The value of angel investment deals targeting companies based in Western Europe reached the highest-recorded result for any month in the entire year to date in October, representing the second consecutive increase month-on-month, according to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk.
In total, there have been 47 deals worth an aggregate EUR 432 million announced in October, representing a decline by a single deal by volume, while value more than doubled from 48 deals worth EUR 167 million in September. Similarly, on a 12-month comparison, volume was down 10 per cent while value improved 62 per cent from 52 deals valued at a combined EUR 266 million in October 2018.
However, as we move into the holiday months, November has slowed down significantly compared to October’s 12-month high, with just nine deals worth EUR 27 million having been signed off so far. It is worth noting there are still ten days until the end of November and therefore there is time for the four-week period to rebound, as we have seen many times before. On a positive note, each of the nine deals recorded during the month to date all had a known value. The largest of these topped EUR 10 million and involves UK-based residential real estate manager IMMO Investment Technologies UK raising EUR 11 million in a series A round of funding, involving angel investor Mato Peric, as well as fund managers Talis Capital, DST Global Advisors and HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Adviser, among others.
UK-based targets featured in six of the nine deals signed off in November, while Spain featured in two of these and France was targeted in one transaction. Of the UK-based companies, one in particular stood out as drug discovery simulation platform Turbine Simulated Cell Technologies raised seed funding worth EUR 3 million from Vishal Gulati and Ester Dyson, as well as o2h, Delin Ventures and Atlantic Internet. This deal was third-largest among 14 others to target a Western European custom computer programming service provider announced in 2019 to date. The top deal involves French image recognition and analysis developer Deppomatic raising EUR 6 million from Bertrand Diard, among others.
Globally, the largest UK-based target by angel investors in November placed 14th behind businesses in the US and Asia Pacific, including Chinese smart car manufacturer Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology, which raised EUR 363 million from He Xiaopeng, Xiaomi and other investors. There were a total 181 angel investments worth EUR 1,265 million announced globally in October, compared to 153 deals worth EUR 967 million in September. November is slightly behind, with ten days still to go until the end of the month, as 93 deals worth EUR 791 million have been signed off.
To sum up, October exceeded all expectations and was the largest month for angel investment in Western Europe since the start of 2019. There are still ten days to go in November for high-valued investments to be announced to keep up the growth recorded in October; however, the fact that all deals in the month to date have a known value is something positive to take into the start of the holiday season.
© Zephyr