Kennet V has already started to deploy the capital into new investments in Business to Business (B2B) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies. The Fund has made investments in four companies in the UK, Europe and the US and has a strong pipeline for further investments.

Kennet specialises in investing in established, high growth technology companies which are founder-owned and ‘bootstrapped’ – built without significant external capital. Typically, the investment from Kennet is the first external funding that companies receive and is used to finance sales and marketing expansion, particularly internationally.   

Kennet is one of the longest established technology growth investors in Europe with over 20 years of experience and a proven track record across multiple technology cycles. Kennet’s cumulative assets managed are approximately $1 billion.

Kennet V’s investments include companies such as Eloomi, a fast growth cloud-based Performance Management and Learning Management System and Codility, a remote-first platform for hiring software engineers. Investments from previous funds include Receipt Bank, the leading pre-accounting tool for accountants and bookkeepers, Nuxeo, a leading content services platform, Rimilia, a financial automation software platform as well as numerous exited companies.

Michael Elias, Managing Director, Kennet Partners, said: “This fund raise is an important milestone for Kennet and demonstrates the success of our partnership with Edmond de Rothschild, which has provided us access to a range of new investors. Our experience investing in technology companies through multiple market cycles, has shown that it is a good time to invest during times of profound change. We therefore believe that the coming 2-3 years will be a very interesting time to deploy a fund.”

Hillel Zidel, Managing Director, Kennet Partners, said: “The current pandemic has significantly accelerated the move to digitisation. COVID has required that people around the world change the way that they live and work. These changes are creating a structural shift that is forcing companies to turn to technological solutions. This has created strong longer-term opportunities for software businesses.”

Johnny El-Hachem, CEO, Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity1, said:  “Convinced that technology plays a critical role in the transformation of our economies and societies, our group has always been committed to promoting the emergence of innovative and value-creating companies. We partnered with Kennet, because we liked the dynamism of the team coupled with their strategy of financing businesses providing mission critical technology solutions. The COVID crisis has underscored the importance of many of these tools to business continuity.”