Rocket Internet Fund Raises $420 Million for Startup Investments

  • Fund gets cash from U.S., European long-term investors
  • CEO Samwer sees competitive upside for Rocket, investors

Rocket Internet CEO Oliver Samwer.

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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Rocket Internet SE raised $420 million in a new fund to invest in European Internet companies at a time when it has come under increasing pressure to reduce losses and as startups’ access to capital may become tighter.

Rocket contributed $50 million and the company shareholders will recoup as much as 25 percent of the returns, provided investors in the fund reach at least 8 percent in annual returns, the Berlin-based company said Tuesday in an e-mailed presentation. European and U.S. investors seeking to back startups Rocket believes in have joined the fund, the Berlin-based company said.