A new £10m investment fund that aims to be Europe’s answer to Y Combinator has been launched by London-based group Onstage.
Known for its Demo Day events that regularly pull in thousands of startups from Europe and put them in contact with top funds from Europe and the US, Onstage believes it is well positioned to make the leap to fund operator.
“We can all agree the world does not need another venture fund,” the company said in its announcement of the fund.
“However, what it needs is a value proposition that starts from a problem every founder encounters: the time-consuming, painful process of fundraising.”
The group said the fund was a natural next step for it. Onstage said its Demo Day finalists have collectively raised over £500m from investors, with notable alums including Lawhive and Scan.com.
Onstage said it aims to make around 80 investments over the next three years targeting pre-seed and seed stage rounds.
Its first fund includes investment from Peter Simon, president of US investment firm Simon Sports, as well as LPs including partners from Concept Ventures, Creator Ventures, Chapter One and Episode 1.
