Claret Capital Partners has wrapped its fourth European growth debt fund at €575M, overshooting the €500M it originally aimed to raise and keeping its place as Europe’s largest independent manager in the niche.
Including affiliated discretionary mandates, the fund provides growth debt to technology, life sciences and impact-focused companies across Europe. It has already deployed 32% of its capital, backing more than 27 companies including B2B buy-now-pay-later platform Billie, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Cinclus Pharma, commercial real estate software provider PRODA, biotech Inventiva and sales intelligence platform Surfe.
More than 90% of the fund’s capital comes from institutional investors, including European and North American pension funds, two European banks, and sovereign-linked lenders such as the European Investment Fund, the British Business Bank, Germany’s KfW and Ireland’s ISIF. An additional €70M was raised through Banca March via an ELTIF structure for private wealth investors, with family offices and entrepreneur commitments making up the remainder.
Claret offers flexible, lower-dilution financing to companies pursuing international expansion, acquisitions and product development, with initial investments of €3.2M that can grow to over €50M over time.
The fund comprises €440M in direct commitments and €135M from affiliated discretionary mandates. Managing partner David Bateman said the final close exceeded expectations and reflected continued support from limited partners and co-investors. Partner Johan Kampe said demand for flexible, non-dilutive capital should keep accelerating as equity markets stay selective.
The close follows Claret’s previous €297M fund from 2022. Portfolio exits since then include Cytora’s acquisition by Applied Systems, Endomag’s acquisition by Hologic, Logpoint’s acquisition by Summa Equity, Lyst’s acquisition by ZOZO and Tiqets’ acquisition by Expedia. Claret says it has deployed more than €1.5B across over 210 companies through successive fund vintages, and plans to add a Berlin presence after establishing a Paris team.
