London-based Fuel Ventures, a firm that claims to be one of the UK’s prolific early-stage tech VCs, announced on Thursday a new £100M (nearly €115.76M) investment fund to back tech startups in seed and pre-seed rounds to step up its investments in the UK tech ecosystem.
The new fund will be distributed over the following 12 months to more than 60 of the UK’s fast-growing startups in software (SaaS), marketplaces, finance platforms, and ecommerce.
“Backing disruptive and ambitious founders”
Fuel Ventures, managed by serial entrepreneur and investor Mark Pearson, has invested in 140 startups from seed to series A round to date with £180M put over five years. Currently, the firm has nearly £350M in assets under management.
Some of its investments include Volt Capdesk – which exited for $88M, Peckwater Brands – which builds data-driven, delivery-only food brands for restaurants, ecommerce marketplace OnBuy, and click-fraud fighter Lunio.
Fuel Ventures is primarily an early-stage investor in innovative, fast-growing startups with investments up to £250K for pressed ventures and £4M for seed to series A.
However, a small portion of its newest fund will be set aside for follow-on investments in its portfolio companies that are outperforming expectations and accelerating their growth.
Pearson says, “We are investing in the long-term future of the UK tech landscape. Despite the pain the industry is feeling at the moment, now is not the time to hold back. There remains exciting entrepreneurial talent and incredibly innovative tech businesses with huge potential.”
“These are the ones that need our support at their most vulnerable – those early days when capital and support from experienced backers are vital.”
“I have been there myself and know how hard it can be to get a business off the ground. My aim is to invest in and work with a greater number of tech ventures that will contribute to a stronger tech landscape in the years to come,” adds Pearson.
About Fuel Ventures
Fuel Ventures aims to support high-growth digital/tech businesses, such as e-commerce, marketplaces, platforms, and software (SaaS) firms with ambitious founders or founding teams, firms with global scale growth potential, and firms with multi-billion dollar market opportunities.
“We invest in companies at an early stage and work closely with the founders providing hands-on support and a collaborative ecosystem,” says the company.
The London-based firm invests annually from its main fund in 12 to 15 seed and growth firms, and from its emerging fund in more than 30 idea/pre-seed and early growth companies.
Fuel Ventures has raised £180M since its inception in 2015.
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