Concept Ventures

Concept Ventures is a London-based pre-seed venture capital firm and Europe's largest dedicated fund at the earliest stage of company building. Founded in 2018 as RLC Ventures and rebranded in 2022, the firm focuses exclusively on pre-seed — typically writing first institutional cheques into founders before traction or revenue, with the explicit aim of being on the founder's side rather than playing for optionality across stages.

The firm invests across sectors but groups its thesis around startups reshaping how people work, play and learn. Initial cheques run up to roughly $1.5 million per company, with reserves to follow on through Series A and beyond. Concept has built its selection process around what it calls a personality-led methodology, looking for traits associated with founder success rather than relying on credentials or networks alone — an approach that has produced an unusually diverse founder base for European VC.

Concept's first fund closed at £54 million in 2022, anchored by a £30 million cornerstone commitment from the British Business Bank. Its second fund closed in 2025 at $88 million in three weeks, supported by more than 70% of its portfolio founders. Notable portfolio companies include AI voice startup ElevenLabs, decarbonisation data platform Treefera, robotics simulation company VSim and defence-software startup Arondite. Fund I currently sits in the top 1% globally for its vintage by total value to paid-in.