We're excited to announce the first close of our fifth fund today: $55m, against a final target of $80m.

We've been investing from inception to seed since 2012, and after more than a decade of doing this, we've become increasingly convinced of one thing: the next generation of outlier technology companies will be built by founders with real technical depth at their core.

That's what Fund V is all about.

We'll continue to lead pre-seed rounds across Europe, writing cheques of $500k–$5m. We're looking for founders building companies with global ambition, particularly where technology is fundamental to the product and the problem being solved - from AI and infrastructure to hardware, robotics and biotech.

We've already started putting this thesis into practice with recent investments in companies like ai-coustics in AI infrastructure, Mosaico in robotics and Molecular Glue Labs in techbio.

Backing technical depth from day zero

We've always believed that the best founders have something others don't and, with Fund V, we're sharpening our focus on founders whose technical expertise shapes the product, the ambition and the velocity at which their company can move.

We're talking about founders with earned insight - the people who have lived the problem, built the technology, or spent years working at the frontier of something difficult. Not simply people with an opinion about a market, but founders with the kind of technical depth that can create structural advantages that are incredibly difficult to replicate.

It lets founders move faster, solve problems others can't, see things others miss. These are the founders that build products that couldn't have existed without their particular combination of expertise and insight.

That's the kind of founder we want to back and we want to back them from the very start.

Same partnership, same high-conviction model

While the focus of Fund V is sharpening, our model isn't changing.

We're still the same GP-only investment team, investing with the same philosophy we've had since the beginning: low volume, high conviction, high support.

There are no associates between founders and the investment decision at Connect. Every founder works directly with the Partner who leads their investment, and that Partner stays close as the company builds and grows.

We deliberately invest in a curated set of exceptional companies so that we can give them the time, attention and support they deserve.

Building on more than a decade of outliers

We've now invested in more than 120 companies, consistently backing founders at the earliest stages.

Over the years, we've had the privilege of partnering with teams that went on to build category-defining companies, including Aikido Security, a European outlier in AI cybersecurity, and TrueLayer, the leading Pay By Bank network.

We're proud that the founders we backed early continue to see the value in what we do.

As Roeland Delrue, Co-Founder of Aikido, puts it:

"Right from the start, it was clear that Connect understood that technical depth and product would be at the heart of what we were building, and that conviction has remained constant as Aikido has grown."

And Francesco Simoneschi, Founder of TrueLayer, who is now backing Connect V himself said:

"Connect is a venture capital firm that genuinely understands what it takes to build outlier companies, which is rare. That's why I'm excited to be backing Connect V."

A huge thank you to our investors

Fund V is anchored by British Business Bank, with significant participation from returning LPs including Aldea Ventures, Sella Venture Partners and Molten Ventures, alongside new investors, leading European family offices and several founders of Connect-backed companies.

We're incredibly grateful for the continued trust of our existing LPs, and excited to welcome our new investors to the Connect family.

Built By Few

Alongside Fund V, we'll also continue to grow Built By Few, our summit for the people building at the forefront of European technology.

What started with our flagship London event is becoming a growing circuit across Europe - with events in Ghent, Milan, Barcelona, Berlin and, next, Amsterdam.

We bring together Europe's most extraordinary founders and builders into the same room for a day of unfiltered insight, honest conversation and genuine connection.

Past speakers have included the founders of Arduino, TrueLayer, Dust and Aikido - people who are actually building the technology companies that will define Europe's future.

If you're interested in checking out everything Built By Few has to offer, express your interest in joining either our upcoming events in Amsterdam and London. 

Let's build what comes next

We've spent more than a decade investing in European founders at the earliest stage.

Fund V is a continuation of that  but with an even sharper view of where we think the biggest opportunities are and where technical depth is becoming an increasingly important competitive advantage.

We want to back the founders who have it, who are obsessed with solving hard problems, and who are building something the world hasn't seen before. From day zero.

We're incredibly excited for what comes next.

Pietro, Rory and Sitar