VC fund profile · evidence-aware directory data
Connect Ventures Fund V stages, portfolio and investment profile
Connect Ventures announced a $55M first close on September 23, 2026 for Fund V, targeting $80M in total—not a final $80M raise. Leads European pre-seed rounds with first cheques of $500K–$5M, focused on technically deep AI, infrastructure, robotics, hardware and techbio founders. British Business Bank anchors the fund alongside returning and founder LPs.
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Stage-based planning range
$250K–$3M
This is a planning range inferred from stage coverage, not a firm-disclosed check size.
Methodology: Stage bucket inferred from the rounds a fund leads or invests in.
No firm-specific check-size disclosure is recorded.
Investment stages
Leads: Not recorded
Participates: Pre-Seed, Seed
Sector focus
Not recorded
Geography
Europe
Founded Not recorded
Fund size / AUM
Not recorded
A separate fund-size evidence record is not yet available.
Portfolio in our directory
None yet
Linked startup profiles
Recent tracked investment
Not recorded
No dated round explicitly links this fund.
VCT investor research
Inside Connect Ventures Fund V's investment strategy
Independent, source-backed analysis of who the firm backs, deal evidence and whether it fits your stage.
Financing chronology and the difference between committed and targeted capital
Managing partner Pietro Bezza announced the $55 million **first close** for Connect Fund V on September 23, 2026. The manager gave a $80 million target, not a final close; the $25 million gap is a fundraising objective, not capital already secured. The British Business Bank's October 15 release disclosed an anchor LP allocation equivalent to approximately €23.6 million at the ECB reference rate for that date; that is part of the fundraise, not a new $23.6 million startup round or additional vehicle. Named returning LPs include Aldea Ventures, Sella Venture Partners and Molten Ventures; founder Francesco Simoneschi also said he had become an LP. Individual non-Bank commitment amounts were not published.
Founder route: what the fund actually does
Connect is an early-stage investor backing European technical founders at inception/pre-seed. It states a first investment range of $500,000–$5 million and a partner-only model. A representative founder can (1) explain the unusual technical advantage behind the product, (2) establish that the team has direct experience of the customer problem, (3) show a working demonstration or testable hypothesis, (4) define a milestone for the first check and (5) work directly with a general partner on subsequent product and fundraising decisions. This is illustrative, not a claim to have tested a Connect application. Relevant sectors include AI infrastructure, robotics, hardware and biotech; the firm names ai-coustics, Mosaico and Molecular Glue Labs as investments aligned with its thesis. LP fees, ownership requirements, fund IRR and precise close dates beyond the announcement are not disclosed. See Connect Ventures.
Sources and verification
Dated company disclosures take priority over third-party databases. These sources support the analysis above.
Rounds they lead
Rounds they invest
Last verified: Not recorded. Check-size evidence is labeled by basis so planning estimates are not presented as firm disclosures.
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