Project Ventures is an independent early-stage venture capital fund rooted in the Imperial College London ecosystem. Founded in 2023, it describes itself as the first independent, alumni-powered VC fund dedicated to the university's startup community — borrowing a model that has powered breakout companies across leading US universities.

In September 2026 the firm announced its debut £5 million fund, which it aims to close by summer 2027. The fund invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups working at the intersection of deeptech and AI, writing cheques of £100,000 to £300,000 per company.

Thesis

Project Ventures backs founders applying science, engineering and AI to build intelligent systems that connect the digital and physical worlds. Its focus sectors include robotics, healthcare, climate, energy and advanced manufacturing. The firm targets startups that are either emerging from or connected to the Imperial College London ecosystem — Imperial's depth across science, engineering and medicine, founder and managing partner Shahryar Barati has said, makes it an exceptional hunting ground for companies at the intersection of deep tech and AI.

The people

The fund is led by Shahryar Barati, founder and managing partner and a three-time Imperial alumnus. More than 80% of the fund's limited partners are Imperial alumni, giving the firm what it calls differentiated access to high-quality deal flow and early visibility into founders ahead of the wider market. It works with a group of venture partners based in London and the Bay Area, and says it plans to extend its alumni-powered model to other technical university ecosystems across Europe in the longer term.

Portfolio

Project Ventures had already completed three investments before its formal fund launch, after a soft-launch period building a track record:

  • Tewke — an intelligent home energy platform enabling home energy optimisation and decentralised energy infrastructure.
  • NexusAM — an AI-powered metal 3D printing quality assurance company that detects manufacturing defects during production.
  • Neubond — a neurotech startup building a wearable, closed-loop therapy platform for stroke rehabilitation and recovery.

The firm has not publicly disclosed details of founder credit programmes or perks.

Why it matters for founders

If you are building deeptech or AI systems with any connection to Imperial — as a student, alumnus, researcher or spin-out collaborator — Project Ventures is one of the few pre-seed funds on the continent purpose-built for you. Its alumni-LP base means your pitch lands in front of people who already speak your technical language, and its £100k–£300k cheques are sized for the earliest experiments in robotics, healthtech, climate and advanced manufacturing.