London-based solo GP-driven Anamcara has announced the launch of its pre-seed and seed-focused fund at $10.6 million. As you might expect for a fledgling fund, angel-sized tickets of approximately $200,000 will be issued to B2B startups deemed future game changers.
Anamcara, or Anam Cara, a term that was popularised by Irish author John O'Donohue in his 1997 book Anam Ċara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom is a phrase that refers to the Celtic concept of the "soul friend" in religion and spirituality, and perhaps something that’s been lacking in the VC/founder relationship for, well, maybe ever?
Moving beyond the religious/spiritual aspect, Ajami, who is a former venture partner with Abu Dhabi's BY Venture Partners and brings over a decade of asset management experience to the table, has assembled an impressive list of Venture Partners including Maria McMenamin, former Head of B2B Sales at Stripe, and Namrata Ganatra, CTO at Autograph, to bring big operator experience and domain expertise to the table, while at the same time, “Thinking big about small”.
“We invest in founders who have identified a massive market opportunity and who are determined to build category leaders in this space,” said Ajami. “Through our category expertise and strong investor and operator network, we help our companies build foundations for accelerated growth and international expansion.”
On record and operating for just shy of two years now, Anamcara has co-invested alongside players much above its weight (for now) including La Famiglia VC, Cherry Ventures, Cavalry Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures, and count eleven startups amongst its portfolio including no-code fintech services provider Bits Technology, and subscription commerce platform equipme.
As for the efficacy behind Anamcara’s approach, portfolio company Nori’s founder Conor Sheridan commented, “Annelie and the team at Anamcara have been there for us whenever we’ve asked for it, from introductions to platform support and beyond. A lot of the challenges we have faced, Anamcara has acted as an incredible soundboard and given us access to their tremendously experienced network. I highly recommend Anamcara as a partner to any startups raising their first round.”
And just in case the boxing references are lost on you, in addition to being one of Europe's first female solo GPs, Annaelie Ajami is, according to her Twitter account, a retired 2x national boxing champion.
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