“We need density in the cluster!” as an entrepreneur raising a Series A round in London said to me only last week. Her frustration was born of the fact that while many VCs have headed toward seed investing, and some have raised later-stage growth funds, the fabled Series A has become a gradually rarer entity. It’s a problem we thought we’d solved in Europe until recently, but only a handful of firms are now shepherding startups along the whole pipeline now.
So it’s welcome news that three extremely connected investors have today launched Mosaic Ventures.
This new $140 million fund will be squarely aimed at early-stage investments in Europe, and specifically at the Series A end of the market.
The creation of Simon Levene, Mike Chalfen and Toby Coppel, this dream-team of investors has a black book of contacts as long as your arm.
Today they published “We love renegades who take a fresh look at the world and want to shape it their way,” on their site. The back story is that these guys are willing to fund the most ‘visionary’ companies in Europe. What does that mean? As Levene told me, it means backing entrepreneurs who want to “swing for the fences.”
Mosaic’s three founding partners have over 30 years of experience investing on both sides of the Atlantic. The trio has invested in more than 70 companies across 10 countries that together have created approximately $200 billion of value.
Levene, Chalfen and Coppel have formerly worked at a number of the top venture and investment firms in Europe and the U.S., including Index Ventures, Accel Partners, Allen & Company and Apax Partners.
In previous incarnations, all three have invested in companies, including Alibaba, Criteo, Etsy and King. Welcome to the party, guys.