Claret Capital Partners closed a €575 million growth debt fund on 7 September, a 94% step-up on the €297 million it raised for the predecessor fund in 20221. Growth debt lends against future revenue rather than against assets, so a company borrows without issuing shares and without a valuation event. Claret joined the Open Cosmos syndicate announced a week later, which is the pattern the instrument suits: a company with revenue history that wants capital without dilution. The British Business Bank reached the same instrument from the other end in July, proposing a debt fund for aerospace suppliers rather than an equity one. Doubling a fund of this kind in four years says the European lenders now believe there are enough such companies to lend to, which is a quieter claim about the market than any equity round makes, and a more testable one.
Claret closes €575m debt fund
Claret Capital Partners closed a €575 million growth debt fund on 7 September, a 94% step-up on the €297 million it raised for the predecessor fund in 2022.
European growth debt capacity has nearly doubled since 2022 at this one lender.
Deep Analysis
Claret Capital Partners, the same firm that took part in Open Cosmos's funding round, has finished raising a €575m fund. Unlike a normal investment fund that buys shares in companies, this one lends money to growing companies, a type of financing called venture debt. The new fund is almost double the size of The Firm's previous one, which closed at €297m in 2022, suggesting lenders see more demand for this kind of loan from growth-stage European companies than they did four years ago.
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