Brighteye Ventures announced its $54m first close of its second fund.

Brighteye Ventures, a Paris, France and Luxembourg-based edtech venture capital firm, announced a first close of its second fund at $54 million.

The money was raised from new and existing investors, primarily international Family Offices, with a second close expected in 2021 to accommodate institutional investors.

The funds are intended to be deployed for backing 15-20 companies over the next three years at the seed and Series-A stage, with cheques of up to $5m.

Brighteye Ventures, founded in 2017 and led by the two partners Alex Latsis and Benoit Wirz, is a thesis-driven fund investing in startups that enhance learning and helping them expand across Europe and North America. Brighteye Advisors, based in Paris and London, is the sole advisor to the fund.

The new fund brought assets under management to over $112m. Brighteye will be expanding its Advisory team to support the new fund and expects to grow from three members to ten within the next 12 months. David Guerin has been promoted to Principal to manage deal making and portfolio support in Paris, and the firm expects to open a DACH region presence by summer 2022.