Nauta Opens Fund VI With a EUR 60 Million First Close, Half From the British Business Bank and About Three-Quarters From Returning Investors

Nauta, a European early-stage venture firm investing in B2B software and deep tech, announced a EUR 60 million first close for its sixth fund on 15 October 2026. The British Business Bank anchored the raise with EUR 30 million, half of the total, and about three-quarters of first-close investors had backed earlier Nauta funds. The target is EUR 150 million to EUR 200 million, with the final close planned for the second half of 2027.

What the close shows

The bank is the anchor investor and has now backed four consecutive Nauta funds. The other named investors are SETT, Merifin Capital and Institut Catala de Finances, alongside unnamed institutions and family offices from the UK, continental Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The returning share is measured by investors, not by capital, and Nauta has not said how much of the EUR 60 million came from repeat backers. The fund invests from pre-seed to Series A, and Michael Laycock, the bank's investment director for funds, and Carles Ferrer Roqueta, a general partner at Nauta, were named in the announcement.

How much is left to raise

EUR 60 million is 40% of the low end of the target and 30% of the high end. To reach the target Nauta needs to raise 2.5 to 3.3 times the first close, or EUR 90 million to EUR 140 million more, our arithmetic. If it gets there, Nauta says its assets under management would reach nearly EUR 750 million, a projection rather than a current figure. With one investor supplying 50% of the capital, the rest of the first close came from a group of investors that together contributed the other EUR 30 million.

What GPs should note

This is our reading, not something Nauta has said. A first close built on an anchor and returning investors is the pattern we described in our note on how smaller managers should plan a first close. Put the returning-investor share on the first page of your deck, but expect new investors to ask how much of the first close one LP supplied. The same logic applies in other regions, as the EUR 455 million first close for a Danish defence fund showed, and it matters more in a market where the UK venture fundraising record is concentrated in a few large firms.

What to watch next

Watch for a second close, and for whether the bank's share of the fund shrinks as new investors join. FundLinx members can see which LPs back first-time and early closes.

FundLinx Intelligence | FundLinx.ai