Onstage, best known as the organiser of Europe’s largest standalone demo day, tackles one of the continent’s biggest challenges for startups: a fragmented venture ecosystem that makes it hard for early-stage founders to connect with top investors. Their demo day has become a hub, drawing thousands of startups and hundreds of venture funds from Europe and the US, including names like Sequoia and a16z.
Building on this traction, Onstage just launched its first venture fund, closing its initial £10 million round. This fund, led by founding partner Joel Hambly, will invest in about 80 startups over the next three years, focusing on pre-seed and seed rounds.
When we asked about the diversity approach, Hambly noted, “Our IC has a range of expertise covering pre-Seed to Series A and a wide range of sectors including SAAS, consumer tech and AI. Additionally, Onstage Demo Day is a vehicle that levels the playing field. It gives founders who don’t comply with the stereotypical founder mould access to the best investors and VCs. We do that without taking any fee or equity.”
Giving access to early-stage funding without relying on traditional accelerator models
The company was founded in 2020 by Hector Mason, a General Partner at Episode 1, and Taos Edmondson, a partner at dmg ventures, to bring order to Europe’s startup scene by creating a central platform that connects founders and investors simply and effectively.
The team, including co-founder Issie James, who runs the flagship demo day, brings venture experience and a shared mission to democratise access to early-stage funding without relying on traditional accelerator models. Their reason for starting Onstage was the belief that European startups deserved a better, more direct path to financing and visibility without added complexity.
Other team members include Jamesin Seidel (Chapter One), Laura McGinnis (Balderton), Emma Phillips (LocalGlobe), and Peter Simon (Onstage/Simon Sports).
What sets Onstage apart from competitors like Seedcamp, Techstars, or Y Combinator’s European efforts is its pure focus on building a dynamic networking and deal-flow platform rather than running a formal accelerator program. Onstage’s demo day finalists have collectively raised over £500 million, with standout companies like Scan.com and Lawhive showing rapid growth.
Hambly told TFN, “Usually, funds are specified in sectors or technologies where they have a competitive advantage. The advantage that we have built is industry-agnostic. We’ve built a platform that gives us early visibility into emerging opportunities across all sectors, powered by data from Demo Days and the 4,000+ startups we evaluate every year.”
Onstage has also become a key gathering for venture capital professionals, recently attracting hundreds of GP applicants, solidifying its role as the largest conduit of deal flow across Europe’s startup ecosystem.
What’s next?
Looking forward, Onstage’s new fund plans to deepen these relationships by involving prominent industry leaders from LocalGlobe, Balderton, and Chapter One on its investment committee, ensuring high standards in deal sourcing and selection.
