Brighteye Ventures has announced a $72 million first close of their Fund III, taking the firm to a total of $245 million in AUM. Brighteye invests in early-stage European companies shaping the future of learning and work worldwide.
Since inception, it has invested in more than 50 companies, which have gone on to raise over $1 billion in aggregate, with multiple portfolio companies now generating over $100 billion in revenue/year.
New investors include Lumina Foundation, Zanichelli and PI Impact, coming in alongside existing LPs, the European Investment Fund (EIF), Jacobs Foundation and several European family offices.
Brighteye’s European Learning & Work Funding Report 2026 found that VC funding secured by European companies in this space surged from 2024 to 2025, more than doubling from €710 million to €1.6 billion. This matches the highest funding total since 2021. The H1 2026 data reinforces this evolution — companies in the space raised $1.63B (€1.4B) so far this year, on pace to nearly double the 2025 total.
The HumanOS: Technology that helps people learn, work and adapt Fund III broadens Brighteye’s focus to companies expanding human capability, based on the belief that AI’s economic potential will depend on how effectively people learn and work with the technology. Brighteye expects to make up to 35 investments across AI, learning, productivity, and labour infrastructure.
Early investments include imagi, which helps schools build AI fluency and integrate AI more effectively into learning.
As learning and productivity overlap more than ever, Brighteye will also fund both AI-driven intelligence and productivity-enhancing platforms, particularly those impacting high stakes environments like healthcare, education, infrastructure, cybersecurity and climate.
One of Brighteye’s early investments from Fund III is in NEX Health Intelligence, which provides augmented intelligence for infection-control teams in hospitals. In addition, Brighteye will invest in managed labour platforms and talent software that help organisations and individuals to navigate increased labour volatility. Brighteye’s existing portfolio includes some of the most successful labour marketplaces in Europe, including Zen Educate, Ornikar, Shakers and installer.
One of Fund III's initial investments is Gyver, an enhanced marketplace for electricians helping meet Europe’s growing demand for energy infrastructure.
Ben Wirz, Founding Partner at Brighteye, said:
“The defining opportunity of the AI era is not replacing humans with machines. It is expanding what humans can do with machines.
Autonomous intelligence multiplies the potential value of human skills, judgement, and talent. The next generation of category-defining companies will use technology to redefine human capability. We call this the HumanOS and we’re partnering early with the founders building in this space.”
The firm has also recently promoted three team members: David Guérin to Partner, Isabella Vahdati to Principal, and Rhys Spence to Head of Platform & Research. The team is evenly split between investment and platform and based in London and Paris.
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