Concept Ventures closes $88M Fund II, cementing position as Europe’s largest Pre-Seed fund

Concept Ventures today announced the close of an $88 million Fund II to back the UK and Europe’s most promising early-stage tech talent.  The fund, the second institutionally-backed raise from the firm, cements Concept Ventures' position as the largest dedicated Pre-Seed fund in Europe.

The fund was oversubscribed, with the first close completed in three weeks. The raise was backed by LPs, including Aldea Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners, Marktlink Capital, Dominus, and Granite Capital Management.

80 per cent of the funds’ institutional investors are US-based. LPs also include one of the world’s largest US investment banking institutions and a leading charitable trust.

In addition, over 70 per cent of Concept Ventures' portfolio founders have also joined as LPs in this latest fund, including ElevenLabs CEO and co-founder, Mati Staniszewski  After launching its first institutionally-backed fund ($65m) in 2022,

Concept Ventures has invested in over 44 companies at Pre-Seed. With a market-leading record of unearthing and backing exceptional talent at the concept stage, their portfolio includes voice AI giant ElevenLabs as well as physics simulation AI VSim, decarbonisation data platform Treefera, AI avatar generator Anam, and defence software firm Arondite.

Concept Ventures now has $200 million in assets under management (AUM) and Fund I is a top 1 per cent performing fund for its vintage globally.

100 per cent of Concept Fund I portfolio companies that have gone to market to fundraise have successfully closed their next round. The Fund I startups backed by Concept at Pre-Seed stage since 2022 have now collectively raised over $450 million.

The Concept team takes a people-first approach to decision-making, informed by their ‘outsiders backing outsiders’ mindset. All team members come from non-VC backgrounds, helping them spot unconventional talent and emerging market sectors earlier than other funds.

For 90 per cent of portfolio founders, Concept is the first VC conversation they’ve had. With Fund II, Concept will back up to 50 companies at Pre-Seed stage across the UK and Europe.

With an average cheque of $1 million, Concept aims to lead over 90 per cent of rounds. A proudly sector-agnostic fund, the investment team is looking for exceptional founders with global ambitions. Their Pre-Seed stage specialism also reduces signalling risk for founders as they look to graduate to Seed and Series A. This avoids the alignment issues that can arise at multi-stage funds.

The Fund pledges 1 per cent of the total carry pool to charities of a founder’s choosing. This pledge has already enabled school facilities to be built in India and committed to funding youth mental health provision across the UK, as well as LGBT communities affected by HIV and AIDS.

Reece Chowdhry, Founding Partner at Concept Ventures, comments:

“As outsiders to VC, we’ve always believed Pre-Seed investing requires true specialists - partners who can spot and support founders before the wider market sees their potential.

Raising an oversubscribed $88 million fund from a majority US investor base (as well as achieving first close in just three weeks) is a huge vote of confidence in this thesis and in the European market at large. 

To have 70 per cent of our portfolio founders now backing us as LPs is a further validation of the people-centric approach we’ve worked so hard to develop and deploy.

This close cements our position as Europe’s largest dedicated Pre-Seed fund and gives us the firepower to keep saying ‘yes’ at the very beginning of a founder’s journey.”