Keeping up with our goal of tracking the most active and well-known names in the venture ecosystems across the whole of Europe we’ve come to talk about its (still) biggest startup ecosystem - UK and Northern Ireland!
It's hard to put it in words how large of a thing the UK’s tech ecosystem is, so let numbers speaks for themselves - the UK has produced 2 times more $1bn+ companies than the 2nd closest contender (Germany) or 3 next contenders on the continent combined and its startup factory isn’t even planning to slow down!
Another astonishing statistic you can look at is the UK’s tech ecosystems’ valuation comparable in size ($1tn+ as reported by Yahoo finance) to the combined GDP ($1.2tn as reported by PZU) of most CEE countries.
Furthermore, all of us are aware of UK’s impeccable R&D centers represented by names like Oxbridge, UCL, Kings’ College, LSE, and many many more.
So after such an enrtylines, let’s move on to discover Top 30 VC funds from the UK and Northern Ireland investing in early-stage startups!
Accel
Geography: Global
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: $500k - $1M Seed tickets and $50M - $100M for growth-stage
Company stage: Multi-stage
The very first on our list, Accel is a global venture firm spanning its presence across three huge tech hubs between an axis of Silicon Valley - London - Bangalore which gives it a very strong insight into what’s going on in the venture scene all over the world. Although the firm is sector-agnostic, it does invest thematically which means there will be times when Accel is actively searching for the next big thing in automation, security or literally any other promising niche they’re interested in. Over its almost a 4-decade history, the firm has backed giants like a file-hosting pioneer Dropbox, one of the most popular and sophisticated website builders Webflow, Meta (Facebook), Spotify, and many, many more.
Index Ventures
Geography: Europe and the US
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: early to growth stages
The very next on the list, Index Ventures is a global multistage VC investing in early to growth-stage startups. If you end up raising from Index, you may count on extensive operational support presented through their in-house hiring team, connections to prospective early adopters among a large number of high-profile companies as well as a wider expert network across sales, finance and engineering talent. Over the years, the firm has backed startups like a digital workplace platform Notion, a website builder Squarespace and the now-famous VoIP and instant messaging platform Discord.
Local Globe
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: New Native APIs, Tools for Indies and SMBs, Finance & Insurance, Business Automation, Health & Wellbeing, Human Capital & Collaboration
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed and pre-seed
The up and coming firm, Local Globe is a London-based VC betting on Europe’s most promising pre-seed and seed startups. Upon closer observation, you may also find they’re most enthusiastic about an area they dubbed “the new Palo Alto” - an area between Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, and UK’s biggest tech hubs where the majority (65%) of their bets are. When approaching a fund, you may notice that everyone from the Local Globe’s team is involved in all aspects of the fund’s investments/operations so you can expect each and every team member to be a potential gateway towards landing your next round. Although the firm has a number of preferred sectors, they are open to opportunities across every niche and/or industry.
Seedcamp
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: £300K average on £400K - £1M Pre-seed round and around £500K at £1M-£3M Seed round
Company stage: Pre-seed and Seed
The next on our list, Seedcamp is one of the most active seed investors in Europe. The fund usually prefers to be the first investor on the cap table and will go as far as to consider the pre-revenue and pre-product startups across any sector or industry. The firm will typically lead a pre-seed round but prefer to follow some other investor at the seed stage. After the round, Seedcamp usually connects startups to their later-stage partners among tier 1 corporate and private VCs as well as join the eventual funding rounds. Over their 15-year history, their portfolio companies have raised over $7B in follow-on-funding and some (though not all!) of their biggest success stories include unicorns like neobank Revolut, insurtech wefox and a videoconferencing provider Hopin,
Hoxton Ventures
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: from $1M to $3M
Company stage: Seed and pre-seed
Hoxton Ventures is a London-based VC mostly investing in seed and occasionally pre-seed startups. When selecting their next opportunity, Hoxton prefers to focus on three things: existing customer traction, a unique product, and a great team. After making an investment, the firm usually focuses on helping startups relocate the business to the US and puts its hands-off, involving itself only at the critical junctures like finding the right acquisition/investment partner, strategic hires, or offering relevant market intelligence. Some of the notable companies Hoxton has backed include the cybersecurity startup Dartktrace, digital health company Babylon Health and one of the biggest game developers Epic Games.
anthemis
Geography: Global
Preferred industries: Finance
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Pre-seed to IPO
Anthemis is a global-minded venture fund and studio seeking all sorts of transformational innovation within finance across the globe. While selecting opportunities to invest into, Anthemis optimizes for founders with positive, non-zero-sum thinking and drive to make a positive impact on the evolution of the financial system. Moreover, the firm not only invests but is also establishing its foothold on being a go-to place for all fintech initiatives by developing its own media and partaking in research for longer-form industry “Beyond the Technological Revolution”. Over its history, the Anthemis’s team has backed unicorns like a money app Monese, cap table startup Carta and a buzzy trading platform etoro.
Octopus Ventures
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: Fintech, Health, Deep tech, Consumer, B2B Software
Investment ticket: from £1M to £10M
Company stage: Seed to Series B
The forthcoming fund on our list, Octopus Ventures is a venture vehicle of a large PE fund Octopus Group investing in seed to series B startups. The firm considers any European companies having a presence in the UK. The typical seed-stage ticket of theirs amounts to £1M. If you end up raising a round with Octopus, you can expect the support of a £12.5bn-strong investment group as well as the valuable network and resources that comes with it. The fund has backed a number of interesting companies where, among others are fashion marketplace Depop, mobility-as-a-service startup Trafi as well as a car marketplace Cazoo.
Balderton Capital
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed to early-growth
The next fund in the selection, Balderton Capital is an experienced multistage investor targeting seed to early growth startups across Europe. In its search for opportunities, the firm does not shy away from any particular industry and considers startups from all sectors and areas. If you end up partnering up with Balderton, you will have all of the benefits of a high-profile VC like connections and capital in addition to the in-house legal, marketing, talent, and finance experts ready to help you and your business. Over its more-than-a-2-decade history, the firm has raised champions like call-center SaaS Aircall, grocery delivery startup JOKR, and an ecommerce retailer The Hut Group.
Notion Capital
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: SaaS, B2B tech, cybersecurity, automation and marketplaces
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Post-Seed
The next from the list, Notion Capital is a post-seed venture firm focusing on B2B technology and SaaS - an area where they had backed more than 60 companies throughout their more-than-a-decade experience. In addition to it, the Notion’s team is also found and comprised of B2B SaaS founders which very well explains their considerate list of unicorn investments like a supply chain network platform Tradeshift, AI-powered translation startup Unbabel, property management system Mews, and more.
SFC Capital
Geography: UK
Preferred industries: B2B Software, Fintech, Green Tech, MedTech, Life Sciences, and Consumer
Investment ticket: from £100k to £300k
Company stage: Seed and pre-seed
SFC Capital is a London-based early-stage VC dedicated solely and exclusively to the UK’s tech ecosystem. The fund usually leads the first-ever round and it also habitually co-invests with the business angels. The has made 350+ investments over its 10-year operations which is… quite a lot! The firm would also consider proposals coming from any sector or industry but they’re mostly interested in B2B Software, Fintech, Green Tech, MedTech, Life Sciences, and Consumer spaces. Some well-known portfolio startups of theirs include KYC platform Onfido, sales intelligence software Cognism and a sustainable packaging company Transcend Packaging.
Ascension
Geography: UK
Preferred industries: HealthTech/Life Science, those connected to tackling “poverty premium” issues, as well as those Eliminating childhood obesity for low-income households in the UK, and the topic of New Work (income generation)
Investment ticket: Depends on the vertical (to learn more check out this page)
Company stage: Seed to Series A
The next on the list, Ascension is an impact-driven VC from London largely investing at pre-seed and seed stages. When considering their next investment opportunity, the firm expects a strong dedicated team & defensible technology and, some less common characteristics like 12-18 months of runway assuming ZERO revenue growth. If you end up raising from Ascension, you can expect a well-versed and focused partner, network of experts, and access to various perks and exclusive supplier deals for your startup. Some of their investments include companies like open banking provider Credit Kudos, rentals KYC platform Homeppl and even suppliers startup feast it.
Atomico
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: Digital Life & Play, Digital Work, Empowered Individuals, Engaged consume,r Enterprise Data Automation, Frontier Tech, Future of Finance, Future of food, Improving health, Industrial Automation, Internet Infrastructure, Mobility, Planet positive
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Series A+
The forthcoming firm on the list, Atomico is quite a famous and successful VC found run by Skype’s founder Niklas Zennström. In its approach, the firm seems to be thematically driven meaning they are capable of giving you a decision fast and building from there. The fund also puts a lot of emphasis on its environmental and societal impact by committing to what they call “Conscscious scaling” which’s a framework of dialogue to mitigate the negative effects of their portfolio’s models or technology. The firm’s commitment to European tech ecosystem goes one step further in: growing the next generation of the continent’s angel investors and, commitment to ESG, diversity/inclusion, and many more.
Passion Capital
Geography: UK
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Early-stage
The next in our selection, Passion Captial is a VC backing the UK-based startups in various sectors and industries. The fund is aiming to be the first investor and correspondingly - targets companies at the earliest possible stages. When selecting such opportunities the Passions’ team searches (as you may guess) for passion and ability of the founders they’re choosing. Some of the firms’ investments include a recent payment processing unicorn GoCardless, giant neobank Monzo and an API integration platform Tray.io.
Molten Ventures
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: from £2M to £50M
Company stage: Series A - B
The next in the selection, Molten Ventures (previously known as Draper Esprit) is a London-based series A-B VC and a fund of funds for Europe’s seed firms as a part of the global Draper Venture Network. All that said, we can definitely attest to the wideness of the fund’s network across the globe and a pretty good track record of backing the industry-shaping companies. The fund’s investments include companies like data infrastructure unicorn Aiven, RPA market leader UiPath, and a consumer review platform Trustpilot.
Bessemer Venture Partners
Geography: Global
Preferred industries: Entreprise, Cloud, Consumer, Crypto/Web3, Healthcare and Vertical software
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: early to growth stages
The next fund on the list, Bessemer Venture Partners is a venture capital firm founded by Henry Phillips of Carnegie (yes, the one who taught you and me how to make friends and influence people) Steel. Think there’s no need to extrapolate on why it’s a good idea to partner with someone who’s stayed in the business for more than a hundred years - so I’d rather point you to some groundbreaking successes of theirs: Linkedin, Shopify, Wix, Yelp, Twilio, Pinterest - you name it! Then lastly, we also think its super humble of them to share the biggest contemporary tech companies they haven’t invested in and why: Google, Apple, Facebook, Airbnb, Intel, and a good bunch of other HUGE household names.
Episode 1
Geography: UK
Preferred industries: B2B software
Investment ticket: £500k – £2M
Company stage: Seed
Episode 1 is a venture firm searching for the UK’s most promising B2B software companies. The fund is formed by a well-balanced team of former entrepreneurs and investors with strong connections to the Silicon Valley always ready to help and support their portfolio on the way towards shaping the first the go-to-market strategy, getting the first hires as well as helping make the crucial intros to the right people. The fund’s early-stage investments include companies like the now-famous music discovery app Shazam, the real estate platform Zoopla and a consumer research startup Attest.
Northzone
Geography: Europe and East Coast US
Preferred industries: fintech, healthtech, edutech, mobility tech and proptech.
Investment ticket: $1M - $25M
Company stage: Seed to series B
The up and coming VC on the list, Northzone is a global VC with a history dating back all the way to the distant 1996. When choosing where to put their bets next, the firm does not have a set focus but rather fluctuates thematically, leading into investments in companies from various sectors that are sometimes only slightly united under some common theme. The fund is also flexible in terms of their investment criteria, leaving behind things like a set ownership target, $100k MRR, and some other conventional limiting factors. The firm is most known for its bets on startups like the streaming service giant Spotify, buy-now-pay-later unicorn Klarna as well as the biggest Russian classified advertising website Avito.
MMC Ventures
Geography: London
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Pre-seed to and Series A
MMC Venturess is a VC solely and exclusively focused on investing in best tech startups from London. The fund has been at the forefront of the city’s venture scene for more than two decades and offers a tailor-made suite of funding options to choose from: a pre-seed program, a seed fund, and a scale-up vehicle to follow on with their past bids. Considering the aforementioned, MMC has a great capacity to support its portfolio through various stages and business junctures. In the past, the firm has backed companies like cloud service startup New Voice Media (acquired by Vonage), AI platform for PR and communications Signal AI and a decision intelligence company Peak.
Fuel Ventures
Geography: UK
Preferred industries: Marketplaces, Platforms, and SaaS
Investment ticket: £150k - £3M
Company stage: Pre-seed to series A
Fuel Ventures is a London-based venture investor looking to back UK’s most promising marketplaces, platforms, and SaaS startups. The firm is found and led by a team of entrepreneurs who are willing to assist its portfolio companies with more than just capital, helping whenever they can to ensure continuous growth and development of their startups. The team usually invests at the pre-seed and seed stages, putting together £150k - £3M checks into each one of their bets. The Fuel’s investments include but are not limited to the SaaS payments infrastructure Paddle, e-commerce operator Heroes, and an online marketplace OnBuy.
Force Over Mass
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: B2B across Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed to Series B
A forthcoming on the selection, Force Over Mass (FOM) is an early-stage investor backing B2B startups across Europe. The fund prefers to invest in Series A - B companies with a found product-market fit looking for expansion capital. When selecting the years’ lineup of investments, the firm prioritizes businesses having a strong model and defensible technology, backing 10 to 15 startups each year. Over the years the FOM has invested in startups like payments network platform Banked, revenue-based finance startup Outfund and agritech intelligence platform Hummingbird Technologies.
Connect Ventures
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: B2B/B2C SaaS, Fintech, Digital Health and Future of work
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed and pre-seed
Connect Ventures is a seed-stage investor striving to find (as they neatly put it) the “opinionated products, crafted with love and loved by many” which is then taken apart in their two-part thesis (1st one and 2nd). In brief - the company is targeting product-led software companies led by contrarians with a high conviction and at times assertive vision for the future. When considering investment opportunities, the team reviews and takes decisions only in unison with its three partners, after that they get all-in and immediately start working on a winning strategy. The bets Connect has taken in the past include companies like the leading feedback software Typeform, healthy-habits app SecondNature and the transport app Citymapper.
ACF Investors
Geography: UK
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: £100k - £1M
Company stage: Early-stage
ACF Investors is a London-based early-stage coFund teaming up with business angels and syndicates to back UK’s most promising startups. Given its structure, the firm will be a good partner of choice for those of you looking to combine the hands-on support of angel investors as well as the sizable capital injections of a more traditional VC. Over its histroy, the firm has backed companies like easy-to-cook recipe box unicorn Gousto, corporate catering company City Pantry (acquired by Just Eat), and a motion design software Cavalry.
Albion VC
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: B2B software/healthcare, and deeptech
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Early-stage
The forthcoming fund on the list, Albion VC is a mature firm that is chiefly looking to back B2B software and healthcare businesses raising the series A and early-stage research spinouts. The fund has an evergreen structure which means they have a good capacity to stay around for longer than a usual 3-5 year exit horizon and support you throughout good and bad times. Over its two-decade history, the Albion has backed startups like Booking.com, a “brand safety” platform Grapeshot (acquired by Oracle), and gene therapy company Orchard Therapeutics.
Playfair Capital
Geography: Global but gives preference to the London-based startups
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic with some exceptions
Investment ticket: £100k - £600k
Company stage: Seed and pre-seed
The next on the list, London’s Playfair Capital is an early-stage, sector-agnostic VC with a preference for deep tech (especially AI/ML and computer vision), B2B, SaaS, and marketplaces. The firm is founded and fully funded by one person (Federico Pirzio-Biroli) which translates into Playfair’s ability to make decisions quickly and decisively. The fund usually backs 6-8 companies a year and is aiming to help the founders in all the ways available: sales, hiring, business modeling, and more. Over their more-than-a-decade history, Playfair has invested in companies like one of the most noticeable contemporary hedge funds Numerai, street-level map platform Mapillary (acquired by Facebook, maritime safety and navigation software Orca AI.
Forward Partners
Geography: UK
Preferred industries: E-commerce, Marketplace, and Applied AI
Investment ticket: £200k - £1M Pre-seed and £300k—£2M for Seed rounds
Company stage: Pre-seed to seed
Forward Partners is an early-stage VC and venture studio for pre-seed and seed startups. The firm has 3 focus areas where it usually looks for opportunities: ecommerce, marketplace and applied AI. In addition to the aforementioned funding options, the Forward’s team also provides revenue-based financing for those with the promising growth metrics and unwilling to give out equity. To learn more about the fund, you will have to wait a bit until their thesis get republished but until then - shoot your shot and try approaching them!
Kindred Capital
Geography: mostly UK but open to Europe/Israel
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: £0.5M - £1.5M
Company stage: Pre-seed and Seed
The up-and-coming fund on the list, Kindred Capital is an early-stage investor from London. What is notable about them, though, is the fact that all of their founders become the LPs of the fund and share its upsides meaning they have a good incentive to refer promising startups. The firm aims to be a first investor and focus on turning upside-down the product-market-fit into a founder-market-fit which very well captures what early-stage need to achieve. Some of their investments include the payments infrastructure for SaaS Paddle, an IVF-accessibility startup Gaia Family and a warehouse robots producer BotsAndUs.
Stride.VC
Geography: UK and France
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: £1M - £6M
Company stage: mostly Seed, sometimes pre-seed and early series A
Stride.VC is a small but assertive and quick firm from London. The investment team will not overlook any particular sector but rather do a usual early-stage feat of checking two things: assessing the founders and the market opportunity they’re taking on. The fund usually invests at the seed stage and makes only a handful of high-conviction bids throughout their fund’s lifecycle. The Stride’s portfolio includes car marketplace Cazoo, a JS-based CMS Strapi and a mental health therapy app Alena.
Downing Ventures
Geography: Global
Preferred industries: Deep Tech, Enterprise, and Healthcare
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: from Early to Growth stages
The forthcoming fund on the list, Downing Ventures is a traditional early to growth-stage VC from London. The fund operates in three core sectors: deep tech, enterprise and healthcare while not limiting itself by any geographical boundaries and investing pretty much everywhere given the right opportunity. Over the years, the fund has backed startups like neuroscience-based digital analytics platform Dragonfly AI, agritech insight software Hummingbird Technologies as well as independent boutique marketplace Trouva.
Crane Venture Partners
Geography: UK, EU/Israel, US
Preferred industries: B2B SaaS Open Source, Data First, Machine Learning and Creator Driven software
Investment ticket: $750k to $3M
Company stage: Pre-seed and Seed
Crane Venture Partners is a venture investor who’s highly concentrated on finding the next big B2B software companies across most of what we dub the collective “West”. The fund likes data-intensive companies first and foremost and is also keen on strong engineering backgrounds. Upon wiring in an investment spreadsheet, the fund aims to help set up a go-to-market in all of its crucial aspects: the people, product positioning and generating marketing leads (they also have venture partners who’re strong on that!).
7percent Ventures
Geography: UK/US, Europe
Preferred industries: deep tech, Fintech and next-generation Business/Consumer apps/services, Manufacturing, Logistics, and the 4th Industrial Revolution, Technology Platforms, Health-tech and Death-tech
Investment ticket: £400k/$500k.
Company stage: Pre-seed to Series A
Last but not least, 7percent Ventures is a telling name of what they invest in - a company with a WoW (week-on-week) growth of 7% which is considered to be a sign you’re company’s moving in the right direction. In line with their name, when determining where to invest the 7percenters usually tend to observe the key growth metrics related to your startup. What is also curious about the 7percent Ventures is that each and every one of the fund partners can make an investment decision.
In the end, we should also mention that there are a lot more worthwhile firms than just those we’ve described, for example, the later-stage fintech investor Blackfin Capital Partners, various angel associations and literally hundreds, if not thousands of options, including accelerators and incubators, and more.
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TOP VC Funds In Croatia & Slovenia To Finance Your Startup (Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
TOP VC Funds In Ukraine To Finance Your Startup (Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
