Tapestry VC has launched an $80 million (£60m) Fund III to double its scale and deepen its focus on backing repeat founders across Europe and North America.
At almost three times the size of the firm’s previous funds, the fund is co-anchored by a $40m commitment from new sovereign investor British Business Bank, alongside returning institutional co-anchors Railpen – a £35 billion pension plan – and Molten Ventures – a £1bn fund-of-fund.
Notable tech leaders, such as OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, are also joining the new fund.
Tapestry has also opened a flagship London office, with founder Patrick Murphy relocating from San Francisco to the UK capital after a decade of investing on both sides of the Atlantic.
Tapestry says Europe has minted 477 unicorns over the past eight years – and 60% have been started by a repeat founder. Yet in 2018, when Tapestry was founded, this ecosystem was still taking shape.
It was the first and only institutional European fund to invest in Nothing’s Seed round in 2020, before the hardware manufacturer became the unicorn it is today with $1bn in revenue.
Tapestry backed virtual events tech firm Hopin at seed, before it rocketed to a £4bn valuation – although it was later sold for a fraction of this then liquidated in the UK – while another of its early bets, Fin AI, was acquired in June by Salesforce for $3.6bn.
Tapestry says companies built by second- and third-time European founders are today worth $2.2 trillion in combined enterprise value. These 23,000 companies employ more than 2m people.
Murphy’s background as an engineer and operator means he can engage with founders on the hardest product and technical decisions; whilst partner Audrey Miller founded her own startup before switching her vocation to the other side of the table.
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“I’ve spent a decade investing on both sides of the Atlantic and the opportunity in Europe has never been clearer,” said Murphy. “There’s an entire generation of founders returning to build again with sharper instincts, deeper networks and who share our global-from-day-one ambition.”
Miller added: “Today’s repeat founders represent a generation shaped by expensive experience.
“They’ve already navigated the realities of building, scaling and exiting technology companies and, second time around, they want partners who have felt the same pressures. This is what Tapestry VC brings.”
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