How to complete your first funding round: the step-by-step guide
Here’s your step-by-step guide on raising your first funding round. Learn how to get investment ready, agree deal terms...
If you’re fundraising in London, you have access to one of the best funding landscapes in the world. Before you start looking for venture capital, it’s helpful to know who the most active VC firms are and what they want in a startup.
We’ve curated this list to appeal to as many startups as possible. You’ll find VCs that invest in a wide range of sectors on this list, so we hope you’ll discover a few that could be right for you.
Top tip: VC firm websites give information about who they are and what they look for - make sure you read through their website to decide whether you’re aligned. If not, you’ll waste your time and theirs.
List of London VC firms
2150
➡️ 2150 invests in startups reshaping how cities are designed, constructed and powered.
They’re great because: they take a sustainable approach to investment. They choose to put their money and expertise into companies that change the structure of our cities for the better.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Normative and Biomason
Approx fund size: £230 million in a single fund
Investments made: Less than 20
7Percent
➡️7percent invests in early-stage tech startups in any sector.
They’re great because: they think big and support founders who want to transform a market. If your startup is aiming to cause some serious disruption, this might be the VC that ‘gets you’.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Luma and Blue Vision Labs
Approx fund size: £37 million across 2 funds
Investments made: 120+
Fun fact: The name 7percent comes from the idea that a good early-stage growth rate is 5-7% per week.
Accel Partners
➡️Accel Partners invests in early-stage (and beyond) startups in any sector.
They’re great because: they have a large global community and tons of experience, having overseen more than 350 exits.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Meta and Razer
Approx fund size: £15 billion across 33 funds
Investments made: 1,800+
Amadeus
➡️ Amadeus invests in early-stage tech companies across a number of sectors.
They’re great because: they’re a well-established firm with over 20 years of experience investing in tech companies around the world.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: lastminute.com and IndiaMART
Approx fund size: £434 million across 5 funds
Investments made: 250+
Angel Academe
➡️Angel Academe invests in female-founded tech startups across sectors.
They’re great because: they focus on investing in female-led tech companies and 80% of their 400 investors are women.
Notable companies in their portfolio include Provenance and Century
Approx fund size: Unknown
Investments made: 45+
Anthemis
➡️Anthemis invests in early-stage fintech companies creating positive change in financial systems.
They’re great because: they have a super-strong network and global presence. Anthemis has offices in London, New York, Luxembourg and Geneva and a wealth of expertise to draw on.
Notable companies in their portfolio: Tide and Currencycloud
Approx fund size: £1 billion across 9 funds
Investments made: 220+
Fun fact: Hacking Finance is a blog, podcast, newsletter and events platform run by Anthemis - sign up for free for valuable insights and opinions.
Ascension
➡️ Ascension invests in tech and impact companies based in the UK.
They’re great because: they give their founders access to a strong mentor network, plenty of workshops and social events and a good set of perks, too.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Credit Kudos and ZigZag Global
Approx fund size: £2 million
Investments made: 270+
Balderton Capital
➡️Balderton Capital invests in early-stage and growth-stage tech companies with global ambitions.
They’re great because: they’re one of the most well-established VC firms in the UK and Europe. Their executive council is made up of global leaders in the tech industry, which gives founders a great deal of expertise to draw upon.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Revolut and Recorded Future
Approx fund size: £5 billion across 11 funds
Investments made: 375+
BGF Growth Capital
➡️ BGF Growth Capital invests in early-stage companies and SMEs across sectors.
They’re great because: they’re one of the UK and Ireland’s most active VCs. They don’t give exit deadlines; instead they empower companies to do things their way, in their own time.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: BigBlu Broadband and Gym Box
Approx fund size: £2.5 billion
Investments made: 400+
Need some inspiration? Their Stories of Growth series explores the journey and mindset behind 50 successful companies in their portfolio.
British Design Fund
➡️ British Design Fund invests in purpose-led British product businesses. They invest at early stage, usually around £150,000 to £200,000.
They’re great because: they support innovation in manufacturing, and help extraordinary entrepreneurs push the envelope in product design.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Untap and Gecko Glazing
Approx. fund size: Unknown
Investments made: 10+
Britbots
➡️Britbots invests in UK-based robotics, automation, and AI companies once they have started to demonstrate commercial traction.
They’re great because: they focus on productivity-enhancing automation technologies which allow scarce resources to last longer.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Zelim and Muddy Machines
Approx. fund size: £1.5 million
Investments made: 33+
Concept Ventures
➡️Concept Ventures invests in early-stage UK companies across sectors.
They’re great because: they’re the largest dedicated UK Pre-seed fund and invest in early-stage companies changing how we ‘Work, Play and Learn’. They invest up to £750k at Pre-seed and can lead rounds.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Reachdesk and Screenloop
Approx. fund size: £52 million from current fund
Investments made: 50+
Oliver KicksThe general shift this year will no longer be ‘growth at all costs’ and instead will favour strong founding teams with a clear rooting in a well-articulated problem (vitamin vs. painkiller).
Principal,
Connect Ventures
➡️ Connect Ventures invests in software companies across sectors.
They’re great because: they make a big effort to empower their founders with the resources they need to grow their expertise and develop themselves. They offer founders wellbeing resources like executive coaching, meditation, breathwork, therapy sessions and more.
Notable companies in their portfolio: Thursday and Typeform
Approx fund size: £143 million across 3 funds
Investments made: 110+
Crane
➡️Crane invests in software startups in the UK, Europe, US and Israel.
They’re great because: they focus on helping founders build the foundations of their companies and communities.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: H2O.ai and Centrifuge
Approx fund size: £191 million
Investments made: 70+
Downing Ventures
➡️ Downing Ventures invests in tech companies across the globe in the enterprise, healthcare and deep tech sectors.
They’re great because: they have a lot of expertise in their core sectors that they use to support founders.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Trouva and Destiny Pharma
Approx. fund size: £2.3 million in a single fund
Investments made: 165+
Episode 1
➡️ Episode 1 invests in early-stage B2B software companies across a variety of sectors.
They’re great because: they’re a small team of eight who’ve been entrepreneurs themselves. They have strong connections with Silicon Valley and are committed to sharing their knowledge and network.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: PassFort and Feedr
Approx fund size: £97.5 million across 2 funds
Investments made: 85+
Entrée Capital
➡️Entrée Capital invests in tech companies across sectors in the UK, US and Israel.
They’re great because: they’re a well-established firm with a £1 billion fund led by a team of entrepreneurs that take a ‘for founders, by founders’ approach.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Monday.com and Stripe
Approx fund size: £688 million across 7 funds
Investments made: 220+
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Felix Capital
➡️ Felix Capital invests in companies in the lifestyle sector.
They’re great because: they have an approachable style and a diverse team (equal split of 50% women, 50% men). They have some impressive companies in their portfolio, too.
Notable companies in their portfolio: Deliveroo and Peloton
Approx fund size: £1 billion across 6 funds
Investments made: 96+
Force over Mass
➡️ Force over Mass invests in B2B tech companies with a focus on AI, fintech and Industry 4.0 in Europe and the UK.
They’re great because: they like to support companies and founders over multiple funding rounds and typically invest from Seed to Series B stage.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: What3Words and Admix
Approx. fund size: £1115 million across 2 funds
Investments made: 140+
Fuel Ventures
➡️ Fuel Ventures invests in globally scalable marketplaces, platforms and software (SaaS).
They’re great because: they were founded by Mark Pearson who exited his company, MarkCo Media (parent company of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk) at £55 million. Mark has created a network ‘for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs’ of over 200 founders, investors and advisors.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: ContentCal and Suggestv
Approx fund size: £127 million across 5 funds
Investments made: 95+
Frontline Ventures
➡️Frontline Ventures invests in B2B SaaS companies with plans to go global (and a particular focus on the US).
They’re great because: they have plenty of expertise to draw on when it comes to global expansion. If going global (and expanding to the US particularly) is a big part of your ambitions then Frontline might be the VC for you.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Pointy and Boxever
Approx fund size: £244 million
Investments made: 134+
Fun fact: Frontline literally wrote the playbook on US expansion. Worth a read if you’re thinking about getting into the US market.
Future Planet Capital
➡️Future Planet Capital invests in tech and life science companies from leading research centres. They focus on climate change, education, health, sustainable growth and security.
They’re great because: they’re committed to creating a lasting impact. Their network provides access to leading academic institutions and innovation hubs.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Halo Neuroscience and 23andMe
Approx fund size: £18.4 million across 9 funds
Investments made: 85+
Guinness Ventures
Guinness Ventures invests in companies in any sector, anywhere in the world. They invest early-stage capital from Seed to Series A.
They’re great because: they invest globally and they incorporate ESG factors into all their equity strategies.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: ContentCal and Mori
Approx. fund size: Unknown
Investments made: 35+
Hoxton
➡️Hoxton invests in tech companies across sectors with global ambitions.
They’re great because: they’re well connected in the tech economy and with venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Babylon, Deliveroo, Darktrace, Epic Games (that’s four unicorns they’ve backed from early stage).
Approx fund size: £296 million across 3 funds
Investments made: 75+
Imbiba Capital
➡️Imbiba Capital invests in leisure and lifestyle businesses at early-stage and late-stage.
They’re great because: the founders are entrepreneurs who have successfully grown hospitality and leisure businesses before.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Pizza Pilgrims and House of Gods
Approx fund size: £50 million in one fund
Investments made: 10+
Index Ventures
➡️ Index Ventures invests in tech companies across sectors, across the globe.
They’re great because: they’re the most active VC in London with an impressive portfolio and network. They have offices in San Francisco and New York too. Despite being a prestigious firm, they have a grounded ‘all about the people’ philosophy.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Dropbox, Notion and SeedLegals
Approx fund size: £10 billion across 19 funds
Investments made: 1,065+
JamJar Investments
➡️JamJar Investments invests in high growth consumer brands.
They’re great because: the partners are founders themselves (innocent drinks). They put the founder’s needs first and take a cooperative approach – happy to lead or invest alongside.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Many Pets and tails.com
Approx. fund size: £140 million
Investments made: 70+
Jenson Funding Partners
➡️Jenson Funding Partners invests in startups across sectors. They invest from Pre-seed to late-stage.
They’re great because: they’re one of the longest-running SEIS funds, established in 2012.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: NeuroCreate and Skuma Water
Approx. fund size: £53 million
Investments made: 125+
Kinetic Investments
➡️Kinetic Investments invests in AI-focused pre-seed and seed-stage startups that are transforming traditional business models in the digital landscape.
They’re great because: they’re not just an investor, but a partner to their portfolio companies, with an integrated shared services model, where startups can access in-house finance, HR, data, tech and legal teams on demand.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Impact AI and Investoo
Approx. fund size: £30 million
Investments made: 12
LocalGlobe
➡️ LocalGlobe invests in tech companies creating positive change.
They’re great because: they’re an impact-driven firm that’s been investing in positive change for over 20 years.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Citymapper and Wise
Approx fund size: £1.2 billion across 8 funds
Investments made: 340+
MMC
➡️ MMC invests in tech companies with a focus on enterprise software, fintech, digital health and cloud and data infrastructure.
They’re great because: they are active participants in helping their portfolio companies succeed while knowing when to step back.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Gousto and Poc Doc
Approx fund size: £1 billion across 4 funds
Investments made: 180+
Nauta Capital
➡️Nauta Capital invests in early-stage software companies, with a focus on B2B.
They’re great because: they operate in London, Barcelona and Berlin, plus they run Nauta Labs – a specialist venture programme for Europe’s B2B pre-seed deeptech companies.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Zephr and Social point
Approx. fund size: £487 million across 5 funds
Investments made: 130+
Carles FerrerOften founders wonder how much to raise at Seed. Regardless of the economic environment, the best option is to think about it sensibly. Founders should look at their business plan and consider how much they will need for an 18–24-month runway. They should also remember that fundraising takes time, so founders should leave enough time (at least 6 months) before the cash runs out. Too much pressure ahead of the future round is a huge risk, so valuations and amounts raised at Seed stage need to fit well with several scenarios at the subsequent round.
General Partner,
Notion
➡️ Notion invests in SaaS and cloud companies across Europe.
They’re great because: they’re a VC firm of SaaS entrepreneurs and operators turned investors. They follow a set of guiding principles that emphasise having fun on the journey of building a business.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: GoCardless and Paddle
Approx fund size: £386 million across 5 funds
Investments made: 160+
Northzone
➡️Northzone invests in companies across sectors in the UK, Europe and the US. They invest in early stage companies.
They’re great because: they follow your lead and believe in fair ownership targets.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Spotify and Trustpilot
Approx fund size: £1 billion
Investments made: 175+
Octopus Ventures
➡️Octopus Ventures invests in tech companies, focusing on health, fintech, deep tech, consumer and B2B software.
They’re great because: they’re one of Europe’s largest VC investors. They have an impressive support structure for founders from venture partners who’ve created unicorns to a network of the world’s finest coaches.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Cazoo and Mindstep
Approx fund size: £1 billion across 6 funds
Investments made: 330+
Parkwalk
➡️Parkwalk invests in scientific discoveries made at the UK’s globally-ranked research universities.
They’re great because: they’re the UK’s most active investor in the university spin-out sector.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Fresh Check and Cheesecake Energy
Approx fund size: £434 million across 29 funds
Investments made: 275+
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Passion Capital
➡️Passion Capital invests in digital media and tech companies.
They’re great because: they recognise that your passion and abilities as a founder are your key differentiator. They’ve also been involved in some of the largest exits in European tech.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Digital Shadows and Wickr
Approx fund size: £155 million across 3 funds
Investments made: 160+
Playfair Capital
➡️ Playfair Capital invests in tech companies across sectors.
They’re great because: they combine the passion and excitement of angel investing with the benefits of a VC fund. Playfair was founded by an angel investor and the angel perspective informs their core philosophy.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Trouva and Jukedeck
Approx fund size: £51 million across 2 funds
Investments made: 90+
Redline Capital
➡️Redline Capital invests in tech companies in Europe and the UK, North America and Israel. They invest in a variety of sectors and back companies at any stage of funding.
They’re great because: they could help you expand internationally.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Balbix and Voltron Data
Approx fund size: Unknown
Investments made: 45+
Samaipata
➡️ Samaipata invests in digital platforms across sectors. They invest at early stage.
They’re great because: they’re ex-entrepreneurs committed to making the world better by thinking big and making big changes.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Spotahome and Big Blue
Approx fund size: £137 million across 2 funds
Investments made: 50+
Seedcamp
➡️Seedcamp invests in tech startups across sectors in the UK and Europe.
They’re great because: they’re one of the most active VCs in Europe and support their founders with an impressive global community and network of expertise.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Revolut and Wise
Approx fund size: £186 million across 5 funds
Investments made: 490+
SFC Capital
➡️SFC Capital invests in startups across sectors.
They’re great because: they’re one of the UK’s most active VCs. They combine their award-winning funds with an active angel network to create maximum exposure.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: TapTrip and WorkClub
Approx fund size: £14 million across 18 funds
Investments made: 385+
SpeedInvest
➡️Speedinvest invests in tech startups in multiple sectors.
They’re great because: their team has exceptional understanding of the industries in which they invest. This means you’ll have access to reliable expertise and well-informed decision-makers.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Planetly and FinCompare
Approx fund size: £524 million across 8 funds
Investments made: 355+
Sustainable Ventures
➡️Sustainable Ventures invests in agritech, building technology, future energy, mobility and the circular economy.
They’re great because: they’re the UK’s most active early-stage climate tech investor addressing the challenges of climate change and resource scarcity. They offer unique co-working spaces that bring together like-minded innovators.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: E-Car Club and Good Club
Approx fund size: £1 million
Investments made: 35+
Target Global
➡️Target Global invests in tech companies in fintech, healthtech, consumer-enabled SaaS, mobility, and edtech sectors.
They’re great because: they have a strong network with six offices in tech hubs across Europe and have fueled many companies to global success.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Bird and Cazoo
Approx fund size: £1 billion across 7 funds
Investments made: 180+
Vala Capital
➡️Vala Capital invests in sustainable startups across sectors. They invest at early-stage, including Pre-seed to late-stage.
They’re great because: they invest in sustainable businesses that create positive change in their markets and society, no matter the sector.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: FlexSea and Sust Global
Approx fund size: Unknown
Investments made: 25+
Worth Capital
➡️Worth Capital invests in UK companies across sectors, both consumer and B2B. They invest at early-stage.
They’re great because: they’re not biased towards any particular technologies. They value market insight and empathy over tech expertise.
Notable companies in their portfolio include: Itsy and My First UK
Approx fund size: £6 million across 2 funds
Investments made: 100+
Jonny SeamanThe key to finding investors is to be targeted on who you approach and reach out in a personalised way. Try this: research notable exits in your industry over the past five to ten years, then compile a list of these ex-founders. Reach out to them via LinkedIn or email with a note about how you’re also building a company and would love to learn from their story. Nurture the relationship, learn from them, and maybe they’ll be interested in investing in your startup. Warm introductions are worth their weight in gold, so also reach out to your network and find out who knows who in your industry.
Investor Partnerships Manager,
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