Onstage, the London-based organiser of standalone demo days, has launched its first enterprise fund – Onstage Fund I – with an preliminary shut of €11.3 million (£10 million) and a mission to bolster pre-Seed and Seed founders.
The fund shall be led by founding associate Joel Hambly, who additionally introduced his new position on the helm of the initiative.
“A fund is the clear subsequent step for Onstage and can get pleasure from a symbiotic relationship with our demo days. It additional strengthens our proposition for founders and deepens our relationship with the highest VCs in Europe. We will’t wait to help Europe’s subsequent wave of founders, who’re able to compete and win on a worldwide stage,” says Joel Hambly, Founding Associate at Onstage.
In 2025, Europe has seen an increase in comparable early-stage funding automobiles and ecosystem-building initiatives, with exercise spanning a number of areas.
Italy’s Step Venture launched a €30 million fund to help early-stage home startups with worldwide ambitions, whereas Denmark’s Delphinus Venture Capital entered the market with an €80 million car centered on research-driven corporations from pre-Seed to scale-up. Within the UK, EarthScale secured €5.8 million to ship a 12-month programme supporting ClimateTech ventures progressing from prototype to funding readiness.
Collectively, these initiatives symbolize roughly €115.8 million in new capital or help dedicated to the early-stage ecosystem.
The launch of Onstage Fund I suits inside this wider European motion to broaden sources for pre-Seed and Seed founders, with the UK-based fund complementing comparable efforts throughout Italy, Denmark, and home programme-led help.
“That is solely the start, and I’m extremely excited for the following chapter. We’ve seen numerous earlier candidates like scan.com, Lawhive, and Medly turn into a few of Europe’s fastest-growing startups,” provides Hambly.
Onstage’s journey began in 2020 as a response to one of the difficult points of early-stage entrepreneurship – fundraising. The organisation was co-founded by Hector Mason, a GP at Episode 1, and Taos Edmondson, beforehand with dmg ventures.
The corporate’s flagship demo day has drawn in additional than 2,000 candidates and collaborated with over 330 VC companies from Europe and the US, together with names like Sequoia, a16z, Balderton and LocalGlobe.
Finalists have collectively raised over €567 million (£500 million) in follow-on funding. Startups corresponding to Scan.com, which secured €68 million (£60 million), and Lawhive, with €€49 million (£44 million), have turn into key case research within the programme’s affect.
Now, with Onstage Fund I, the organisation isn’t solely providing founders a stage to pitch but additionally capital to scale.
Fund I’ll goal round 80 investments over the following three years, with a concentrate on backing startups on the earliest levels and constructing a community that connects founders and buyers throughout borders.
The fund already counts a number of notable buyers and figures from the startup scene amongst its restricted companions. These embrace Peter Simon, President of US-based Simon Sports activities, who additionally joins as a Associate, together with outstanding European founders like Alex Chesterman, and GPs from Idea Ventures, Creator Ventures, Chapter One, and Episode 1.
To additional embed itself inside the broader European VC cloth, Onstage can also be welcoming three exterior members to its funding committee: Emma Phillips (LocalGlobe), Laura McGinnis (Balderton), and Jamesin Seidel (Chapter One).
“Onstage has constructed a novel platform, which is already integral to the European ecosystem. There’s an enormous alternative to construct the next-generation YC in Europe, with a compelling proposition for world-class founders and co-investors. I’m excited to help these founders’ world aspirations,” says Peter Simon, Associate and investor at Onstage.
