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Blossom Capital founder Ophelia Brown is tired of answering questions about her gender

By
Polina Marinova
Polina Marinova
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By
Polina Marinova
Polina Marinova
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 23, 2020, 9:41 AM ET

This article originally ran in Term Sheet, Fortune’s newsletter about deals and dealmakers. Sign up here.

Europe has been quietly killing it when it comes to venture capital. Limited partners continue to pour cash into funds, with first-time fund closes on pace to hit a record high in seven years, according to Pitchbook data. What’s more, funding rounds in Europe involving U.S. investors jumped to $16.6 billion last year, up from $10.9 billion in 2018, according to data from Dealroom.

Now, more and more European-based firms are wooing limited partners to pour large sums of capital into their VC funds. Just last week, London-based Felix Capital raised $300 million for its third venture fund. 

Blossom Capital has raised $185 million for its second fund to invest in early-stage startups in Europe. The vehicle comes less than a year after its inaugural $85 million fund, which is ranked in the top 5% of those raised in the U.S. and Europe last year, according to data from Cambridge Associates and Preqin.

My colleague Jeremy Kahn interviewed Blossom founder Ophelia Brown, who previously worked at one of Europe’s most established VC firms Index Ventures. Jeremy asked her my least favorite question: What’s it like to be a woman and a founding partner of your own firm in the still male-dominated venture capital sector? 

I get asked a variation of this question about working as a reporter covering a male-dominated industry. Brown answered it perfectly:

“It really annoys me because I don’t think this should be part of the discussion anymore,” she said. “People should be assessing us on our performance, the same way they do with any manager. The female part should be removed out of the equation.”

Brown added that diversity is an important factor in Blossom’s approach—but she doesn’t like to view diversity through the singular lens of gender. “It is important to have a diverse partnership, but diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and upbringing,” she says. “They’re all important.”

Mic drop. 

Read the full story here.

PS. Bull Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the markets, launched this week. Subscribe for no-BS insight from Bernhard Warner, our senior finance editor. Sign up here.

PPS. Our new FORTUNE: Global Business News app just launched too. It features expert curation, essential daily analysis, and every story in every magazine issue. You can find the new app in the Apple app and Google Play store.

Polina Marinova
Twitter: @polina_marinova
Email: polina.marinova@fortune.com

VENTURE DEALS

- Bounce, an India-based shared mobility company, raised $105 million in Series D funding. Accel and B Capital led the round, and were joined by investors including Accel Partners India, Chiratae Ventures, Falcon Edge, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Qualcomm Ventures and Sequoia Capital India.

- Tink, a Sweden-based open banking platform, raised €90 million ($99.8 million) in funding. Dawn Capital, HMI Capital and Insight Partners co-led the round, and were joined by investors including Heartcore Capital, ABN AMRO Ventures and BNP Paribas’ venture arm, Opera Tech Ventures.

- Front, a San Francisco-based developer of a collaborative work email platform, raised $59 million in Series C funding. Atlassian co-CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes; Atlassian President Jay Simons; Okta COO and co-founder Frederic Kerrest;Qualtrics co-founders Ryan and Jared Smith; and Zoom CEO Eric Yuan co-led the round, and were joined by investors including Sequoia Capital, Initialized Capital, and Anthos Capital.

- Socotra, a San Francisco-based cloud-based platform for the insurance sector, raised $15.2 million in Series B funding. Brewer Lane Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Portag3 Ventures, 8VC, and MS&AD Ventures.

- Proxyclick, a Belgium-based provider of enterprise visitor management software, raised $15 million in Series B funding. Five Elms Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including  JOIN Capital. 

- Unito, a Canada-based integration solution for workflow automation, raised $10.5 million in Series A funding. Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Mistral Venture Partners, Real Ventures, and Tom Williams.

- Promethium, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based augmented data management provider, raised $6 million in funding. .406 Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Zetta Venture Partners.

- Thundra, a Boston-based provider of application management, security, and compliance, raised $4 million in Series A funding. Battery Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including York IE and Berkay Mollamustafaoglu.

- TriggerMesh, a Cary, N.C.-based developer of a serverless management platform for managing functions and event triggers, raised $3 million in seed funding. Index Ventures and Crane Venture Partners co-led the round.

HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES DEALS

- Immuneering Corporation, a Cambridge, Mass.-based provider of genetic, genomic, and proteomic data analysis services for pharmaceutical companies, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Boxcar PMJ led the round. 

- Elypta, a Sweden-based molecular diagnostics firm, raised €6.1 million in seed funding. Industrifonden and Sciety led the round, and was joined by investors including Nina Capital and Chalmers Ventures.

PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

- Gryphon Investors acquired Ncontracts, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based provider of integrated risk management software and services for the financial services industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed. 

OTHER DEALS

- Fiduciary Trust Company International agreed to acquire The Pennsylvania Trust Company, a Radnor, Penn.-based wealth management firm. Financial terms weren't disclosed.  

- Grain Management acquired a majority interest in Summit Vista, Inc (dba Summit Broadband), an Orlando, Fla.-based provider of a fiber-optics telecommunication services,  from Cable Bahamas Ltd. Financial terms weren't disclosed. 

EXITS

- Busuu acquired Verbling, a Palo Alto, Calof.-based live video tutoring company. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Verbling had raised approximately $1 million from investors including Bullpen Capital, FundersClub, and DFJ.

FIRMS + FUNDS

- Anzu Partners, a Billerica, Mass.-based venture capital and private equity firm, raised $190 million for its second fund, Anzu Industrial Capital Partners II L.P. 

- Wynnchurch Capital, L.P, a private equity firm, raised $2.277 billion for its fifth private equity fund, Wynnchurch Capital Partners V, L.P.

PEOPLE

- Kunal Soni joined Morgan Stanley Investment Management as a managing director.

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About the Author
By Polina Marinova
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