Pre-Seed Venture Capital · UK & Europe

We play fair
by founders

Investing exclusively at pre-seed from our £30m Fund III — we give you an unfair advantage, taking you from where you are to where you want to be.

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69% Pre-seed → Series A
>$1bn Follow-on raised
£30m Fund III size
2015 Investing since
Philosophy

We partner with visionary founders — with hustle, heart and humility — who see the world not as it is, but as it could be, and together build durable foundations for growth.

Our pre-seed to Series A graduation rate is 69% — approximately 3× the industry average.

Track Record
>$1bn
Follow-on capital raised by our portfolio founders since 2015, from the world's best specialist and multi-stage funds.
69%
Pre-seed to Series A graduation rate — roughly three times the industry average. We stay with founders through the journey.
6
New investments per year. Highly selective — when we commit, we are all in and give you as much time as you need.
60%
Of the fund reserved for follow-on capital. We support you through Series A with capacity to invest up to £5m per company.
Portfolio Highlights
StripeSeries C · Sequoia
AndelaSeries D · SoftBank
Thought Machine$200m Series B · Temasek
MapillaryAcquired · Meta
Orca AI$23m Series A · OCV
RavelinAcquired · Worldpay
Protex AI$36m Series B · Hedosophia
Nory$37m Series B · Kinnevik
StackOne$20m Series A · GV
Recycleye$17m Series A · DCVC
StripeSeries C · Sequoia
AndelaSeries D · SoftBank
Thought Machine$200m Series B · Temasek
MapillaryAcquired · Meta
Orca AI$23m Series A · OCV
RavelinAcquired · Worldpay
Protex AI$36m Series B · Hedosophia
Nory$37m Series B · Kinnevik
StackOne$20m Series A · GV
Recycleye$17m Series A · DCVC
Stripe
Series C · Sequoia Capital
Global payments infrastructure — one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
Andela
Series D · SoftBank Vision
Global talent marketplace connecting companies with elite software engineers from Africa.
Thought Machine
$200m Series B · Temasek
Cloud-native core banking platform modernising legacy financial infrastructure worldwide.
Mapillary
Acquired by Meta, 2020
Crowdsourced street-level imagery powering autonomous vehicles and HD mapping.
Orca AI
$23m Series A · OCV Partners
AI collision-avoidance system transforming safety and autonomy in maritime shipping.
Ravelin
Acquired by Worldpay, 2025
Machine-learning fraud detection and risk management for online merchants at scale.
How We Invest

Highly selective.
All in when we commit.

01
Pre-seed focus only
Cheques from £100k for angel rounds up to £1.5m for the largest pre-seed rounds. We don't deviate from this focus.
02
Co-invest in 100% of deals
We co-invest in every new investment, optimising for the best combination of funds and angels to add depth to your cap table.
03
Long-term follow-on capital
60% of the fund is reserved for follow-on. We can deploy up to £5m per company and stay firmly with you through Series A.
04
Founders Choice VC — top 3
We rank in the top three of the Founders Choice VC European leaderboard. The most meaningful validation comes from our founders.
Investment Thesis

We back founders who see the world differently

Sector is secondary — founder quality is everything. We look for unconventional insight, genuine edge, and the conviction to build something that lasts.

Focus I
Deep Tech & AI
Transformative technology at the intersection of AI, automation, and scientific discovery. We look for applications with genuinely defensible moats.
Focus II
Future of Work
Platforms reshaping how people work, collaborate, and build organisations — from productivity infrastructure to next-generation talent marketplaces.
Focus III
Climate & Sustainability
Technology-enabled solutions to the most urgent environmental challenges — from clean energy to circular economy and climate intelligence.
What Founders Say

The most important voices are our founders'

"Playfair were the first to truly believe in what we were building. They didn't just write a cheque — they became genuine partners in every sense of the word."

CEO, Thought Machine $200m Series B · Temasek

"The team brings an incredible network and hands-on approach no other pre-seed investor came close to matching. I'd recommend them to any founder without hesitation."

Founder, Mapillary Acquired by Meta, 2020

"Having Playfair at the pre-seed stage set the tone for every raise that followed. Their conviction opened doors we didn't even know existed at that point."

Co-founder, Andela Series D · SoftBank Vision

Ready to build something extraordinary?

Come in and
find out more

We'd love to hear from you. Whether you have a deck, a prototype, or just an idea — we're always happy to talk.

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