Closing of Holtzbrinck Ventures Fund at EUR177m

MUNICH, January 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- German Startup Scene Gets Major Boost by Holtzbrinck Ventures Investment

- Strong Portfolio With Brands Like Groupon, brands4friends and Zalando

Holtzbrinck Ventures is pleased to confirm that it has closed its fourth Fund, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Fund IV at EUR177m, raising capital from both Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck ("Holtzbrinck") and funds managed by HarbourVest Partners, LLC ("HarbourVest").

Holtzbrinck Ventures will continue to execute its strategy of investing in promising early stage companies within the new media sector, which has been consistently successful over the last 12 Years.

Holtzbrinck Ventures is also pleased to announce that it will now operate as a fully independent venture fund. Taking this step, Holtzbrinck Ventures becomes the leading independent seed investor in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Holtzbrinck will continue its strong support of Holtzbrinck Ventures through its investment in the new Fund. Holtzbrinck Ventures has invested in over 80 new media companies since 1998 and has founded companies like Parship and Experteer, making it one of the largest start-up investors in Europe with a focus on digital businesses. Successful exits include, amongst others, StudiVZ.net, MyHammer.com, Bol.com and most recently brands4friends (acquired by eBay) with a large number of promising, current investments remaining including category leaders such as Groupon, Zalando, Adscale and eDarling.

As the consumer internet sector develops more rapidly and presents an increasing number of highly compelling opportunities, the new fund structure backed by Holtzbrinck and HarbourVest enables Holtzbrinck Ventures to offer entrepreneurs sufficient capital to build their companies. A dedicated pool of capital will be available for seed investments fueled by a "fast forward" program, enabling a fast and pragmatic way of investing.

Martin Weber, Partner of Holtzbrinck Ventures, commented: "The level of support shown by our existing investor Holtzbrinck has been very encouraging, and we are also delighted to welcome HarbourVest as a new investor both of whom we look forward to working with in the coming years."

As part of the fundraising, Holtzbrinck contributed a large part of its existing new media portfolio to HV Ventures Fund IV and the Holtzbrinck Ventures team will continue managing the portfolio under the current brand in a newly formed entity.

Peter Wilson, Managing Director of HarbourVest Partners (U.K.) Limited, commented: "Working with Holtzbrinck Ventures is a great opportunity to partner with a team with proven success in German and digital media, as well as leverage our team's expertise in helping strong teams become independent."

Michael Brockhaus, Managing Director of Strategy and M&A of Holtzbrinck, commentated on the move: "Obtaining a professional international powerhouse like Harbourvest as a partner for Holtzbrinck Ventures does not only provide a solid basis for future investment activities in the digital media sector but also bears witness to over 10 years successful development as a corporate VC. We are happy to continue our support of the team for the next decade of successful VC activities."

Campbell Lutyens acted as financial advisor to Holtzbrinck on this transaction. Immanuel Rubin, Senior Vice President of Campbell Lutyens, commented: "Holtzbrinck Venture's ability to attract new capital in a challenging venture fundraising environment is testament to its superior long-term track-record and hands-on active investment strategy."

Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck is a family-owned company headquartered in Germany. It is active in more than 80 countries and publishes works in both print and electronic media, providing information, disseminating knowledge, and serving the needs of educational, professional, and general readership markets. The group's activities are divided among four broad business areas: Trade Publishing, Education and Science, Newspapers and Magazines, Electronic Media and Services.

Holtzbrinck Ventures has invested in internet related companies for more than a decade, predominantly investing at the start-up phase. During that period, Holtzbrinck Ventures has provided capital to more than 80 companies and is one of the few venture capital investors that have founded international market leaders themselves. Today, Holtzbrinck Ventures is the most successful German early stage investor within the internet segment. Among its investments are some of the most successful internet companies such as Groupon, Zalando, Parship, brands4friends, Experteer, StudiVZ, MyHammer, AdScale, Wooga, eDarling and GameDuell.

HarbourVest Partners is an independent global private equity firm that invests in venture capital, buyout, mezzanine debt, and distressed debt through primary partnerships, secondary purchases, and direct investments. Since the firm's first secondary investment in 1986, HarbourVest Partners has helped pioneer the global secondary market as a leading buyer. Over that time period, the team has completed more than $6.2 billion in secondary purchases. In April 2009, HarbourVest Partners completed a highly successful fundraising for Dover Street VII L.P., a dedicated secondary programme with $2.9 billion of committed capital.

Campbell Lutyens is an independent private equity advisory firm founded in 1988 focused on private equity and infrastructure Fund placements and provides specialist advice on the sale or restructuring of portfolios of private equity Fund or direct investments. The firm has offices in London, New York and Hong Kong and comprises a team of over 50 international executives, advisors and staff with global and broad-ranging expertise in the private equity and infrastructure sectors.

    Enquiries:

    Martin Weber - Partner Tel: +49(0)89-206077-0
    Holtzbrinck Ventures
    Bayerstrasse 21
    80335 Munich
    Germany

SOURCE Holtzbrinck Ventures GmbH