VC firm Ada Ventures has announced the final close of its new $80m (£63m) investment fund targeting diverse impact startups.
Through the fund, Ada Ventures will make investments between £250,000 and £1.5m from pre-seed to seed-stage startups.
The firm plans to make between 10 and 12 investments per year in spaces such as climate equity, economic empowerment and healthy ageing.
Ada Ventures has already made 12 investments through its second fund, including child labour tracking startup HACE and VR training platform the Moon Hub.
“We’ve worked incredibly hard over the last five years to develop the systems and processes to turn our ambition to build a truly diverse and inclusive fund into reality,” said Ada Ventures co-founding partner Check Warner
“Strong returns are strongly correlated with inclusive investment. We want other funds to copy this blueprint. The excuse that diverse talent isn’t ‘out there’ is a cop-out.”
The new fund has received financial backing from the British Business Bank, the University of Edinburgh, Big Society Capital, Legal & General Capital, Atomico, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) and Molten Ventures.
“Diverse teams drive growth and better outcomes, and Ada Ventures’ inclusive approach is targeting the emerging cohort of startups who are developing innovative solutions for society’s greatest challenges,” said Chris Hopkins, managing director, of venture capital at Legal & General Capital
“We are pleased to have invested in Ada Venture’s second fund and support their wider investment strategy to broaden out access to capital and address the lack of diversity within the UK & European VC ecosystem.”
Alongside the institutional backers, founder investors including Wise’s Taavet Hinrikus and the Illusian – the family office of Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen – participated in the fund.
Last year, Ada Ventures launched the second edition of its regionally focused angel investing programme.
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