Accel, the veteran London-based venture capital firm, has raised a $575m (£440m) fund, its sixth to be invested in early-stage startups in Europe and Israel.

The new fund will continue to focus on UK growth companies following investments in Monzo, GoCardless, Soldo, Tessian and WorldRemit.

Accel partner Andrei Brasoveanu told City A.M. that the UK continued to be a priority because of its talent pool of software engineers and computer scientists working in artificial intelligence. It is keen to partner with founders in areas such as enterprise software, fintech, regtech and digital health.

What Accel is looking for

This sixth fund will be managed by an investment team of seven partners and principals based in London will seek out founders who are building market-defining businesses in both the consumer and enterprise sectors at Series A stage.

Since its entrance into London in 2000, 35-year-old Accel has backed the likes of Spotify, Funding Circle and Deliveroo in earlier stages of their businesses. It also became the most recent backer of challenger bank Monzo in October last year.

The venture capital giant’s funds under management in Europe now stand at $3 billion.

Philippe Botteri, partner at Accel, said: “The European technology market has truly come of age, and is home to a vibrant ecosystem of talented entrepreneurs, seasoned executives and an ample supply of capital at all stages.

“What has struck us is the unprecedented level of activity across the region: exceptional teams and ideas are emerging everywhere, not only from the traditional hubs of London, Paris, Berlin and Stockholm but also from the likes of Prague, Milan, Aarhus and Bucharest. Europe’s successes over the last decade are inspiring a new generation of ambitious founders, and the emerging global players are growing faster than ever. It’s a golden time to be an entrepreneur in Europe.”

Further reading

European companies raise £4.4bn of venture capital in first three months