Identity.vc has launched Europe’s first LGBTQ+ venture capital fund, with €50M available to early-stage founders in the form of €250K to €1.5M initial tickets.
The Art. 9 SFDR social impact fund has already made four investments, including Berlin-based Frontnow, which offers an AI solution for online retailers, and London-based Omni which provides healthy vegan dog food.
The firm invests in early-stage startups with LGBTQ+ representation at the founder or C-level, targeting mostly European companies between pre-seed and Series A.
The investors aim to protect and promote diverse founding teams; According to Proud Ventures’ data, 75% of LGBTQ+ founders concealing their identity from investors, leading to negative health and cognitive impacts. In a statement, they derided ‘untapped potential’, with Founding Partner Til Klein commenting: “Diversity is an attractive investment case. Numerous studies show that diverse teams perform better.”
The team behind the fund comprises Founding partner Til Klein, a former BCG partner, UBS banker, and FinTech founder, founding partner Jochen Beutgen offers a 20-year track record as a family office investor in venture capital and Principal Mari Luukkainen, an ex-growth operator and investor at icebreaker.vc.