Solo GP fund Andrena Ventures hopes to carry startup talent onto its next challenges | TechCrunch

In the world of startups, it is not uncommon to see talents from successful companies setting up their own ventures. This is particularly evident in fintech in Europe, where alumni of Monzo, N26, Revolut and other unicorn companies have founded a flurry of new companies.

Andrina VenturesA single GP fund, based in the UK, wants to support Startup Factory Snowball Effect By investing in such second generation startups in pre-seed and seed stages. To do this, it has raised $12 million from backers including several VCs and entrepreneurs.

Gideon Valkin, general partner at the firm, told TechCrunch that while he will fund talent with roots in European and British fintech, Andrina herself is unfamiliar with the sector. He expects most of his portfolio companies to focus on other categories like AI, climate tech and B2B enterprise solutions.

Andreena has already made her first investment: Nustom, an AI startup founded by Monzo co-founder, Jonas Templestein, to whom Valkin reported when he worked at Monzo. Nustom hasn’t launched publicly yet (which explains its short website), but it already has a long list of investors, including OpenAI, Balaji Srinivasan, Gary Tan, Naval Ravikant, and others.

Andrina’s participation in Nustom party round Reflects the firm’s thesis and strategy: Most of the time, it will contribute between $100,000 and $400,000 to rounds that will be led by others. However, Walkin hopes his network will make it easier for founders to raise a Series A round, potentially from his limited partners or from other investors he has connected with.

single gp approach

By leveraging his network and writing relatively small checks, Valkin hopes to gain access to lucrative deals that larger funds may not be able or willing to participate in.

Being a small fund means that small investments have the potential to return all invested capital; For a large firm, such investments will not move the needle or be worth the risk. Valkin knows that side of the equation: After leaving Monzo, he became an angel investor himself and started working as a seed investor at a VC firm. entry capitalWho is now one of Andrina’s limited partners.

But managing a single fund is not without challenges, and not just because management fees are proportionately smaller. As my co-worker Rebecca Szkutak noted Last year, “Emerging managers have been through the same ups and downs as startups over the past few years.”

Walkin says he took a significant cut in his salary, but he sees it as a plus: Founders can see him as a trusted partner who has equally as much at stake. “I think it aligns us really well,” he said. Their value proposition is to open up their network to founders and help them raise a Series A round, while also relying on their operational knowledge.

This mix is ​​more common in the US than in Europe, where many local VCs have never started a company. But things are changing, and angel investing is becoming increasingly common, especially among European entrepreneurs. in fintech,

One of Andreena’s LPs, tavet+stan, an investment vehicle run by Tavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise, and Stan Tamkivi, co-founder of Teleport. Both were, and remain, former employees of Skype. formally launched an early stage venture fund, pluralWith two other partners.

The fact that the pair chose to support Valkin can be seen as a validating nod to their thesis. With swarms of early fintech employees looking for their next challenge, the name Valkin chose for her venture is fitting: Andrina is a type of bee, and “pollination, in my mind, is probably the most important thing for what I do.” Nice analogy,” he said. Said.