MENLO TIMES

Female Founders Fund , investing in the exponential power of exceptional female talent, led by Anu Duggal, Julie Cerick, Zabreen Khan, and Layla Alexander, has raised  its fourth fund at $29 million, raised between November 2023 and this month. It brings Female Founders Fund’s total capital under management to $140 million across five funds, including a $14 million opportunity fund. LPs in the newest fund include firms headed by notable women: Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ve

Expedition Growth Capital , a growth equity firm empowering bootstrapped
software founders, led by Oliver Thomas, Will Sheldon, Steve Twomey, David Olsson, and others, has raised  its third fund of $375 million, continuing its focus on partnering with rapidly growing companies from across Europe that have built high-quality products and customer bases, without venture capital. Since launching in late 2020, Expedition has assembled a portfolio of 17 bootstrapped software leade

6 Degrees Capital , an early-stage investor backing companies at Seed & Series A, with substantial follow-on capital available for later rounds, led by Filip Coen, Maxime Vanderstichele, Lucas Stoops, Wouter Volckaert, Thomas Olszewski, Thibault D'hondt, and others, has closed  a €154 million fund, with the fund backing enterprise software, AI and fintech startups at seed and Series A stages. Fund III marks 6DC’s third fund since its launch in 2023. The vehicle will write ini

Future Energy Ventures , supporting ready-to-scale start-ups active in Europe, Israel, or the USA whose mission is to accelerate the energy transition and decarbonize society, led by Jan Lozek, Veronique Hördemann, Patrick Elftmann, Ohad Mamann, and others, has announced  the closing of Future Energy Ventures Fund II with a volume of €205 million, along with a dedicated capital fund for Italy of €30 million. With this milestone, FEV becomes the largest European advisor for...

Baobab Ventures , empowering early-stage, deep-tech founders to reach momentum, led by Carles Reina, has launched a $15 million solo GP fund to back pre-seed and seed stage founders building startups across AI, robotics, and defence. The fund has already backed companies like Murphy , Theker , Altan , and Omnia . The Fund is backed by institutional LPs Cendana Capital, Isomer Capital, RSJ Investments, Emergence Ventures, and Cyber Fund. Partners from Concept Ventures, Credo V

Firgun Ventures , the first VC firm focusing on Series A/B quantum companies, led by Kris Naudts, MD, PhD and Zeynep Korutürk, has launched  a $250 million venture capital fund dedicated entirely to early-growth-stage quantum companies and announced its first close at $70 million.  Backed by the Qatar Investment Authority, the fund is structured to support quantum companies in advancing from early pilot phases to deployable products positioned for use across sectors and regio

Sofinnova Partners , a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan, led by Antoine Papiernik , Henrijette Richter , Graziano Seghezzi , Anta Gkelou , Maina Bhaman , Karl Naegler , and others, has announced  the close of its latest flagship fund, Sofinnova Capital XI, at €650 million ($750 million), greatly exceeding its initial target. Sofinnova Capital XI will support a new wave of biopharma and medtech companies developing breakthro

Vendep Capital , a B2B SaaS VC in the Nordics and Baltics, led by Sakari Pihlava, Tanja Alanen, Jupe Arala, Sami Ahvenniemi, Taru Wahlroos, and others, has announced  a €80 million Fund IV. The fund has already reached its €80 million target, with fundraising open until April 2026. Since 2013, Vendep Capital has built one of the strongest SaaS track records in the Nordics, backing breakout companies such as AlphaSense , Hostaway , Leadfeeder , and Happeo . The new fund is str

Backed VC , a London-based venture capital fund, led by Andre de Haes, Alex Brunicki, Tom Hopkins, Clare Hunter, and others, has closed its third fund, Backed 3, at its $100 million cap, alongside making its 100th investment.  Backed partners with outlier founders building generational frontier technology companies rooted in fundamental technological or conceptual breakthroughs. After two high-performing funds, including a top-decile first fund, Backed is expanding with Backe

Rubio , a leading impact venture fund, led by Alexandros Matthiessen, Willemijn Verloop, Helmer Schukken, Machtelt Groothuis, Warner Philips, and others, has launched  its third Impact Fund with over €70 million in commitments.    The capital will be deployed to support thirty ambitious impact companies developing scalable solutions to the climate crisis and social inequality, future leaders like Sympower stabilizing the energy grid, NoPalm transforming sustainable food, and

Builders , a Rotterdam-based venture studio led by Michael van Lier, Sharon Klaver, Darko Marković, Julia Bramer, and others, has raised  €4.5 million from a group of leading entrepreneurs, exit-founders, and family offices, including Wouter Holtslag, Eric Carbijn, and Invent Capital. Builders, a venture studio focused on creating enterprise AI companies, partners with entrepreneurs from idea to launch, providing expertise in concept validation, hiring, funding, and growth. A

Sequoia Capital , the Apple of the Venture Capital World, has announced  its latest venture fund and sixth dedicated seed fund. The firm reflects on a legacy of early partnerships that have grown into iconic companies such as Apple, Nvidia, Stripe, and Wiz, relationships that continue to fuel its belief in the transformative power of early-stage innovation. As Sequoia sees it, founders today stand at the edge of a generational opportunity. Artificial intelligence is reshaping

Rebalance , a Gurugram-based accelerator to build an ecosystem that helps women and diverse people build wealth and pay it forward, led by Aishwarya Malhi and Vikas Kumar, has announced  its 9th cohort of 10 women-led startups. Since 2019, Rebalance has backed 30 startups across sectors, including climate, deep tech, healthcare, fintech, D2C, and biotech. With 85% of its portfolio led by women founders and 60% of its angel community made up of women investors, a first in Indi

Maia Ventures , a Milan-based early-stage VC backing the next generation of entrepreneurs in agrifoodtech, led by David Bassani, Andrea Galassi, Alice De Porcellinis, and Giancarlo Addario, has launched  €55 million to back 20–25 companies, with initial tickets ranging from €0.5 million to €1.5 million. The fund has already made 6 investments, including Foreverland, Exolab Italia, Biorsaf, Lembas, Cappellini Veg Lab, and GenoGra. Limited partners include institutional investo

Industry Ventures , a leading venture capital platform that invests across all stages of the venture capital lifecycle, led by Hans Swildens, Justin Burden, Roland Reynolds, and others, has entered  into an agreement to be acquired by Goldman Sachs . Industry Ventures manages $7 billion in assets under supervision and has completed over 1,000 secondary and primary investments since its founding in 2000. The firm reports a strong realized performance, with a net IRR of 18% and

Forward.One , investing in early-stage European startups, led by Riemer Smink, Paul Pruijmboom, Arjan Göbel, Beau-Anne Chilla, Robin van...

Sugar Free Capital , a new venture fund based in NYC, led by Sheena Jindal(Founder and Managing Partner) and Stephanie Beyda, has raised...

Lauxera Capital , a Paris-based growth-stage investment firm led by partners, Pierre Moustial, Samuel Levy, Alex Slack, Victor Decrion,...

Wave Function Ventures , a Deep-Tech venture fund founded by Jamie Gull, has raised  $15.1 million for its first fund. Gull has made nine...

Concept Ventures , the largest dedicated pre-seed fund in Europe, led by Reece Chowdhry, Oliver Kicks, and Jeff Chowdhry, has announced...