Investor Profile: Ada Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Getting Ada Ventures funding means understanding what this London firm is built for: backing the overlooked. Co-founded in 2019 by Check Warner and Matt Penneycard, Ada Ventures is a pre-seed VC deliberately backing founders locked out of old-boys networks. Named for Ada Lovelace, it judges founders on grit, ambition and humility rather than CVs or warm introductions. For founders wondering how to get funding from Ada Ventures, the headline terms are a £250k–£1mn first cheque, a lead position in over 70% of deals, and around 10–12 new companies backed each year.

The Ada Ventures investment thesis

Ada is an inclusive venture firm hunting extraordinary talent building breakthrough ideas for the hardest problems. Its sourcing engine is a network of roughly 100 Ada Scouts embedded in under-represented communities — LGBTQ+ founders, disabled entrepreneurs and regions outside London — who surface deals without the warm-introduction hurdle. Scouts are paid an upfront fee plus carried interest; in Ada Ventures Fund I, nine of 28 investments came via this route.

Sectors, stage and cheque size

Ada is a pre-seed, pre-Series A investor backing UK technology companies with global ambitions, plus Northern European firms with a UK link. It backs climate, healthcare and ageing, and economic empowerment, preferring unique or defensible technology — invested early, before clear product-market fit. First cheques run from £250k to £1mn, typically around £500k, and the firm leads over 70% of its deals.

Ada Ventures fund size and backers

Fund I was around £27m ($34m), launched in 2019 as a first-cheque seed fund. In October 2022 Ada announced a £36m first close of Ada Ventures Fund II — TechCrunch reported sources putting the final-close target at £60m — with founding partner Check Warner noting the firm had £84m under management. Backers include the British Business Bank (Enterprise Capital Funds), Plexo Capital, the University of Edinburgh, Taavet+Sten and the Supercell co-founders.

Ada Ventures portfolio highlights

Ada Ventures Fund I backed 28 companies — including Huboo, Organise, MOONHUB, SideQuest and Spill — which raised an aggregate £100m in follow-on funding from firms such as Mubadala, GV and Index Ventures; Huboo alone raised a £60m Series B. The portfolio claims 55% female founders and 30% ethnic minority founders — among Europe's most diverse. Recent additions on Ada's site include Materials Nexus, Micrographia Bio, Boldr, Flexa and BlakBear.

Ada Ventures programmes and support

Ada's Angels, launched in October 2020 to bring more diverse people into angel investing, gave five people from its scout network £50,000 each to make five £10,000 investments. The cohort made 22 angel investments, six of which later raised from Ada, with a second, larger cohort planned; the scout programme opens twice a year. Portfolio support includes a growth specialist, a dedicated talent partner, 40 hours of back-up childcare and founder welfare support — plus Deck Genius, an AI-powered tool giving founders actionable pitch-deck feedback.

How to apply for funding

Ada invites founders raising pre-seed to apply directly through its fundraising application form, and actively encourages applications from under-represented founders — no warm introduction needed. Founders can also run their deck through Deck Genius, Ada's AI-powered pitch-deck tool, for actionable feedback first.