Following a Paris office opening earlier this year, Earlybird now builds a nest in London

Building from strength to strength, Earlybird Venture Capital has opened a dedicated London office aimed at specifically targeting UK-based entrepreneurs and founders, alongside boots-on-the-ground support for a growing number of portfolio companies.

Active since 1997, across all its funds Earlybird has raised approximately €1.8 billion, €400 million in 2022 alone, and deployed over €1 billion, in excess of €104 million in 2022, and backed a number of hits including N26, Aiven, Uipath, and Wunderlist. Specifically, in the UK, the firm has backed no less than 10 startups including Payhawk, Payable, and snyk, and is now seeking to up that number with this dedicated team.

While operations like this take months of planning and a lot of pieces to fall into place before executing, Earlybird’s timing would appear to be if not perfect. In case you haven’t been paying attention for the past few years, the UK, and it’s presence in the overall European tech ecosystem has been, shall we say, slowly accumulating a tarnish and in need of a good polishing.

While the effects of Brexit (and others) are and will continue, to be felt across the economy, UK-based entrepreneurs who are seeking to become pan-European champions are facing a few challenges that a decade ago would have been unthinkable. This is just one issue Earlybird is aiming to help with specifically via its London office opening. Everything from hiring, regulation, and localisation.  

Beyond easing and supporting UK-unique issues, with the London office Earlybird is delivering founders with agile access to an international network of investors and partners, all aimed at helping future household names scale ever faster. 

Having proven the methodology in Paris, Earlybird co-founder Dr. Christian Nagel commented, “Our playbook is getting perfected: we have built up a French presence with the opening of our Paris office in April. This has already borne fruit. In October, we announced a milestone investment in food tech startup, Gourmey. We also aim to contribute to the strong development of the UK’s tech ecosystem.”

Members of the London team include somewhat recently appointed Partner and Head Investor Relations for Earlybird Digital West Vincenzo Narciso who brings his experiences as Managing Director, Head of Private Markets with UBS, and Managing Director at The Carlyle Group to the table.

In addition to Vincenzo, Earlybird’s London team features Elle Muller, who brings experience in distribution and marketing across the UK, Asia, and Australian markets, and Anya Maine’s experience in the world of placements rounds out the IR team.

On the active investments front, Akash Bajwa, who played a key role in Earlybird’s recent investment in Payable, leads Earlybird’s London-based charge.

As for the Earlybird’s London home, the office will remain in line with the home office strategy - focusing on early-stage companies and investing mainly in Seed and Series A rounds, although growth stage rounds are not out of the question, with ticket sizes ranging from less than €1 million to in excess of  €10 million.