London-based Air Street Capital has raised a new £175m fund that will target “AI-first companies” across Europe and North America.
The third fund raised by solo investor Nathan Benaich under Air Street Capital, it will target early-stage rounds with checks of between £376,000 and £11.3m as well as select growth investments of up to £19m.
Benaich has been investing since 2013 and in 2019 launched the venture firm dedicated to backing AI innovations.
“Today, AI-first companies are emerging across every industry. We’re seeing the birth of highly capable long-horizon coding agents, AI-first vertical software products that produce human-grade work, design novel biological systems that outperform nature, control a wide range of embodied physical systems, and reshape – and test – our national security,” Benaich said.
“The AI frontier has become the centre of gravity of the technology industry, and by extension, every industry.”
Through previous funds, Air Street has backed companies including Synthesia, now worth $4bn and Wayve, now worth $8.6bn.
“Our focus remains on AI-first software, developer tools and infrastructure, techbio and science, and defence and security – the areas where AI is not simply improving the status quo but enabling entirely new kinds of products and companies to be built,” he added.
“I am deeply grateful for the trust and partnership of an extraordinary group of long-term partners including US university endowments, foundations, hospitals, and institutional investment platforms. Many of our existing investors significantly increased their commitments, and several are investing in a solo GP venture firm for the first time.”