Angel investor Carles Reina, an early backer of Revolut and UK AI unicorn ElevenLabs, has launched a new $15 million solo GP fund called Baobab Ventures. The vehicle is designed to support pre-seed and seed stage founders building in AI, robotics, and defense at a time of rapid change in how startups are built and scaled. With a focus on speed, go-to-market rigor, and operator-led support, Baobab Ventures aims to position itself as a specialist partner for technical founders with global ambitions.
Launch of Baobab Ventures
Baobab Ventures is described as an oversubscribed fund, signaling strong demand from limited partners for its thesis and strategy. The fund’s backers include institutional LPs Cendana Capital, Isomer Capital, RSJ Investments, Emergence Ventures, and Cyber Fund, alongside several well-known individual investors. Operated as a solo GP vehicle, it gives Reina direct control over investment decisions while allowing him to apply his own operating experience at scale.
Operator-Led Approach and Reina’s Background
Reina currently serves as go to market lead at ElevenLabs, the voice AI company now valued at $6.6 billion, a role he will maintain while running Baobab Ventures. He invested in ElevenLabs at an early stage and later became the company’s fourth hire, giving him firsthand exposure to building a breakout AI business from the inside. That track record underpins Baobab’s positioning as a fund led by an active operator rather than a traditional financial investor.
Investment Strategy and Check Size
Baobab Ventures plans to write initial checks in the range of $300,000 to $350,000 into pre-seed and seed rounds. The fund is targeting technical founders who are building with an international mindset from day one, especially in AI driven software, robotics platforms, and defense technologies. By concentrating on the earliest stages, Reina aims to help startups build momentum quickly, which he views as the most critical factor in a company’s journey.
Support for Founders in the AI Era
According to Reina, the environment for building startups has shifted dramatically over the last few years, with faster sales cycles, intense competition emerging within months, and AI eroding the effectiveness of traditional cold outreach. In response, Baobab Ventures intends to help founders design sales and growth motions that are tailored for the AI era, rather than relying on playbooks from a previous generation of software companies. Reina will work directly with portfolio teams on go to market strategy, operations, and product, as well as hands on support for customer pitches, contract negotiations, and key early hires.
Geographic Focus and Global Mandate
Headquartered between London and Barcelona, Baobab Ventures positions itself as a European fund with a genuinely global outlook. Approximately half of the capital will be deployed into European startups, while the remaining half is earmarked for opportunities in the United States and other international markets. This structure is intended to give founders exposure to global networks and customers while maintaining a strong anchor in Europe’s growing deep tech and AI ecosystem.
Network of Backers and Strategic LPs
In addition to institutional LPs, Baobab Ventures has attracted support from a diverse group of individual and family office investors. Backers include partners from Concept Ventures and Credo Ventures, Lucca and Stella Norton’s family office, professional football player and business angel Mario Goetze, broadcast entrepreneur Carles Cuní, and deep tech investor Dr. Fatima Godall. This mix of capital and connectivity is expected to give portfolio companies access to a broad set of relationships across technology, media, sports, and finance.
Reina argues that European founders increasingly need operators on their cap tables who understand how to build and sell products in an AI first world, not just capital providers. With Baobab Ventures, he is betting that an operator led, momentum focused fund can fill what he sees as a clear gap in the regional venture landscape, particularly for technical founders at the earliest stages. If successful, the $15 million solo GP fund could become a model for how experienced AI operators back the next generation of global startups emerging from Europe and beyond.