Octopus Ventures is launching a new $140 million fund

Octopus Ventures is launching a new $140 million (£92 million) fund called Octopus Opportunities.

The London-based VC firm, which usually invests in early stage startups, will use the new fund to keep backing the companies in its portfolio as they develop. It will also start making later stage investments in other successful European businesses.

Investments will range from £250,000 to £25 million.

Octopus took part in Shopa's $11 million (£7.2 million) Series A round in February before the shopping app shut down last month, and has also backed companies like Zoopla and YPlan. Its portfolio contains quite a few fintech companies too, including money transfer firm Currency Fair and bitcoin analytics and storage startup Elliptic.

Octopus Opportunities has already made its first investment. The fund teamed up with Google Ventures to lead a $60 million (£39.4 million) Series C round in Secret Escapes, a British travel deals website that bills itself as "the worst-kept secret in luxury travel."