Concept Ventures, formerly known as RLC Ventures, has launched an oversubscribed pre-seed fund to the value of £50 million, which includes a cornerstone commitment from the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds programme of £30 million.
Since its 2018 launch, Concept has already backed more than 100 founders at the pre-seed stage, including Reachdesk, Your Juno, and Condense.
Investing into startups
Intending to write cheques between £100,000 and £600,000 for pre-seed founders, Concept has plans to invest in at least 60 startups in the next four years and has also pledged 1 per cent of the total carry pool to a founder’s chosen charities.
“There is a major gap in the pre-seed ecosystem, with too few funds offering dedicated pre-seed expertise. We are completely focused on this critical stage of a company’s life cycle and are able to provide the funding, expertise and network they need to succeed,” said Concept Ventures founder and general partner Reece Chowdhry (pictured).
“We are looking forward to making more personality-led investments in companies transforming how we work, play and learn, and doing so under our new name – Concept Ventures.”
To boldly go
The British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds programme, committing more than half of the funds, is aiming to support early-stage UK companies will an increased supply of equity capital.
“Our cornerstone commitment to Concept Ventures will help them to provide finance and support to young and diverse, high-potential businesses at the pre-seed stage, helping to close the early stage equity funding gap,” the British Business Bank managing director of venture solutions Ken Cooper said.
We spoke with Concept Ventures principal Oliver Kicks who exclusively told us that: “Off the back of this £50 million fund, we’re looking to invest in 60+ startups over the next four years. Experienced founders who are rethinking games content and infrastructure will be a core area of focus for us.
“There is a huge amount of exciting innovation happening in the UK games and entertainment scene right now, and not a lot of funds who will invest early and with conviction. The strong traction of our existing portfolio, such as Condense, Landmark, Magicave and others, have shown us the potential here and we’re ready to double down and back plenty more teams with big, global ambitions at the start of their journeys.”
Earlier this month, early-stage gaming investment firm Konvoy Ventures announced a new $150 million fund, bringing its total under management to $270 million.