Fund II closed at €100 million, exceeding Entourage’s initial €75 million target within two weeks of starting fundraising.
This next round follows the success of Entourage’s first fund, which saw €1 million to €5 million investments in software-focused start-ups and SMEs, including Conveo, Aikido, Lexroom, Techwolf and many more.
“Two years ago, we started Entourage Ventures to back the next generation of legendary founders,” shares co-founder Pieterjan Bouten (also a co-founder of Showpad). He launched the venture capital firm as two vehicles: Entourage Studio, a venture studio that builds B2B SaaS companies from the ground up; and Entourage Capital, an early-stage fund investing in B2B SaaS from seed to Series A. Entrepreneurs and operators run the fund, with Maarten Mortier as partner for the Studio and Evert Beeckman as partner for Capital.
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Now the VC is “doubling down” on its support for 25 pre-seed and seed founders across Europe, and beyond, this time including AI, enterprise software, robotics and deep tech companies. "AI is reinventing software and taking intelligence into the physical world," Pieterjan argues, explaining that founders-turned-investors can add more value than traditional VCs: "Most VCs destroy value in early-stage boardrooms. Too few have built a company at scale."
Entourage will be using the same approach as with the previous fund, which it describes as “the founder-turned-VC on your cap table”. This, apparently, means building conviction, investing early and keeping founders firmly in the driver’s seat: “Many of our investors have built companies themselves... They know what it takes to build, launch and scale category-defining companies from zero to $100 million ARR and beyond.”
All of Fund II's capital comes from entrepreneurs, family offices and private investors like Pieterjan. Named backers include the founders of Aikido, Collibra and TechWolf, who experienced the difference this kind of support can make for a start-up first-hand during Fund I. Their commitments came in above €100 million, significantly more than the €75 million Entourage was aiming for.
Along with the launch of Fund II, Entourage announced it will be expanding with new offices in London and a presence in Paris. It has also appointed Erwan Gardelle, Sixtine Riescher Tuczkiewicz and Illja Schiller.
