[Funding alert] London-based Ada Ventures Secures €73.7 Million in Funding

This fund, the second from the company, has received support from a number of esteemed institutional investors, including Molten Ventures, The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), Big Society Capital, The University of Edinburgh, Atomico, Legal & General Capital, and the British Business Bank.

Several founder investors have joined them, including Ilkka Paananen, co-founder and CEO of Supercell, and Taavet Hinrikus, founder of Wise and Illusian, a family office.

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Ada Capital Fund This fund performs in the top quartile, and the current portfolio is expected to produce net revenue above £100 million this year. Leading firms such as GV, NFX, DCVC, and Index Ventures have shown interest in co-investing in and providing follow-on finance to Ada Ventures portfolio businesses.

Check Warner, Co-Founding Partner at Ada Ventures, commented: “We’re thrilled to announce the final close of our second fund and share more data around the diversity and performance of our portfolio. We believe these metrics show just how powerful and effective the Inclusive Alpha approach is. We’ve worked incredibly hard over the last five years to develop the systems and processes to turn our ambition to build a truly diverse and inclusive fund into reality. Strong returns are strongly correlated with inclusive investment. We want other funds to copy this blueprint. The excuse that diverse talent isn’t ‘out there’ is a cop out. We have proven that you can build a thriving, inspiring portfolio of diverse founders building breakthrough products and hugely valuable businesses.”

With a sizeable portion set aside for follow-on investments, the team plans to spend between £250k and £1.5 million in pre-seed and seed stage firms. The Ada Ventures team intends to invest between 10 and 12 times a year in firms that are developing ground-breaking concepts in the areas of climate fairness, economic empowerment, and healthy aging, having already made 12 investments from the second fund.

The fund believes that supporting "alpha" ideas and founders can coexist with a dedication to inclusion, thus it established and is currently leading the way in implementing a "Inclusive Alpha®" approach to investment decisions.

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The core of this investment strategy is the ability to outperform the market with money obtained through inclusive infrastructure and investment methods. This dedication to inclusivity is ingrained in Ada Ventures' investing process at every turn.

This includes giving founders access to mental health support and making a promise to help parents in their portfolio with childcare costs—a first for Europe that has been welcomed by over 15% of the firm's portfolio firms since its start in October.

Chris Hopkins, Managing Director, Venture Capital, Legal & General Capital, said: “We are pleased to have invested in Ada Venture’s second fund and support their wider investment strategy to broaden out access to capital and address the lack of diversity within the UK & European VC ecosystem. Diverse teams drive growth and better outcomes, and Ada Ventures inclusive approach is targeting the emerging cohort of startups who are developing innovative solutions for society’s greatest challenges. The oversubscribed second fund is a fundraising success story and signals the growing industry recognition on these issues.”

Lars Nordal Jensen, Head of Fund Investments at The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), added: “We are delighted to join Ada Ventures as investors in their second fund, as they keep expanding their Inclusive Alpha approach internationally. Ada Ventures is led by a savvy team that has developed a systematic and more inclusive approach to venture capital, which is why we believe they are well-positioned to capitalize further on the underlying business opportunity that exists when you invest in a more diverse set of founders. Ada’s attitude to investments shows that you don’t need to sacrifice great returns for your LPs, in order to build a more diverse portfolio.”

About Ada Ventures

The inclusive venture firm is called Ada Ventures. Ada Ventures seeks for and invests in exceptional talent that develops ground-breaking solutions for the most difficult issues we face. Their investment strategy involves allocating between £250,000 and £1.5 million from their second fund to UK technology businesses that focus on climate equality, economic empowerment, and healthy aging.