Eyeing frontier talent in UK universities, Creator Fund picks up $20 million

With a strong belief that the next generation of great European technology businesses will be built on university campuses, early-stage VC fund investing in deeptech emerging from universities, Creator Fund has wrapped up a $20-million fund. This bigger second fund will invest in the brightest scientific minds across the U.K. and help them scale businesses.

The fund backs PhD, academic and student talent building frontier technology startups in areas such as AI and life sciences to robotics and quantum computing. It has also closed a smaller European fund dedicated to angel investments in universities across Europe.

So what new does the fund bring to the table? Bringing Dorm Room Fund model from Silicon Valley to Europe, the fund aims to be the partner for any student founder from Stockholm to Zurich to Cambridge. It has trained over 80 students at 28 different universities to source and analyse startups on-the-ground. These “student investors” then go on to work at top-tier funds when they graduate and strengthen the power of the Creator Fund network.

Jamie Macfarlane, founder and CEO, said: “Our primary goal is to be there early on, helping truly innovative PhD students build tech businesses based on scientific discovery or engineering innovation. Second to that is the training of a diverse range of the next generation of investors. In the last two years I am proud to watch our portfolio companies thrive and our student investors become part of Europe’s best VCs, join our companies, and become LPs in CF.”  

Creator Fund invests in students and professors building businesses “on the frontier of what’s possible”. Its 16 investments to date include frontier technologies that develop mutation-proof vaccines, electronic skin for robots, brainwave-reading software to control machines and self-flying drones. Its early stage finds include BaseImmune, Touchlab and RecyclEye.

It has over 70 LPs, including the founders of companies, including Wayve, Lastminute.com, Faculty, SuperAwesome, and Privitar. It has also been backed by the GPs of a number of European investment firms, including Kindred Capital, firstminute.capital, Elkstone, MMC Ventures, and Episode1. It has also been backed by Rockmount Capital, Basecamp, and BWC. Founders Factory and Lord Rumi Verjee are founding investors.