Connect Ventures has announced the first close of its fifth fund at 55 million dollars, moving toward a final target of 80 million dollars. The London based venture capital firm said the new vehicle will sharpen its focus on founders with deep technical expertise from pre-seed to seed stage. The announcement follows more than a decade of early stage investing across Europe.
A Thesis Built on Technical Depth
The firm believes the next generation of outlier technology companies will be built by founders with real technical depth at their core. This conviction has grown over more than a decade of early stage investing across the continent. Connect Ventures argues that technical expertise can shape a product, its ambition and the speed at which a company can move.
Target Sectors and Ticket Sizes
Fund V will continue to lead pre-seed rounds across Europe, with cheque sizes ranging from 500,000 dollars to 5 million dollars. Connect Ventures is looking for founders building companies with global ambition, especially where technology is fundamental to the product and the problem being solved. The main areas of interest include AI, infrastructure, hardware, robotics and biotechnology.
Recent Investments Reflect the Strategy
Connect Ventures has already started deploying this thesis through investments in ai-coustics, Mosaico and Molecular Glue Labs. The firm describes these companies as examples of technical ambition in AI infrastructure, robotics and techbio. It views earned insight and lived problem solving as structural advantages that are difficult for competitors to replicate.
High-Conviction Investment Model Remains Unchanged
The GP-only investment team will maintain its low-volume, high-conviction and high-support approach. There are no associates between founders and investment decisions at Connect Ventures, and every founder works directly with the partner who leads the investment. This model is designed to give a curated set of companies the attention and support they require.
Support From Returning and New Investors
Fund V is anchored by British Business Bank, with significant participation from returning limited partners including Aldea Ventures, Sella Venture Partners and Molten Ventures. New investors include leading European family offices and several founders of Connect-backed companies. The firm expressed gratitude for the continued trust of existing LPs and welcomed new investors to its network.
A Track Record of Early Stage Outliers
Connect Ventures has invested in more than 120 companies and consistently backed founders at the earliest stages. Its portfolio includes category-defining companies such as Aikido Security in AI cybersecurity and TrueLayer in the pay by bank network. Founders from these companies said Connect Ventures understands technical depth and has conviction that remains constant as their businesses grow.
Founder Endorsements Signal Confidence
Roeland Delrue, co-founder of Aikido, said Connect Ventures understood from the start that technical depth and product would be central to the company. Francesco Simoneschi, founder of TrueLayer, described the firm as genuinely understanding what it takes to build outlier companies. He is backing Connect V himself, adding founder-led confidence to the new fund.
Building a Community With Built By Few
Alongside Fund V, Connect Ventures will continue to grow Built By Few, its summit for people building at the forefront of European technology. The event series now spans Ghent, Milan, Barcelona, Berlin and London, with Amsterdam next on the schedule. Past speakers have included founders from Arduino, TrueLayer, Dust and Aikido, creating space for unfiltered insight and connection.
Connect Ventures said Fund V is a continuation of its earliest stage investing, with an even sharper view of where the biggest opportunities lie. The firm wants to back founders who are obsessed with solving hard problems and building products the world has not seen before. It expects technical depth to become an increasingly important competitive advantage for European technology companies.