MENLO TIMES

Eka Ventures , investing in founders creating positive system change, led by Camilla Dolan, Jon Coker, and the team, has announced  the final close of its second fund at $107m (£80m), making Eka the UK’s largest early-stage impact VC investing across health, wellbeing, and sustainability. Why These Sectors, and Why Now Eka’s thesis is that the biggest opportunities lie in reshaping core systems, health, consumption, and access, where impact and returns align. Three shifts dri

SuperSeed , backing technical founders bringing AI to the physical world, led by Mads Jensen and Dan Bowyer, has launched  Fund III, a seed-stage fund focused on Physical AI startups. The fund has secured a cornerstone commitment of up to £50 million from the  British Business Bank , which invested through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme. Christine Hockley of British Business Bank said SuperSeed’s backing will attract private capital to support applied physical AI comp

Breakout Ventures , partnering with exceptional founders scaling scientific innovation to build the breakout companies powering our future, led by Managing Partners Lindy Fishburne and Julia Moore, has announced  the close of its $114M Fund III. Given Breakout’s ongoing success, the new fund received strong support from returning investors, including Cortes Capital , S-Cubed Capital , The Kraft Group, Pinegrove Venture Partners , and an affiliate of LH Capital, and is pleased

Elaia , backing ambitious tech entrepreneurs with capital and care, has closed its third deep tech seed fund (DTS3) at €134 million, double the size of its previous deep tech seed funds. Developed in partnership with leading European research institutions, including PSL , INRIA , CNRS , the Barcelona Supercomputing Center , and also the Max Planck Foundation , DTS3 reflects strong investor confidence in Europe's growing deep tech ecosystem.     Since its first close of €60 mi

Techstars , the original mentorship-driven accelerator, led by David Cohen and the team, has announced  a strategic partnership with Global Brain , Japan's leading independent venture capital firm, led by Yasuhiko Yurimoto and others. The collaboration brings together two organizations that have long admired each other’s work and share a remarkably similar philosophy on supporting founders. The partnership allows Global Brain and Techstars to explore joint investment opportun

FIRSTPICK , a first-check VC fund for Baltic founders, led by Partners Jonė Vaitulevičiūtė, Dmitrij Sosunov, Andra Bagdonaitė, Marijus Andrijauskas, and the team, has launched  a new €25 million fund to invest in early-stage Baltic startups, focusing on founders who may be overlooked by traditional VC criteria. Some early and successful investments include Samphire Neuroscience by Emile Radyte, Copla by Aurimas Bakas, and Holo. Backed by local entrepreneurs and private invest

OSS Ventures , a Paris-based venture studio building next-generation industrial software, led by Renan Devillieres and the team, has announced the first close of its new investment fund with a target of $80 million. The round is led by Decathlon PULSE  and Teknor Apex, with participation from existing investors including Groupe Peugeot Frères . The fund serves as OSS Ventures’ strategic investment arm, dedicated to follow-on financing for companies emerging from the studio’s