---
title: "Brighteye Fund III First-Closed $72M — $245M AUM Claim, Not a Final Close"
description: "Tech.eu reported on September 16, 2026 that London/Paris firm Brighteye Ventures first-closed Fund III at $72 million and said firm AUM is now $245 million. Mandate is early-stage European “HumanOS” (learning, work, labour infrastructure). Named new LPs: Lumina Foundation, Zanichelli, PI Impact. No firm press URL retrieved."
date: 2026-09-16T00:00:00.000Z
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/2026-brighteye-ventures-72m-fund-iii-first-close
---

# Brighteye Fund III First-Closed $72M — $245M AUM Claim, Not a Final Close

> Tech.eu reported on September 16, 2026 that London/Paris firm Brighteye Ventures first-closed Fund III at $72 million and said firm AUM is now $245 million. Mandate is early-stage European “HumanOS” (learning, work, labour infrastructure). Named new LPs: Lumina Foundation, Zanichelli, PI Impact. No firm press URL retrieved.

**Brighteye Ventures first-closed Fund III at $72 million**, per [Tech.eu](https://tech.eu/2026/09/16/brighteye-ventures-lands-72m-first-close-to-back-the-future-of-learning-and-work/) on **September 16, 2026**, and said firm AUM is now **$245 million**. That is a **first close**, not a final close. Last verified **September 16, 2026**.

**Unexpected truth:** **$245 million** is **AUM**, not the Fund III vehicle. Do not write “Brighteye raised $245 million.” We did **not** retrieve a matching post on [brighteyevc.com](https://www.brighteyevc.com/). There is **

## Five-minute decision

| If you need… | Verdict |
| --- | --- |
| What happened | **First close.** **$72M** Fund III. Tech.eu, Sep 16. |
| Final close / target | **Not** in that article. |
| AUM | **$245M** firm claim after the first close. |
| Mandate | Early European learning / work / labour infra (“HumanOS”). Up to **35** investments. |
| New LPs named | Lumina Foundation, Zanichelli, PI Impact. Existing: EIF, Jacobs Foundation, family offices. |
| Tracker next step | Compare to [Cherubic VI $68.88M](/2026-cherubic-ventures-68-88m-fund-vi), not to [a16z Growth $8.5B](/2026-a16z-8-5b-growth-fund). |

**Investigate further when:** you want a specialist European learning-and-work first check.

**Wait or pass when:** you need a hard-cap final close or a directory profile.

## What closed

| Field | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Firm | Brighteye Ventures — London and Paris. Founding partner Ben Wirz (Tech.eu). |
| Vehicle | Fund III · **$72M first close** · Sep 16 coverage |
| Check size (firm site) | Initial investments **€0.4–4M** (approach page; not Fund III-specific) |
| Early Fund III names (Tech.eu) | imagi, NEX Health Intelligence, Gyver |
| Promotions (Tech.eu) | David Guérin to Partner; Isabella Vahdati to Principal; Rhys Spence to Head of Platform & Research |

Tech.eu also cited Brighteye’s own 2026 learning-and-work funding report (€710 million → €1.6 billion from 2024 to 2025; H1 2026 **$1.63 billion / €1.4 billion**). Those are **firm research** figures, not Fund III deployment.

Do **not** repeat Tech.eu’s “over $100 billion in revenue/year” portfolio claim — it is not used here.

Day index: [September 15–16](/2026-september-15-16-investment-news-grab-pulley-jack-jill). Month hub: [September 2026 VC news](/2026-september-vc-news).

**By:** [Venture Capital Tracker](https://venturecapitaltracker.com/editorial-policy)
**Last updated:** September 16, 2026

**Editorial note:** AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.