Ahren Innovation Capital

Cambridge, London and Boston · Deep tech and deep science

Ahren is a deep tech and deep science investor set up in 2017 by Alice Newcombe-Ellis with a group of Science Partners, including Nobel laureates, who help to source, assess and support every company. It invests from early stage to pre-IPO across AI, genetics, robotics, space and energy.

Amadeus Capital Partners

Cambridge and London · Deep tech since 1997

Founded in 1997 by Anne Glover and Hermann Hauser, Amadeus has raised more than $1.3 billion and backed over 190 technology companies. Its exits include VocalIQ, acquired by Apple, and Icera, acquired by NVIDIA.

Atlantic Bridge

London, Dublin, Munich, Paris and Palo Alto · Deep tech growth

Atlantic Bridge is a growth equity technology firm with over €1 billion under management across eight funds and around 120 portfolio companies, investing in deep tech across Europe, the UK and the US.

Cambridge Innovation Capital

Cambridge · Deep tech and life sciences

Launched in 2013 with a privileged relationship with the University of Cambridge, CIC manages around £0.6 billion and has backed more than 45 companies, alongside over £3.2 billion of co-investment.

Concept Ventures

London · Pre-seed

Concept is Europe's largest dedicated pre-seed fund. It closed an $88 million second fund in 2025, leads most of its rounds with first cheques of around $1 million, and backed AI voice company ElevenLabs at pre-seed.

Crane Venture Partners

London · Inception to seed

Founded by Scott Sage and Krishna Visvanathan, Crane backs technical founders building foundational technology and infrastructure, from inception through to seed, with a team spanning London, San Francisco, New York, Singapore and Bangalore.

Dawn Capital

London · B2B software, Series A and B

Founded in London in 2007, Dawn is Europe's largest specialist B2B software investor, deploying its $620 million Dawn V fund and an $80 million follow-on fund. Its exits include Mimecast and iZettle.

Episode 1 Ventures

London · Pre-seed and seed

Episode 1 is a London seed fund, founded in 2013, investing £500,000 to £3 million in B2B software and deep tech start-ups. 73% of its portfolio companies go on to raise a Series A, and it was an early backer of Carwow, Zoopla and Robin AI.

IQ Capital

Cambridge and London · Deep tech, pre-seed to growth

Founded in Cambridge, IQ Capital is a dedicated deep tech investor with more than $1 billion under management. It has backed over 200 founders and achieved exits to Apple, Meta, Google and Oracle.

Kindred Capital

London · Pre-seed and seed

Kindred pioneered equitable venture, where every founder it backs becomes a co-owner of the fund and shares in its profits. It runs a partner-only team and has backed companies including Paddle and Five AI.

LocalGlobe

London · Seed, with Latitude for growth

Founded by Robin and Saul Klein, LocalGlobe is one of the UK's most active seed investors and puts most of its capital into UK companies. Its sister fund, Latitude, backs companies from Series B onwards.

MMC Ventures

London · AI and data, seed to Series B

MMC is a long-standing London early-stage investor known for its research on AI. It was the first commercial UK venture firm to become a B Corp, and runs a £100 million Scale-Up Fund.

Molten Ventures

London · Series A to growth, LSE listed

Formerly Draper Esprit, Molten is a London Stock Exchange listed venture firm with a gross portfolio of around £1.5 billion across more than 80 companies, including Thought Machine and ICEYE.

NATO Innovation Fund

Multi-sovereign · Defence, security and resilience

The NATO Innovation Fund is a €1 billion fund backed by 24 NATO allies, including the UK. It invests over a 15-year horizon in dual-use deep tech for defence, security and resilience.

Northern Gritstone

North of England · University spinouts

Northern Gritstone backs science and technology businesses from the Northern Arc universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. Chaired by Lord Jim O'Neill, it has £382 million of permanent capital.

Notion Capital

London · Business software, venture and growth

Notion is a London venture and growth investor focused on European business software, with more than $1 billion under management and over 150 investments, including GoCardless, Paddle and Mews.

Octopus Ventures

London · Seed to growth

Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture investors in the UK and Europe. It manages around £2 billion, invests about £200 million a year, and has backed successes including Zoopla and WaveOptics.

Oxford Science Enterprises

Oxford · University of Oxford spinouts

OSE builds companies from University of Oxford research and has supported more than 100 spinouts across AI, quantum, robotics, life sciences and health tech, including Oxford Ionics, YASA and Latent Logic.

Parkwalk Advisors

London · University spinouts through EIS

Part of IP Group, Parkwalk is the UK's most active investor in university spinouts and a leading EIS fund manager, having backed more than 180 companies from Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Bristol and other universities.

Playfair Capital

London · Pre-seed

Founded in 2013 by Federico Pirzio-Biroli, Playfair is a pre-seed specialist that makes a handful of high-conviction investments each year from its $70 million third fund. 78% of its companies go on to raise a Series A.

Sovereign AI Fund

UK Government · Sovereign venture fund, pre-seed to growth

Sovereign AI is the UK Government's own venture fund for British AI. Launched in April 2026 and run by the Sovereign AI Unit, it has £500 million to invest in UK AI start-ups from pre-seed to growth, typically writing equity cheques of £1 million to £10 million on market terms alongside private investors. The unit is chaired by James Wise of Balderton Capital, with Joséphine Kant as Head of Ventures and Suzanne Ashman as Managing Partner of the investment committee.

Alongside capital it offers what private funds cannot: up to one million GPU hours per company on the UK's national AI supercomputers, fast-tracked visas for AI talent, access to curated national datasets and the UK research base, and contracts of up to £10 million. Its priority areas are compute and infrastructure, foundation models, health and life sciences, scientific discovery, and trust, safety and assurance.