Collins with a particular focus on gaming and Irish investments from his former career at Demonware[4]; he is now CEO at Superawesome, a kids technology company.
The partnership is especially focused on connectivity to Silicon Valley and the partners are among the few European venture capitalists who are also computer scientists.[5]
It has also been recognized as particularly noteworthy for having three investments become valued over $1b as "unicorns", an high number for a European venture firm.[6] The partnership is cited on compilations of top European VCs such as Business Insider's top investor lists in 2019 and 2019.[7][8]
Focus[edit]
The firm invests in internet, mobile and software startups, most often as the first institutional investor in the company following angel investors. Typically these investments focus early on the American market and derive a large portion of their revenue from that market ahead of others.
Activities[edit]
Hoxton Ventures has raised two venture funds to date. Fund I was a $40m fund begun in 2013 and a Fund II was formed in 2019[9].[10]
The fund focuses on startups inventing new market categories or transforming large industries, including software as a service (SaaS) companies, business-to-business (B2B), enterprise, cloud-based, consumer (B2C) and other software-led technology companies. The firm invests primarily in Europe. The firm invests primarily at the Series A stage with checks ranging from $1 to $5m.
The fund is backed by institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals, including several early Google engineers and executives.
Controversy[edit]
Hoxton also among the funds such as Seedcamp named as having European Investment Fund support withdrawn due to Brexit concerns by the EU.[11]
Investments[edit]
Hoxton has invested in over 19 companies as of July 2019.[12] The firm is one of the few VC funds to invest in the first round of three "unicorn" investments, Deliveroo (valued at £1.5bn in 2017), Darktrace (the Cambridge-based cybersecurity firm valued at $1.5bn in 2018), and Babylon Health (valued at $2bn in 2019).[13]
Other investments include Adazza, Algomi, Behavox, Optimoroute, Raptor Supplies, SuperAwesome, TourRadar, and Yieldify.[14]
Exited investments include: bd4Travel (acquired by DNATA), Campanja (acquired by 24/7 Media), Immunio (acquired by Trend Micro), and Mavrx (acquired by Taranis)
Portfolio companies have received follow on investment from larger funds such as Index Ventures, Accel Partners, Summit Partners, Insight, KKR, GV, Shasta Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Softbank, and Citibank.
Media Coverage[edit]
The partners of the firm regularly provide commentary on television and radio on technology in Europe and on Brexit and its effect on the European startup community. Interviews include slots on broadcasts of BBC News and Radio 4[15], the Financial Times[16] and The Economist. The firm's activity in Ireland was cited in the Sunday Business Post with Collins[17].
Kniaz appears regularly on BBC television[18] and radio[19] on various programmes discussing the day's technology news and Kanji is also seen on CNBC similarly[20][21].
References[edit]
- ↑ "Hoxton Ventures". Hoxton Ventures. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ "Changemakers: Hussein Kanji". London Business School. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ↑ Espinoza, Javier (2013-12-04). "New Fund Seeks to Fill Gap Between Seed and Series A". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ O'Brien, Ciara. "Tech firm on mission to make online data privacy kids' stuff". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ "Alum of the Week: Rob Kniaz, Co-Founder and Partner, Hoxton Ventures". www.cs.umd.edu. 2016-01-28. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ "Europe's top Unicorn hunters". Blog | Dealroom. 2018-05-21. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ UK, Shona Ghosh, Business Insider. "The 36 coolest tech investors in the UK". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ "The 32 star venture capital investors in Europe every tech founder needs to know". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ↑ "Hoxton Ventures targets $100 mln for sophomore fund". PE Hub. 2019-02-08. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
- ↑ "HOXTON VENTURES II, L.P. - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ↑ UK, Shona Ghosh, Business Insider. "A £2 billion European investment fund has stopped giving money to UK tech startups because of Brexit". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
- ↑ "Crunchbase".
- ↑ Shead, Sam. "Investors Confirm Babylon Health Set To Become Europe's Next $1 Billion Tech Startup". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ↑ "Active Portfolio". Hoxton Ventures. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
- ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Today, 27/02/2017". BBC. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ Sexton, Colette. "Hoxton Ventures 'hungry' for Irish start-ups | BusinessPost.ie". www.businesspost.ie. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ "BBC World Service - World Business Report, UK and EU Agree Brexit Transition Terms". BBC. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ "Facebook: Gürtel und Hosenträger wechseln". Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ↑ "iPhone X will allow customers to 'show off their wealth': VC investor". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ↑ Kharpal, Arjun (2017-06-20). "Op-Ed: Macron's vision to make France a 'country of unicorns' requires a big shift in mentality". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
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