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

Outlier Ventures funding has evolved dramatically: the UK firm built its name as the world's best-known web3 accelerator, and today it invests first cheques into deep tech through Outlier Fund II. For founders asking how to get funding from Outlier Ventures, it is a pre-seed to growth-stage investor, global in scope, that prides itself on being the "first cheque into emerging technological frontiers" — with cash reaching founders in as little as 3 weeks.

Outlier Ventures funding: thesis and sectors

Thirteen years into investing (its lineage runs from 2013), Outlier now runs the Triple AAA Thesis: AI (intelligence — AI-native design for materials, molecules and manufacturing), Atoms (physical systems — energy, synthesis infrastructure, sensing) and Association (economic coordination — provenance, marketplaces, legal wrappers for people and machines). The portfolio counts 400+ investments and 150+ live companies and protocols, with over $500 million co-invested alongside family offices, VCs and sovereign wealth funds. Its original web3 accelerator heritage remains core: its Base Camp accelerator has been accelerating web3 startups since 2014, with 300+ alumni startups from programmes including the NEAR Base Camp ($100,000 plus an additional $20,000 in NEAR service credits over 12 weeks), the Dream Assembly Base Camp with Farfetch, and the LATAM Base Camp with Morgan Creek Digital.

Cheque size and stages

Outlier's primary cheques run $50K–$1M, lead or co-lead, with a $50K–$500K syndicate alongside specialists and $250K–$2M secondary positions. Stages run from pre-seed to growth, and the firm says it fills a structural gap: deep-tech founders are too technical for generalist seed funds and too early for specialist growth funds.

Notable portfolio

Recent investments named on its site include Revanta (AI platform for drug design), Mirai (autonomous maritime systems) and Thoron (drone systems for critical infrastructure). Its accelerator alumni span the web3 landscape, and Outlier positions itself as a feeder from seed to Series A and B, partially exiting to make room for larger investors.

Partners, credits and team

The firm was founded by Jamie Burke (Founder and CEO), who has steered its journey from web3 accelerator to deep-tech investor. Beyond capital, founders get partner credits from NVIDIA Inception VC Alliance, AWS, Google Cloud, Braintrust, Notion, DocSend and GitHub, plus syndication through special-purpose vehicles and multi-family-office capital.

How to apply for funding

Founders can apply through the application page on outlierventures.io, which handles both direct investment and Base Camp accelerator applications. The firm's stated process is fast by design: conviction-based investing with a maximum of three calls and cash in three weeks.