Arãya Ventures and Sie Ventures have partnered to launch the Arãya Sie Fund, announcing a £7.5m first close to back female founders building in AI, deeptech, fintech, healthcare and sustainability.
The new fund will invest in up to 40 pre-seed and seed-stage companies over the next four years, writing initial cheques of £100k to £300k across the UK and Europe.
The fund has already made its first investment in Lemrock AI, a startup building agentic infrastructure for brands and retailers.
The Arãya Sie Fund will deploy approximately 70% of its capital in the UK and 30% across Europe, and is backed by the British Business Bank – which coinvests alongside the Arãya Sie Fund – via the Regional Angels Programme.
Despite growing pools of venture capital, female founders still receive less than 2% of funding across the UK and Europe. The Arãya Sie Fund aims to address this gap by backing underrepresented founders at the earliest stages. More than 50% of the fund’s LP base is made up of women.
“We’re seeing a fundamental shift in the kind of companies being built, particularly in AI and deeptech, and we believe diverse founders will define the next generation of category leaders,” says Triin Linamagi, managing partner of the Arãya Sie Fund.
“This partnership is about more than capital, it’s about bringing the right networks, conviction and long-term support to founders who have historically been overlooked.”
Arãya Ventures is an early-stage fund investing at the pre-seed and seed stage across AI, commerce, healthcare, fintech and the future of work. Sie Ventures is a capital platform for female-founded businesses and investors in Europe.
