Leadwind (KFund’s early growth fund) was officially unveiled in April 2022 and it would be an understatement to say that we haven’t been incredibly busy in the past few months. Today, we’re thrilled to announce our first five investments in leading enabling tech scale ups (Voicemod - Digibee - Quibim - Factorial - nFlux), as well as the final closing of the fund, over our initial fundraising target, at $250M.
Our first five investments characterize our thesis and will define new categories. They align with our focus on reimagining customer experiences, operational efficiencies, and future workspaces, making a tangible difference in the tech landscape:
Our journey began with the vision that disruptive enabling technologies including AI, Data Analytics, Edge Computing, 5G connectivity, Blockchain and Cloud Services will fundamentally redefine industries and set a new course for our planet.
Alongside this vision, we recognized that our ecosystem is ripe with opportunity with considerable untapped potential across both Southern Europe and Latin America, and from the very beginning we also believed that corporations could become massive distribution channels for younger tech companies. After a few months, we’re already seeing examples of this close collaboration between corporates and scaleups across our portfolio with our corporate partnerships program.
We are also strong believers in the fact that local growth funds, supporting founders with a deeper intimacy and understanding of their specific scaling up challenges, can foster local jobs’ creation and wealth generation, as we have seen happen in other countries such as Germany or France.
In our initial investments we are proud to have co-invested with some of the most relevant international venture funds, including Atomico, Goldman Sachs, CRV, Bitkraft, Partech and Creandum, confirming our initial thesis and demonstrating an exciting interplay between enabling technologies and sectors that were once considered traditional, unlocking efficiencies, and generating new possibilities for human-machine collaboration.
Following our first closing of $150M, with the support of our anchor investor Telefónica, and other relevant investors such as BBVA and Fond-ICO Next Tech, and despite the complex fundraising scenario, we have secured additional capital commitments over our initial $200M target, up to $250M, from notable investors such as Catalana Occidente, Estrella Galicia, and Proeduca Summa, among others, which add to the pool of corporate LPs that already participated in our first closing such as Global Omnium/GoHub and SATEC.
The support of AXIS-ICO through the Fond-ICO Next Tech initiative is increased to up to €100M, showcasing how the Next-Generation European funds support the mobilization of capital around innovation in Spain. We are also pleased to see well known entrepreneurs and family offices bet on Leadwind.
In the past 18 months we’ve all seen first-hand the tightening of the financial markets and tougher macroeconomic conditions, but we truly believe that now is a great time to invest and that the Europe and LATAM opportunity is bigger than ever before. We can’t wait to see what our existing and future founders in the region build over the next few years.
Not that long ago, we were only around 10 people at Kfund, all under the same roof in our Madrid headquarters. In the past couple of years a lot has changed and we’ve become bigger and, most importantly, better. We’re now a team of 23 people from different nationalities and backgrounds, with a heavy dose of operating and prior founding experience, spread across multiple locations: Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and São Paulo.
In order to surround ourselves with even more experienced people in key industries, we’ve also put together Leadwind’s advisory board, with notable experts such as Sergio Furio, Pedro Castillo, Pilar Manchón, or Nacho Vilela, who are adding considerable value to our decision-making process and will help us offer the support and market intelligence that our portfolio companies need, which we believe will be a game-changer in their scaling efforts.
We envisioned Leadwind as an extension of our existing platform at K Fund, so that we would support entrepreneurs from their earliest days until they have scaled their businesses. Surpassing our initial target has reinforced our belief that there is room in Spain for a firm with a global mindset, willing to support entrepreneurs from their earliest days through to IPO.
We are tremendously grateful to all of our investors and founders for their trust and support so far and we are truly committed to the potential of Southern Europe and LATAM disruptors and innovators.
The time is now.
Leadwind (KFund’s early growth fund) was officially unveiled in April 2022 and it would be an understatement to say that we haven’t been incredibly busy in the past few months. Today, we’re thrilled to announce our first five investments in leading enabling tech scale ups (Voicemod - Digibee - Quibim - Factorial - nFlux), as well as the final closing of the fund, over our initial fundraising target, at $250M.
Our first five investments characterize our thesis and will define new categories. They align with our focus on reimagining customer experiences, operational efficiencies, and future workspaces, making a tangible difference in the tech landscape:
Our journey began with the vision that disruptive enabling technologies including AI, Data Analytics, Edge Computing, 5G connectivity, Blockchain and Cloud Services will fundamentally redefine industries and set a new course for our planet.
Alongside this vision, we recognized that our ecosystem is ripe with opportunity with considerable untapped potential across both Southern Europe and Latin America, and from the very beginning we also believed that corporations could become massive distribution channels for younger tech companies. After a few months, we’re already seeing examples of this close collaboration between corporates and scaleups across our portfolio with our corporate partnerships program.
We are also strong believers in the fact that local growth funds, supporting founders with a deeper intimacy and understanding of their specific scaling up challenges, can foster local jobs’ creation and wealth generation, as we have seen happen in other countries such as Germany or France.
In our initial investments we are proud to have co-invested with some of the most relevant international venture funds, including Atomico, Goldman Sachs, CRV, Bitkraft, Partech and Creandum, confirming our initial thesis and demonstrating an exciting interplay between enabling technologies and sectors that were once considered traditional, unlocking efficiencies, and generating new possibilities for human-machine collaboration.
Following our first closing of $150M, with the support of our anchor investor Telefónica, and other relevant investors such as BBVA and Fond-ICO Next Tech, and despite the complex fundraising scenario, we have secured additional capital commitments over our initial $200M target, up to $250M, from notable investors such as Catalana Occidente, Estrella Galicia, and Proeduca Summa, among others, which add to the pool of corporate LPs that already participated in our first closing such as Global Omnium/GoHub and SATEC.
The support of AXIS-ICO through the Fond-ICO Next Tech initiative is increased to up to €100M, showcasing how the Next-Generation European funds support the mobilization of capital around innovation in Spain. We are also pleased to see well known entrepreneurs and family offices bet on Leadwind.
In the past 18 months we’ve all seen first-hand the tightening of the financial markets and tougher macroeconomic conditions, but we truly believe that now is a great time to invest and that the Europe and LATAM opportunity is bigger than ever before. We can’t wait to see what our existing and future founders in the region build over the next few years.
Not that long ago, we were only around 10 people at Kfund, all under the same roof in our Madrid headquarters. In the past couple of years a lot has changed and we’ve become bigger and, most importantly, better. We’re now a team of 23 people from different nationalities and backgrounds, with a heavy dose of operating and prior founding experience, spread across multiple locations: Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and São Paulo.
In order to surround ourselves with even more experienced people in key industries, we’ve also put together Leadwind’s advisory board, with notable experts such as Sergio Furio, Pedro Castillo, Pilar Manchón, or Nacho Vilela, who are adding considerable value to our decision-making process and will help us offer the support and market intelligence that our portfolio companies need, which we believe will be a game-changer in their scaling efforts.
We envisioned Leadwind as an extension of our existing platform at K Fund, so that we would support entrepreneurs from their earliest days until they have scaled their businesses. Surpassing our initial target has reinforced our belief that there is room in Spain for a firm with a global mindset, willing to support entrepreneurs from their earliest days through to IPO.
We are tremendously grateful to all of our investors and founders for their trust and support so far and we are truly committed to the potential of Southern Europe and LATAM disruptors and innovators.
The time is now.
