Connect Ventures announces first close of $80M Fund V to back Europe's technical founders

Connect Ventures has taken the first close of its fifth fund, locking in $55 million toward an $80 million target. The money is going into early-stage technology companies across Europe, with the firm staying focused on the same corner of the market it has worked for years: pre-seed and seed, not later-stage glamour runs.

The fund is anchored by the British Business Bank. Returning backers include Aldea Ventures, Sella Venture Partners and Molten Ventures, while new money is coming from European family offices and founders of companies that Connect has backed before. That mix tells you a lot about the firm’s pitch: this is a relationship business as much as an investing one.

Connect writes pre-seed cheques from $500,000 to $5 million and says Fund V will lean especially hard toward founding teams with technical expertise at the core of what they’re building. The firm wants that depth to shape the product, the ambition and the development of the company, which is a neat way of saying it wants founders who can build, not just talk about building.

The team behind the fund is still the same GP-only setup: Pietro Bezza, Sitar Teli and Rory Stirling. Founders work directly with the partner leading the investment, and that person stays involved as the company grows. Connect also sticks to a low-volume model, backing a relatively small number of startups and spending more time with each one.

That approach has been in place since the firm was founded in 2012. Connect says it has invested in more than 120 companies across pre-seed and seed, including Aikido Security and TrueLayer. Fund V is just the next turn of that crank, with a louder emphasis on technical founders and an earlier starting line.