Firms & Funds

Talis Capital, early investor in Darktrace, seeks third fund

Talis Ventures III will lead seed and Series A rounds in tech infrastructure, climate and consumer internet companies across the UK, Europe and US.

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Talis Capital announced that it has held a first close for its third early-stage fund, which is targeting $175 million.

The London-based firm will continue to lead seed and Series A rounds in technology infrastructure, consumer internet and climate and synthetic biology companies across the UK, Europe and US. So far, Fund III has invested in London-based credit security platform Bondaval and San Francisco-based carbon-negative textile company, Rubi Laboratories.

Photo of Talis Capital team.
Talis Capital team

The firm did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Founded in 2009, Talis has notched 13 exits from its portfolio, according to CrunchBase. Its biggest hit was cybersecurity company Darktrace, which was valued at $2.1 billion when it went public on the London Stock Exchange in April 2021. Talis was an early investor in the company, participating in an $18 million Series A investment in March 2015 that valued Darktrace at $80 million, according to TechCrunch.

“At Talis, we invest when we see the outlines of sustainable competitive advantage and potential for path dependence,” general partner Kirill Tashilov said in a statement. “As a result, we think more like biologists than physicists – we think of economic webs and complex adaptive systems more than we do of simple value chains. It enables us to identify the potential dominant teams and companies early in their journeys and help them build enduring businesses.”

Talis did not not disclose the names of investors in Fund III. In a June 2019 Q&A with TechCrunch, firm co-founders Matus Maar and Vasile Foca said, “We have a fairly small group of investors (30 or so) who have all been very successful in their careers as entrepreneurs or high profile business people – it’s a mix of well known families and individuals. Their experience spans a number of industries including financial services, telecoms, commodities, industrials, leisure, retail and real estate.”

In addition to Maar and Tashilov, Talis is led by general partner Thomas Williams. Co-founder Foca continues with the firm as a venture partner.