Creator Fund, a UK-based pre-seed
venture capital firm focused on scientific founders, has closed its first
European fund at $56 million. The capital will support Creator Fund’s strategy
of identifying and backing researchers and PhD students at the earliest stages
of company creation, with a focus on deep tech sectors including artificial
intelligence, biotechnology, robotics, advanced materials, and computing
infrastructure.
The final close includes participation
from KfW Capital, the investment arm of Germany’s state-owned promotional bank
KfW, which joined as the fund’s largest investor. Other major backers include
the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), alongside Equation Capital,
Basecamp (Phoenix Court), JIMCO, and Allocator One. In total, 71 limited
partners from 21 countries committed to the fund.
Founded on the belief that scientific
talent is one of Europe’s strongest assets for startup creation, Creator Fund
focuses on identifying researchers before they enter the traditional venture
capital ecosystem. To source opportunities, Creator Fund has built a network of
student investors across 30 universities in 10 countries and operates a
Scientific Founder programme designed to help researchers navigate the process
of building companies from academic research.
With the new fund, Creator Fund plans
to expand this model across Europe, becoming the first student-led venture
platform to operate at continental scale. Creator Fund has already invested in
11 companies, including startups developing technologies in reproductive
health, robotics, advanced materials, and next-generation data storage.
Since launching in 2019, Creator Fund
has backed 62 companies. It achieved its first fund return following the sale
of portfolio company Loci to Epic Games and says two of its portfolio companies
have surpassed $100 million in cumulative funding over the past six months.
Jamie Macfarlane, founder and CEO of
Creator Fund, said the organisation was established to address a gap in the
venture ecosystem that has historically overlooked scientists as company
founders:
The world’s biggest problems are
being solved in European university labs. The scientists working on them are
extraordinary but for too long, they’ve been overlooked by venture capital and
encouraged towards academia rather than entrepreneurship. This fund allows us
to support more of these founders across Europe and help translate scientific
breakthroughs into companies.
Christian Röhle, co-head of Investment
Management at KfW Capital, said the fund’s approach provides access to emerging
founders at leading European universities while helping bridge the gap between
academic research and high-growth technology businesses.
Creator Fund’s Scientific Founder
programme remains central to its investment strategy. Each year, the programme
selects venture fellows from universities across Europe and trains them to
identify promising scientific founders and support them through the earliest
stages of company formation. Three of the first investments made from the new
fund were founded by former fellows.