Oakley Capital holds single close for lower mid-market fund Origin II, hitting €750m hard cap in four months

Oakley Capital, a leading pan-European private equity investor, is pleased to announce the close of Oakley Capital Origin Fund II. Building on the success of Origin I, Oakley’s first fund dedicated to the lower mid-market, Origin II received strong demand from institutional investors, including 18 new LPs in Europe, US and Asia, as well as from entrepreneurs from across Oakley’s network. The Fund reached its hard cap of €750m in four months and significantly exceeds Origin Fund I in size.

• Capital raised c.65% up on Origin Fund I
• A record year for Oakley with €4.8bn of total funds closed, including Fund V and IU Group continuation fund
• Continued focus on backing exceptional founders and business across four core sectors

The Origin strategy was conceived as an opportunity for Oakley to continue leveraging its 20-year heritage in the lower mid-market. As the Firm’s average deal size has grown, Origin captures attractive, smaller deals, enabling Oakley to maintain its connectivity and relevance with founders.

Since it closed in 2021, Origin I has consistently deployed capital across Oakley’s four core sectors including Technology, Business Services, Consumer and Education.

Other Origin I investments to date include ECOMMERCE ONE, a leading provider of merchant SaaS solutions in the DACH region pursuing a successful buy and build strategy with Oakley’s support; VICE Golf, the digitally-native golf brand enjoying strong demand in North America; and vLex, which Oakley recently supported with a transformative acquisition to become a leading legal intelligence platform with the world’s largest law firm subscriber base.

Origin II will pursue the same strategy as its predecessor fund, investing in tech-enabled businesses with enterprise values of up to €200m, leveraging Oakley’s entrepreneur network to invest behind exceptional founders and management teams in Oakley’s core sectors.

It also follows the close of Oakley’s €1bn+ continuation fund for IU Group after Fund III’s exit from the business earlier this year. In total, over the last 12 months Oakley has raised over €4.8 billion, invested over €2 billion and realised over €1.3 billion.

Oakley continues to invest in talent to support its growing and diversifying asset and investor base. Recent senior hires include Viral Mehta who joins the Origin team as Managing Director with a focus on the technology sector, and Jonathan Irwin who joins as Oakley’s Head of Origination, building on the continued professionalisation of the Oakley platform as well as supporting the Firm’s objective of sustaining its track record in proprietary deals.