Locations
Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom
The firm's international Emerging Companies and Venture Capital team maintained high levels of deal activity last year, dominated by Technology sector and Growth Equity financings.
European law firm Fieldfisher advised on Venture Capital and Growth Equity financing transactions with an aggregate value in excess of US$1.3 billion (€1.2 billion) in 2022 – on a par with 2021 despite a slowdown in the wider venture capital financing market.
As in previous years, the firm's Venture Capital and Growth Equity financing deal portfolio was dominated by technology deals, which accounted for over 56% of total deals by value in 2022.
Other notably active areas included professional services and the industrial/manufacturing sector.
The team continued to service its strong base of clients at Seed and Series A financing stage, but also made further inroads into later stage and Growth Equity territory for increasingly large clients.
Last year, Fieldfisher acted on:
- 120+ venture financing deals across our European offices
- US$830m in Series C+ and Growth financings for corporate and fund clients
- US$735 million of Technology deals
- US$463 million in combined Seed, Series A + B funding rounds
Deal highlights included advising:
- Phides Holding Limited on a significant growth equity investment in Marcura Holding Limited, a vertical software, data intelligence and payments platform for the maritime industry, by Marlin Equity Partners, a Los Angeles-based global investment firm.
- Irish blue economy project developer Simply Blue on a €25 million Series B investment from Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust and the Sky fund.
- Sustainable textile innovator Worn Again Technologies on a Series C round, raising £27.6 million to support the construction of an innovative textile recycling demonstration plant in Switzerland.
- Online lettings service Goodlord on a £27 million fundraising in a funding round led by specialist scale-up VC fund Highland Europe with support from Columbia Lake Partners, Finch Capital, Latitude and Oxx.
Commenting on Fieldfisher's Venture Capital and Growth Equity deal tally for 2022, corporate partner Tom Ward said:
"The calibre and variety of our client base and transactional track record continued to grow last year, with a continued emphasis on technology.
"While the last year has revealed obstacles for the Venture Capital and Growth Equity market, our experience is that growing companies with solid fundamentals and experienced funds that have been through numerous economic cycles are still finding ways to thrive.
"Notwithstanding global political and economic uncertainty, continuing challenges around rising interest rates and the cost of living crisis, our experience of Q1 2023 is that there should be robust Venture Capital deal flow in 2023."
A copy of Fieldfisher's Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Wrap 2022 can be accessed here: Fieldfisher's Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Wrap 2022.