HedgeCo.Net — Sprints, the London-based growth investor known as an early backer of Revolut and Vinted, has held the final close of its fifth fund at its €725 million hard cap. The firm said the oversubscribed vehicle is about 40% larger than Fund IV, and fund tracker Private Equity List counted Sprints V as the largest European fund announced in the week of October 12 to 18.
Sprints said more than half of Fund V has already been committed to new and existing investments, according to Private Equity List, meaning a sizeable share of the capital is effectively spoken for at final close. The firm writes late-stage, growth checks into European technology companies, and investments listed on its website include Flightradar24, willhaben, Modular Finance and Base.
The close stands out against the European growth-capital backdrop. Private Equity List tallied 12 new private equity and venture funds announced that week, with $3.8 billion in headline sizes and a median fund of $202 million; Sprints and Consonance Capital Partners’ $1.35 billion healthcare fund together made up about 57% of the total. Vessel noted that setting a hard cap points to fund-size discipline relative to the firm’s typical check size.
For limited partners, the raise is evidence that capital continues to concentrate in managers with visible marks and realizations. Sprints’ portfolio has benefited from late-stage liquidity events, including secondary share sales at Vinted and Revolut highlighted on the firm’s news page.
The test for Fund V will be deployment pace and pricing discipline. With more than half the fund already allocated, the remaining capital will be concentrated in a small number of late-stage positions, and LPs will watch whether the firm can keep entry valuations disciplined while competing with larger crossover and growth investors for Europe’s best-performing technology companies.