European venture capital firm Octopus has launched a new £83m growth fund to further back its portfolio of industry disruptors.

Octopus Ventures, has backed more than 100 companies in the past decade, including Zoopla, Secret Escapes and SwiftKey.

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The new fund, taking its total assets under management to £1bn, will be used to further invest in its most promising companies.

With new funding, between £250,000 and £20m will now be invested in start-ups with the potential to “disrupt their industries and change the world,” Octopus said.

Chief executive Alliott Cole said: “Today’s announcement means that we are part of a small group of investors with the resources to support start-ups from inception all the way to international scale-up.

“Over the years we have been lucky enough to work with some of Europe’s most talented entrepreneurs – the people behind world-class businesses such as Zoopla and Secret Escapes, Big Health and Bought By Many.”

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He added: “We back people we believe in, namely the pioneering entrepreneurs who are changing the world by disrupting industries.”

Octopus said the fund coincided with a new strategy to focus on the way society interacts with money, the future of healthcare and “bleeding edge technologies.”

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