Exclusive: Brighteye closes $72M for Fund III to back ‘HumanOS’, the layer beyond edtech
Tech Funding News Akansha Dimri ● Covered by 2 sources
Brighteye raised a $72M first close for Fund III. It’s betting beyond edtech on AI tools for learning, work, and productivity.
Based on reporting by Tech Funding News, Akansha Dimri — read the original for the full story.
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Brighteye Ventures has locked in a $72M first close for its third fund, lifting the London and Paris-based firm to $245M in assets under management. The target is €100M, or about $115M, with a final close expected in the first half of 2027.
The bigger shift is one of framing. Brighteye, which has backed more than 50 companies since 2017, says it is no longer just an edtech investor. Fund III is aimed at what it calls the HumanOS: software that helps people learn, work and adapt as AI pushes raw intelligence into the background.
That idea comes from the portfolio, not a whiteboard exercise. Founding partner Benoit Wirz pointed to Uphill, a Fund II company that started as a learning platform for healthcare and ended up as a productivity tool inside hospitals. The lesson, in his telling, is that customers often do not want training as a standalone product. They want capacity, and they will happily pay for that instead.
Brighteye’s own numbers suggest the market is already moving that way. Its European Learning and Work Funding Report says VC funding for the sector rose from $825M in 2024 to $1.85B in 2025, and hit $1.63B in the first half of 2026. Since inception, the firm says its portfolio has raised more than $1B in aggregate, with several companies now above $100M in annual revenue.
Fund III will keep cheques mostly in the $0.5M to $4M range, with a smaller pool reserved for $150K to $500K bets at idea stage. Brighteye expects up to 35 investments. Its first three picks already span the chain Wirz likes to talk about: imagi, NEX Health Intelligence and Gyver.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the rare AI pitch that doesn’t pretend every problem is a chatbot problem. Brighteye is basically saying the money is in workflow, not demo reels, which is a healthier bet than most of venture’s current circus. The industry could use a few more firms willing to fund boring productivity and a few fewer trying to name the next universe.
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