Five Key Innovation Areas at Hello Tomorrow
A summary of the innovation on show at this year’s Hello Tomorrow.
Bloc Ventures completes £5m extension round
- Round was solely filled by existing shareholders
- Deal flow pipeline very robust and accelerating
- Funds will enable further follow on portfolio investments into the portfolio and opportunistic near-term additions
- Additional fund raising targeted in 2021
London, UK – Bloc Ventures (Bloc), the venture capital company focused on early stage European deep technology investment, has completed a £5 million equity raise that follows on from its Series B round of £15 million in January 2020.
This brings the total funds raised by Bloc in its Series B round to £20 million, with a total raised to date to just under £30 million.
Over 60% of Bloc existing shareholders participated in the extension including IPGL Limited, Michael Spencer’s investment company, Stuart Roden, and Bloc’s co-Founder and Chairman, Paul Roy and Bloc’s Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Griffin.
Bloc was founded by CEO Bruce Beckloff, CTO David Leftley, technology industry veterans from ARM and Vodafone respectively, to fill the gap in Europe for expert led funding of early-stage deep technology companies. Andrew Griffin, former managing director of European technology equity research for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, joined as CFO in early 2019.
Despite the disruptions to global businesses as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, Bloc has maintained very robust deal flow pipeline, reflecting the inherent resilience and structural benefits of deep technology in sectors including high performance computing, wireless communications, networking infrastructure, and the Internet of Things . The extension will enable Bloc to complete additional near-term follow-on rounds and continue to scale its team to capture the European deep tech opportunity.
Commenting on this announcement, Bruce Beckloff, Co-Founder and CEO of Bloc said:
“The main driver for deep technology, irrespective of any crisis, remains the need for service providers to deliver more for less year-on-year. This is only possible through continual adoption of new technology. In this crisis, demand for compute and connectivity, which serve as the core target markets for Bloc’s investment strategy, has significantly increased with the demands of a remote workforce.”
Andrew Griffin, Chief Financial Officer, added: “Despite the broader slowdown in start-up funding due to coronavirus, the first half of 2020 was a record investment period for Bloc. We are in a great position to support our companies as they drive the technology that will meet infrastructure demands which COVID-19 has accelerated. We look forward to using these additional funds to further scale the next generation of European deep technology companies.”
Notes to Editors
About Bloc Ventures
Bloc Ventures is a permanent venture capital company providing expert-led funding of European deep technology. Bloc is passionate about supporting and growing the next generation of European technology businesses at the forefront of telecommunications and computing. It provides its shareholders with access to the exciting, high growth early-stage European deep-technology landscape using an approach that lowers the risk of crystallising returns.
The Bloc team has a tight complementary mix of technology, commercialisation and finance expertise borne out of extensive careers in the technology industry, including many years in corporate venture capital and M&A at Vodafone and ARM. They apply expertise via detailed due diligence pre-investment, and a hands-on collaborative approach with portfolio companies to scale them rapidly post-investment.
Bloc serves as the catalyst for its portfolio companies, moving them from early-stage to growth businesses and driving substantial value-creation. This positions Bloc as the preferred investor partner for tech businesses.
For further enquiries:
Bloc Ventures
Andrew Griffin (CFO) +44 20 3826 7100
pr@blocventures.com
Powerscourt Group (Public Relations)
James White + 44 (0) 7855 432 699
Jessica Hodgson +44 (0) 7561 424788
bloc@powerscourt-group.com
