Identity.vc has launched Europe’s first LGBTQ+ venture capital fund, with €50M available to early-stage founders in the form of €250K to €1.5M initial tickets.
The Art. 9 SFDR social impact fund has already made four investments, including Berlin-based Frontnow, which offers an AI solution for online retailers, and London-based Omni which provides healthy vegan dog food.
The firm invests in early-stage startups with LGBTQ+ representation at the founder or C-level, targeting mostly European companies between pre-seed and Series A.
The investors aim to protect and promote diverse founding teams; According to Proud Ventures’ data, 75% of LGBTQ+ founders concealing their identity from investors, leading to negative health and cognitive impacts. In a statement, they derided ‘untapped potential’, with Founding Partner Til Klein commenting: “Diversity is an attractive investment case. Numerous studies show that diverse teams perform better.”
The team behind the fund comprises Founding partner Til Klein, a former BCG partner, UBS banker, and FinTech founder, founding partner Jochen Beutgen offers a 20-year track record as a family office investor in venture capital and Principal Mari Luukkainen, an ex-growth operator and investor at icebreaker.vc.
By Emma Whitford ( February 6, 2025, 01:26 GMT | Insight) -- Policy advisors from France and the European Union chose to highlight the poss
It’s sometimes said that European VC doesn’t have the firepower to compete with VCs in the U.S., which regularly raise billion-dollar+ funds these days. Pe
Froda, a provider of capital to SMEs, has strengthened its partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF) by securing an additiona
While the US administration has described this development as alarming and a ‘wake up call’ for US tech firms it could bene