United Founders launches £70m pan‑European fund and 100‑strong founder community
This article covers United Founders, a venture capital firm and fund manager, launching a founders’ community and a new venture fund that is committing £70m. The initiative aims to support early-stage deeptech and AI startups across Europe with capital and operational support from a 100-strong network of founders and local operating hubs.
United Founders has launched a new founders’ community and venture fund aimed at backing Europe’s next wave of deeptech and AI companies. The firm says it is committing £70 million and thousands of founder hours, assembling a 100-strong network of experienced builders to support startups in areas such as quantum computing, cybersecurity, MedTech, sustainability and space tech.
Why it matters
Europe generates a large share of global STEM talent and patent activity, but lags the United States on venture capital. United Founders positions itself as a response to that gap, seeking to give early access and operational support to companies that could scale beyond European fragmentation.
In the announcement, Vít Horký, GP of the Fund at United Founders, said:
The talent, however, is not matched with the same level of support as in the US. To put this in perspective, only in Q4 of 2024, Americas (mostly U.S.) investments into startups were 74.6 billion USD, while Europe was 15.6 billion USD — according to KPMG data. No European technology company has reached a valuation of over €100 billion in the last 50 years. There is not a single European company in the top ten most valuable technology companies in the world. And where there is a gap, we see opportunity. The ambition of United Founders is for Europe to have its own trillion-dollar giants like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Nvidia and Meta.
Who’s behind the fund
The fund was founded by Vít Horký, known for the sale of Brand Embassy to NICE, and Jakub Havrlant of Rockaway. United Founders says the general partners and Rockaway committed €17 million, signalling a substantial personal stake in the vehicle. The firm lists a fund size of £70 million in its announcement; other materials referenced €80 million in capital.
In the announcement, Tony Kypreos, Managing Partner for the UK at United Founders and Entrepreneur in Residence at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering, said:
I'm delighted to join United Founders’ exceptional team and Founder Force community. As an operational VC embedded across Europe’s leading innovation hubs, we’re connecting key centres of excellence to build and support the next generation of globally competitive ventures in sovereign-critical technologies and applications. This once-per-cycle moment of transformation demands a new kind of venture model — and United Founders is delivering it across Europe.
The community also includes a number of high-profile European founders and builders who are contributing time, advice and capital. Named members include Florian Seibel (Quantum Systems), Richard Valtr (Mews), Michal Pechoucek (Avast/GEN), David Pavlik (Rohlik) and Alissa Hsu Lynch (The Honest Company). United Founders says its community totals around 100 founders, investors and domain experts.
Pan-European operating model
United Founders emphasises an on-the-ground approach. Managing Partners are based in London, Cambridge, Paris, Zurich, Munich, Berlin, Brussels, Prague and Bratislava, intended to connect local technology hubs and provide early access to research and spinouts. The fund argues this footprint allows startups to access markets totalling more than 233 million people and to overcome Europe’s structural fragmentation compared with a single large market such as the United States.
In the announcement, Vít Horký, GP of the Fund at United Founders, said:
We believe that Europe is currently too fragmented to succeed against large ecosystems such as those in the US or China. Our ambition is to connect experienced technology entrepreneurs and build a platform for them to 'give back' to the most promising and ambitious startups — whether they invest their money or their time.
How the fund plans to work with founders
United Founders combines financial investment with operational support. Its stated differentiators include a 72-hour feedback cycle for founder teams, bespoke advisory boards of domain experts, and a proprietary deal flow platform led by Honza Siroky, former CTO and co-founder of Mews, who is listed as Head of Product. The firm also highlights embedded roles at universities and research hubs such as Cambridge, King’s College London, Technical University Munich and HEC Paris as sources of early-stage deal flow.
Early bets and what they show
Two of the fund’s first disclosed investments illustrate its focus. Wonderful.ai is described as an enterprise platform building AI agents intended to replicate top employee performance; United Founders says the company reached significant enterprise demand and is generating millions of ARR within months of launch. The round also included Index Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.
The other early investment, EveryHealth, is a virtual healthcare platform focusing on equitable access and reducing discrimination and cultural barriers in care. United Founders led the round, which included Taimi, a large dating app, among other investors.
Priority sectors and portfolio strategy
United Founders says it will prioritise deeptech and AI, Medical Tech, Sustainable Tech, Enterprise AI, Security and Dual-Use, and selected consumer tech that aligns with long-term transformational themes. The fund frames its mandate as supporting companies at the earliest stages, including teams that are still in basic research.
What this means for the UK and European ecosystem
United Founders’ model — blending a founder network with a geographically distributed VC presence — reflects a growing trend in Europe of operationally active funds seeking to close the early-stage support gap relative to the United States. Whether the approach accelerates the emergence of “decacorns” in Europe will depend on follow-through: deal sourcing, persistent capital, and the ability of portfolio companies to scale across many fragmented markets.
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