Ascension is an early-stage venture capital firm built and managed by exited entrepreneurs to back the next generation of tech and impact founders. Since 2015, Ascension has invested in 150+ start-ups across its (S)EIS & Institutional funds - our specialist approach and extensive sector reach allow us to identify and scale pioneering tech enterprises. With over £70m under management, Ascension is one of the most active early stage investors in the UK with a particular focus on backing impact businesses leveraging the power of technology to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
Ascension
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Breega
Breega is one of the fastest growing VC funds in Europe with more than €500M AUM. We built Breega to provide founders with the help we wish we’d had. Breega propels pioneering and purpose-driven founders from idea into impact. We closed our first fund in 2015 and now have €500m AUM and 70 trailblazing portfolio companies. Crafted for founders by founders, we built Breega to provide start-ups with the help we wish we'd had. And we’ve created an investment proposition that’s purposefully designed. We call it full stack funding: providing capital and connections, expertise and experience, support and solidarity for entrepreneurs at every step of their journey. We invest across Europe through our 3 offices in Paris, London and Barcelona, focusing on pre-seed to Series B stage. We believe in a future where tech entrepreneurship has catalysed universal prosperity – so we decided to build a different kind of VC. Build by Founders. As entrepreneurs ourselves, we’ve been through the highs and lows of founding, failing, fundraising and flourishing. We built Breega to provide founders with the help we wish we’d had. For Founders. We wanted to “Bridge the Equity and Experience Gap” (hence the name Breega) – and fulfill the lack of operational expertise we saw in VC at that time. Breega began investing in 2015. We now have 70+ trailblazing startups in our portfolio. Our purpose today. To propel pioneering and purpose-driven founders from idea to impact.
Ethos Fund
From Southeast Asia to Silicon Alley, our world is marked by unprecedented degrees of multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, social shifts, international collaboration, and technology-driven changes. Third culture innovators - founders who create and define a new ‘third space’ in response to adversities they face while living, learning, and transacting between disparate cultures - are on the rise and at the center of solving humanity’s biggest problems. As third culture individuals ourselves, Ethos understands better than anyone else the powerful forces at work in the world today. We can spot asymmetric opportunities and invest where others hesitate because we aren’t afraid to be authentic and embrace the same ethos as the third culture innovators that we invest in. We hold deeply ingrained convictions that investing in companies led by extraordinary third culture leaders will not only yield more unicorns, but also shape a world in which future generations will thrive, celebrate, and treasure. VALUESEthos: We believe the most important foundation of a person’s success is his or her character and spirit, which will manifest in the person’s business, relationships, and actions. Commitment: We invest in founders from the earliest stages (often, the first check) and continue to support their long term vision. We believe startups are a marathon, not a sprint. Curiosity: We seek truth. We assume nothing and believe that the best approach is to uncover these truths through experimentation. Community: We believe that the startup journey is much better when we share it with others. The journey is hard. No need to go through it alone. Vision: We support founders who are bold and mission-driven to improve the future of humanity. Big dreams inspire and motivate us all to be better. WHY THIRD CULTURE Third Culture is not about geography or skin color. Third culture is the mindset and drive to adapt, grow, and triumph while remaining fiercely authentic even amid pain and discomfort. It is the situation of being in between two or more worlds, and includes the meaning of being located at the periphery or edge of mainstream thinking. It’s the impetus behind the biggest and most important innovations for humanity and the future of our children.
Ada Ventures
Bold Investment for overlooked founders and markets. Bold ideas are the ones that change the world. They're ideas that find something completely new, flip categories upside-down, or see the world from an entirely different perspective. Our focus is to discover and build the possibility of these bold ideas, and provide investment to support the incredible founders behind them. Whoever and wherever they are. Foundational CapitalWe are there at the start, which is usually post-product, pre-revenue. We are a pre-Series A investor with a first cheque of £250,000-£500,000. We invest in UK technology companies with global ambitions. We support founders solving the world's biggest challenges with technology.
Oxford Capital
Established in 1999, Oxford Capital is an alternative investment manager that is passionate about investing in early stage technology companies where the UK is considered a world leader and has supported over 50 high growth companies. We believe in using the depth and breadth of our experience and expertise to create opportunities where the chances of success are increased for entrepreneurs and their businesses. We partner with founders to deliver meaningful impact in their sector, often taking a seat on the board to help them to shape strategy, attract talent and connect the business with potential customers, suppliers and partners. We offer private investors and family offices the opportunity to invest in a portfolio of unquoted UK companies that have the potential to grow rapidly and become valuable. Based in Oxford and London, we are at the heart of Europe’s most exciting technology clusters.
byFounders
byFounders is a community-powered early-stage venture fund focused predominantly on the New Nordics, backed by some of the region’s most accomplished founders investing in and supporting the next generation of globally ambitious founders. We invest from pre-seed to series A (investments ranging between €0,5m - €4m) and are currently investing from our second fund. We pride ourselves on three things: True founder compassion - We’re founders ourselves and our empathy for founders permeates our every interaction, where we strive for transparency and candor. We also have some of the most founder-friendly terms on the market ;) Global tight-knit network We’ve built what we call the ‘byFounders Collective’ which consists of 50+ experienced founders and operators who are incentivized to help us with deal sourcing, evaluation, and most importantly: to help our portfolio companies succeed. These people are today - together with our 45 portfolio companies - spread across the US and Europe. We care about Tomorrow - We believe in the future and recognise the power we hold in shaping it. We, therefore, put a lot of effort into responsible investing and help startups to make a positive impact on the world.
Transpose Platform
Transpose Platform Management was co-founded by Alex Bangash and Trang Nguyen in 2015. The firm backs ambitious entrepreneurs creating today’s most disruptive venture structures. Transpose Platform Management seeks out the world’s most innovative companies and invests in tomorrow’s category-defining leaders.