BACKED raises €150M to Champion Seed Entrepreneurs in Europe with its Human-Centric Model!
by Startacus Admin
London-based European fund BACKED VC has announced a new €150M fund, split between a €75M second core fund and a brand new €75M encore fund.
BACKED the human-centric seed VC fund has just revealed details of two new €75M funds to invest in Europe’s boldest entrepreneurs. ‘BACKED Core 2’ continues to invest in seed-stage startups and ‘BACKED Encore 1’ is dedicated to follow-on investments in later-stage rounds of existing portfolio companies.
Alex Brunicki, Partner at BACKED, commented, “First and foremost - we wouldn’t be anywhere without the dedication and ambition of the founders we’ve backed. They bring the magic, day-in and day-out, we’re merely a supporting act.”
He added “We’ve pushed ourselves to be an entrepreneurial fund. We’ve not always got it right, but we iterate, listen and test at pace. I’d say we’ve made it to our Series A. I couldn’t be more excited about where we stand today and what lies ahead: we’re developing deeper edge in frontier markets like Biotech and Crypto; we’re bringing nascent communities together - such as Coin-Op - in a meaningful way; and we’ve built an exceptional team to support founders at scale.”
Co-founded and launched in 2016 by Partners Andre de Haes and Alex Brunicki, the BACKED portfolio now consists of 67 companies with an aggregate value of €10.7Bn including three unicorns: SkyMavis, the company that experienced the fastest revenue growth in history through their play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, the cloud-native core banking platform Thought Machine; and the Ethereum Layer 2 solution Immutable X. Four portfolio companies have exited, such as mobile gaming studio, Hutch Games, which sold to MTG for $375M in November 2020.
The company's investors include five major institutions both publicly-listed firms such as Groupe Bruxelles Lambert and private firms such as Wilshire Associates, alongside 20 leading venture-focused family offices and over 20 entrepreneurs, including several from Backed’s own portfolio. 80 per cent of BACKED’s recent funding came from existing investors.
Acting on its human-centric ethos, BACKED runs a proprietary 18-month founder support programme offered to all early stage founding teams. It contains 24 features across startup fundamentals with a special emphasis on people-related factors, including situational leadership training, culture and values workshops, hiring support via an in-house recruiter, access to mental health services and an in-house executive coach for founders and leadership teams.
The company also places an emphasis on community; hosting over 30 events annually from founder dinners to a 1,000 person party at the Finnish tech conference Slush, and co-hosting conferences such as Coin-Op, a global blockchain-gaming summit held at the London Science Museum.
BACKED was also one of the earliest firms to launch a Venture Scout programme in Europe. To date four investments have been made via their network of 60 Venture Scouts, including cellular agriculture startup Hoxton Farms and Black beauty brand Afrocenchix.
We've no doubt we'll be reporting back soon on the impact of both this investment fund and further BACKED successes!
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Got a business in the manufacturing sector? These tips on how you can reduce energy costs while being more sustainable are well worth a read...
 Daniel Dierkes, David Schara, and Maximilian Geißinger 2.jpeg)
Innovative InsurTech startup SureIn announces a €4M Seed round to further its mission of making insurance easy, transparent and hassle-free for SMBs.
Nassia Skoulikariti, Director of IoT Programmes, Mobile Ecosystem Forum shares some insights on how IoT is having a significant impact on all our lives.
.jpg)
Roger James Hamilton, Founder and CEO of Genius Group, a world-leading entrepreneur Edtech and education group, discusses how introducing a globalized curriculum will help better prepare students.
SuperFi, the debt prevention platform, has announced a $1m pre-seed funding round to support people during the cost of living crisis.
41 startups from 13 countries, including the UK, have been selected for the 8th Kickstart Innovation program, one of Europe’s leading innovation platforms.
Personal training platform Another Round has secured £300k in its latest fundraise, including investment from angels and its community.
Thingtrax Secures £4.3M to Empower Manufacturers to Build the Factories of the Future
A measure of inflation relief for small firms sees transport costs fall but service price increases remain elevated
Bedfordshire-based HR tech startup HR DataHub has built a range of tools for HR departments
Published on: 22nd February 2022
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- SureIn Secures €4M to Close the SMB Insurance Gap 15th Aug 2023 Innovative InsurTech startup SureIn announces a €4M Seed round to further its mission of making insurance easy, transparent and hassle-free for SMBs.
- SuperFi raises $1M pre-seed funding round 28th Jul 2023 SuperFi, the debt prevention platform, has announced a $1m pre-seed funding round to support people during the cost of living crisis.
- Startups rely on AI & sustainability for new partnerships 27th Jul 2023 41 startups from 13 countries, including the UK, have been selected for the 8th Kickstart Innovation program, one of Europe’s leading innovation platforms.
- Another Round closes £300k Seed round to revolutionise personal training 21st Jul 2023 Personal training platform Another Round has secured £300k in its latest fundraise, including investment from angels and its community.
