Investment firm IK Partners manages to gather €2 billion for their fourth small cap investment fund.
IK Partners, a leading private equity firm, has successfully closed its IK Small Cap IV Fund (IK SC IV) with €2 billion in commitments. This fundraising effort, which took less than six months, marks a significant increase from the €1.2 billion raised for its predecessor, IK Small Cap III, in 2021.
The regional distribution of capital commitments for IK SC IV is as follows: 71% from Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), 18% from North America, and 11% from Asia. The fund targets investments in businesses within the Business Services, Healthcare, Consumer, and Industrials sectors, with enterprise values ranging between €80 million and €200 million. Additionally, it includes a dedicated Development Capital pool of €600 million aimed at investing in smaller companies valued between €20 million and €80 million.
IK Partners’ Small Cap strategy has been active since 2015, with 56 investments across four funds. The Small Cap funds have realized over €2.1 billion in proceeds, representing 128% of invested capital, which corresponds to a money multiple of 3.1x on the 25 exited investments. Since 2024 alone, IK has made 21 new investments and completed 11 exits, demonstrating active deployment and successful realizations.
The IK Small Cap IV Fund has already made its first investment and plans to continue applying the same investment strategy as previous funds while leveraging strong investor confidence. Notably, 80% of capital commitments came from existing investors across the IK platform. This strong support from existing investors underscores the trust and confidence placed in IK Partners' Small Cap strategy.
The success of the IK Small Cap IV Fund comes on the heels of other successful fundraisings, including the €505 million IK Strategic Opportunities I Fund in April 2024 and the €3.3 billion IK X Fund in April 2025. The firm's multi-strategy offering has enabled it to remain resilient in an ever-evolving landscape.
Kristian Kemppinen, Managing Partner and Head of Small Cap Strategy at IK Partners, expressed gratitude to investors for their trust, contributing to the successful close of the largest Small Cap fund to date. He also highlighted the growing investor appetite for the strategy and the strength of their local sourcing model.
With the IK Small Cap IV Fund, IK Partners continues to offer more choice and opportunity than ever before for ambitious businesses seeking long-term value creation. The fund will be deployed at a disciplined pace, according to Christopher Masek, CEO of IK Partners, who expressed satisfaction with the fund close and looked forward to continuing to support growing businesses across its portfolio.
- IK Partners, a leading private equity firm, has successfully closed its IK Small Cap IV Fund (IK SC IV) with €2 billion in commitments, demonstrating a growing investor appetite for its Small Cap strategy and strong investor confidence in its finance and investing efforts.
- The IK Small Cap IV Fund, which plans to continue applying the same investment strategy as previous funds, will focus on investing in businesses within the Business Services, Healthcare, Consumer, and Industrials sectors with enterprise values ranging between €80 million and €200 million, while also including a dedicated Development Capital pool of €600 million aimed at investing in smaller companies valued between €20 million and €80 million.
