Backed VC closes £73m seed fund to back UK deeptech startups
This article covers Backed VC, a London-based venture capital firm, which has closed its third vehicle, Backed 3, at a £73m hard cap and marked its 100th portfolio investment. The fund will continue to target seed-stage frontier-technology startups, including AI-native therapeutics, blockchain and manufacturing automation, supporting early-stage founders across the UK and Europe.
Backed VC has closed its third vehicle, Backed 3, at a £73 million hard cap and marked its 100th portfolio investment. The London-based seed investor says the fund will continue to target “frontier-technology” startups — from AI-native therapeutics to blockchain and manufacturing automation — a focus it argues plays to Europe’s scientific and engineering strengths.
Why it matters
Backed 3 is the firm’s largest fund to date but deliberately capped to preserve a seed-stage focus. That matters because the firm pairs small, early checks with active founder support; Backed points to a 90 percent follow-on rate from seed as evidence that its model helps companies secure subsequent funding, reach profitability or exit.
The fund closure also comes amid a flurry of early-stage, frontier-tech vehicle announcements across Europe in 2025, signalling renewed LP appetite for AI, automation and deep-tech at the seed end of the market.
Inside the fund
Backed 3 closed at its £73 million hard cap. Nearly half of the capital — almost 50 percent — came from 10 institutional funds of funds in Europe and the US, with named commitments from Isomer Capital and Wunderland Capital. More than 95 percent of LPs from Backed’s first two funds recommitted, and the vehicle also attracted more than 50 family offices and founder investors from the firm’s existing portfolio.
The fund will write checks between £340,000 and £3.4 million, typically at pre-seed and seed rounds, and the firm says it will lead many of those rounds.
Inside the portfolio
Backed’s portfolio mixes software, science and industrial companies. Early bets include Invisible Technologies, Thought Machine, General Intuition, Flow Engineering, 0G Labs and CoMind. The firm highlights follow-on activity: in one October, five Backed-seeded companies that were pre-revenue at the time of investment announced follow-on rounds in the £41 million to £122 million range. Separately, Flow Engineering raised a £16 million round led by Sequoia.
Backed reports five unicorns across its portfolio and eighteen companies valued above £81 million. Its stated follow-on rate from seed is 90 percent, measured by companies raising subsequent funding, becoming profitable or being acquired.
100th investment: Infinity Constellation
Backed’s 100th investment is Infinity Constellation, a company founded by Francis Pedraza, the entrepreneur behind Invisible Technologies. Backed led Invisible’s pre-seed in 2018; the company has since grown to reported revenues of £109 million and Backed remains its largest external shareholder.
Who’s behind the fund
The firm was co-founded by Andre de Haes and Alex Brunicki. They say Backed is expanding its footprint in the US, strengthening global investor relationships and scaling an events-led community model that now includes roughly 40 events a year and more than 4,000 founders and GPs. Backed plans six events at Slush 2025 for an expected 2,000 attendees.
In the announcement, Andre de Haes, Co-Founder at Backed VC, said:
Backed partners with founders striving to build the first trillion-dollar European businesses, in spaces where most do not dare to build. Over the last decade we’ve built a community of humans with the audacity to take on Nvidia, Google and Goldman Sachs. Their boldness has created a flywheel - our founders are now investing back into our new fund.
In the announcement, Alex Brunicki, Co-Founder at Backed VC, said:
I’m inspired by the exceptional talent emerging in Europe at a time of unprecedented technical opportunity. We want to back generational founders with authentic global ambition — those building where they are best primed for success, not where it’s most convenient.
Backed also named commitment partners who appear on the fund’s LP list. In the announcement, Chris Wade, Co-Founder at Isomer Capital, said:
We’re excited to join Backed Fund III. The team has shown a repeatable edge at the intersection of technical and scientific breakthroughs, with a culture that clearly resonates through its founders.
In the announcement, Lukas Bennemann, Founding Partner at Wunderland Capital, said:
Backed has built an exceptional reputation among founders and matured impressively as a firm. You can tell who a ‘Backed Founder’ is — the culture is distinct, and the team’s drive sets them apart in Europe’s competitive seed landscape.
Founder feedback appears to reflect Backed’s hands-on approach. In the announcement, Pim de Witte, CEO at General Intuition, said:
Alex was the first to believe. Backed supported us from the very beginning and through some difficult moments. It’s fair to say General Intuition might not exist without them.
How it fits the market
Backed 3 arrives alongside a wave of European early-stage frontier-tech fund activity in 2025. Other disclosed vehicles this year include Ventech’s sixth fund at £148 million, Serena’s fourth fund first close at £169 million, Evantic Capital’s AI-focused fund at £288 million, May Ventures with more than £25 million focused on DACH AI, and Barcelona-based Masia with £17 million for frontier-tech. Taken together, those announcements represent about £650 million earmarked for early-stage AI, automation and deep-tech in Europe so far this year.
Backed positions its new fund as a focused UK contribution to that aggregate — emphasising sectors where it believes European science and talent create a long-term advantage.
Fund strategy and focus areas
Backed 3 will target companies with deep scientific or technical foundations. The stated focus areas are:
- AI-native therapeutics
- Blockchain and banking infrastructure
- Manufacturing automation
Ticket sizes span pre-seed to seed, with a stated range of £340,000 to £3.4 million. The firm also says it has reinvested in six repeat founders over the past 12 months as they launch follow-on ventures.
The bigger picture
Backed’s new fund and its 100th investment underline a broader recalibration in European early-stage capital: LPs are redeploying into funds that pair technical domain knowledge with community-driven founder networks. For UK and European startups in deep-tech and frontier AI, that means more targeted seed capital and potentially stronger follow-on pathways — a shift that could help sustain long-term company building on the continent.
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