Jenson Funding Partners, a London-based early-stage venture capital investor, announced that it has launched a new fund — Aurora I, at £60M. The company intends to invest in 60 pre-seed and seed-stage companies with the new fund.
The fund will target companies in the UK, helping businesses and consumers reduce their environmental impact cost-effectively with solutions that can be easily integrated with everyday life.
Sarah Barber, CEO of Jenson Funding Partners, says, “There are some fantastic companies out there that are busy making greener alternatives affordable and practical. We see this as a critical step to encouraging the mass adoption of more sustainable ways of living and doing business, and an excellent opportunity for investors.”
“Aurora I is the opportunity for us to leverage our track record of successfully backing early-stage businesses with the potential to impact the way we live and work directly – and extend what we have already done in discovering some exciting startups with strong sustainability credentials,” she adds.
Addressing the funding gap in climate tech
Recently, a report from Tech Nation identified a funding gap for UK climate tech between the seed stage and Series A. Consequently, Aurora will target this gap and be deployed over three years:
- 1st year: 60 pre-seed and seed-stage companies
- 2nd year: 20 follow-ons
- 3rd year: Final ten investments made in the most successful firms
Jenson tells TFN that it plans to write a cheque of £350K on average. The VC will then look to make investments of around £1 million in the 20 most successful firms, and then they will do the second follow-on of around £2 million in the final ten most successful.
The B Corp-certified VC firm, which has achieved more than ten exits with an average of 4x returns, aims to start deployment of the fund in mid-2023.
As per the company, potential investments will be scouted using VC’s extensive existing network of universities, accelerators, VCs, incubators, and corporate advisors.
To develop the investment thesis and identify opportunities, the VC firm has taken on two new Venture Partners: co-founders of the sustainable business think tank, Hyve Forum, Associate at the Circular Economy Centre, Cambridge Judge Business School Dr. Samsurin Welch, and sustainability-focused serial entrepreneur and fellow Cambridge Judge Business School alumnus Abdulaziz Bin Redha.
To date, Jenson Funding Partners invested more than £21 million in 125+ entrepreneurial UK businesses, including diverse founders firms such as AI-driven neuroscience-designed digital platform NeuroCreate, Sküma Water, a water filtration system, women-led fashion tech Vestico and more.
Jeffrey Faustin, Chief Investment Officer at Jenson Funding Partners, says, “Dr. Samsurin and Abdulaziz have been hugely influential in setting up the fund and will continue to play an active role in it.
“They bring decades of experience advising senior government officials and top executives at some of the world’s largest corporations on sustainability and Net Zero transition. Together we’ve developed what I believe to be a compelling proposition for fast-growing companies and investors.”
