London-based investor Concept Ventures has announced the close of its new $88m (£65.6m) Fund II, targeting UK and European early-stage tech firms.
This marks the second institutionally backed fund from the Monzo and ElevenLabs investor. The raise was supported by limited partners including Aldea Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners, Marktlink Capital, Dominus, and Granite Capital Management.
The fund has been heavily backed by US groups, with 80% of its institutional investors being based in the States. It has also been supported by a significant portion of founders previously backed by Concept Ventures, including ElevenLabs co-founder Mati Staniszewski.
“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,” commented Reece Chowdhry, a founding partner at Concept Ventures.
“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.”
Chowdhry said that the participation of US investors was a “huge vote of confidence” in the European startup ecosystem.
The new fund will back up to 50 companies at the pre-seed stage, with average investments to be $1m. The bulk of these rounds will be led by Concept.
“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,” said Top Tier Capital general partner Eric Fitzgerald.
“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.”