UK VC Concept Ventures Secures €75M To Launch Europe’s Largest Dedicated Pre-Seed Fund

The round was backed by LPs including Aldea Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners, Marktlink Capital, Dominus, and Granite Capital Management, with 80% of institutional investors based in the US. Over 70% of Concept Ventures’ portfolio founders also joined as LPs, including Mati Staniszewski, CEO and Co-founder of ElevenLabs. The fund was oversubscribed, reaching its first close in just three weeks.

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 $88m fund from a majority-US investor base (as well as making 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% 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.”

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Concept Ventures’ Fund II enters a highly active and competitive landscape. In London, Evantic Capital launched a €341M fund for later-stage B2B AI startups, underscoring the UK’s strength in fund formation. In Poland, Expeditions Fund II raised over €100M for defense, AI, and quantum, while Czech-based KAYA closed nearly €70M to support Central and Eastern European founders.

Within this context, Concept Ventures aims to carve out a niche as a sector-agnostic, pan-European pre-Seed specialist bridging the gap between smaller individual startup raises and the larger, later-stage capital pools emerging across the region.

Eric Fitzgerald, General Partner, Top Tier Capital Partners, comments: “In today’s venture market, there’s nothing more important than partnering with managers who can spot exceptional talent before anyone else – and that’s exactly what makes Concept Ventures so special.

“The team brings together multi-generational expertise and unmatched networks, which we think gives them an edge in backing the next wave of standout Founders. Their transparent, thoughtful, and high-conviction approach to pre-Seed investing is differentiated, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with Concept Ventures.”

Since launching its first institutionally-backed fund in 2022, Concept Ventures has invested in over 44 pre-Seed companies. The team’s non-VC backgrounds help them identify unconventional talent and emerging markets early, supported by proprietary sourcing tools and an open fundraising process that gives founders full transparency. According to the firm, 90% of portfolio founders have their first VC conversation with Concept.

Notable portfolio companies include voice AI unicorn ElevenLabs, now valued at $6.6B less than two years after Concept’s pre-Seed investment, physics simulation AI VSim, decarbonisation data platform Treefera, and AI avatar generator Anam. Recent rounds include Archestra’s €2.8M pre-Seed (August) and Arondite’s €1.9M pre-Seed, later followed by a €10.5M round covered by EU-Startups.

Concept Ventures now manages $200M in AUM, with Fund I reportedly in the top 1% of its vintage globally. Every Fund I portfolio company that has gone to market has successfully closed its next round, collectively raising over $450M since 2022.

With Fund II, Concept plans to back up to 50 pre-Seed companies across the UK and Europe, leading over 90% of rounds with an average $1M cheque. The fund also pledges 1% of its carry pool to charities chosen by founders, supporting initiatives such as school facilities in India, youth mental health in the UK, and LGBT communities affected by HIV and AIDS.

About Concept Ventures

Concept Ventures backs first-time and repeat founders with conviction, focusing on pre-Seed and early-stage investments across the UK and Europe. The firm leads or co-leads rounds, leveraging non-traditional VC insights, proprietary sourcing tools, and an open fundraising approach to identify unconventional talent and support founders in scaling their startups successfully.