The Vienna-based seed investor is set to launch its fourth fund as it looks to defy an environment of jittery technology markets.
Oliver Holle, the company's chief executive officer, said in an interview that the firm is on track to close its latest funding round in the next few months. The target size was not specified.
Holle wants to increase the share of institutional investors in the fund to two thirds from half in the previous round.
He believes that investors will look beyond the turbulence in tech stocks to embrace Speedinvest's strategy of lapping-up early-stage startups that in the company's first three rounds have included online insurance broker Wefox.
Holle said that they have so many repeat customers from their existing base that they are least worried about fund-raising.
Even as a slump in technology stocks feeds its way through to the startup universe, Speedinvest is pushing ahead with its new fund. Pressure on the valuation of privately-owned companies is caused by a drop in the price of listed entities.
It makes sense for Holle to build a portfolio that invests in early-stage companies as they will be a few years away from needing more capital. They are often more immune to the economic difficulties hitting larger peers, such as inflation and access to human capital.
The next 12 to 18 months will be more challenging for companies in a mature phase of their life cycle. The rest of the companies will have to rely on more support from their owners and more time to develop, because top-tier companies have abundant access to funding.
Getting to a listing may be a challenge.
The era of cheap money and frenzy of competing venture-capital investments may bring some upside.
Holle said that the crazy wave where every week a new seed fund pops up can come to an end.
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