Incubator · Investment criteria

We back domain experts with brilliant ideas.

We are the technical co-founder. You bring the market, the insight, and the relationships — we bring the engineering bench and the capital to ship and raise.

$25K–$500K initial 10–25% equity via SAFE 18–20 week program ~5% accept rate

Investment scorecard

Pass · 8.4 / 10
Quality of idea9
Quality of team8.5
Trust in tech lead8
Co-investment ability8

Capital deployed

$9M+

across 3 funds

Start Fund$4.0M
Launch Fund$2.0M
Reinforce Fund$3.0M

$9M+

Total AUM across funds

2 stages

Idea & MVP

4 regions

US · CA · UK · EU

100%

IP and code to founders

Who we invest in

Four signals we look for.

We are highly selective. The four criteria below are weighted equally — strength on three doesn't compensate for absence on the fourth.

Quality of idea

A defensible UVP rooted in real evidence of customer pain. Not a vibe — a thesis you can defend in 90 seconds.

Quality of team

Domain-expert (co-)founders. The combination of deep industry experience plus a commercial co-founder is the highest-converting profile we see.

Trust in our technical lead

Our Tech Leads act as your fractional CTO during the program. We bring tested processes, a senior bench, and the speed those compound into. You have to be OK with that.

Ability to co-invest

$25K–$425K depending on program and equity preference. Co-investment aligns risk and signals conviction.

Stage: Idea or MVP

We invest at the earliest two stages — pre-product and pre-seed. Later-stage teams are reviewed case-by-case for advisory or growth engagements.

Geography: US, UK, Canada, EU

London HQ. We work predominantly with US early-stage startups and UK scaleups, and back founders across our investor network: London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Lisbon, and beyond.

Industry: Software, broadly

Decades of experience in fintech, proptech, edtech, insurtech, healthtech, marketplaces, AI products, and developer tools. No hardware, no wet-lab biotech, no services.

Honest disqualifiers

Where we are not the right partner

Saving everyone time. If you fit any of the categories on the right, please don't apply — we'll point you to better-fit programs in our network.

  • Hardware-first companies
  • Pure services / agencies
  • Wet-lab biotech
  • Crypto token-launch projects
  • Founders unwilling to co-invest
  • Founders who want to write the code themselves

Why this profile

Domain expertise plus senior engineering compounds faster than either alone.

We've watched hundreds of early-stage teams — the ones that win combine deep industry insight with disciplined technical execution. We supply the second half so you can stay focused on the first.

  • You bring decades of industry insight
  • We bring senior, AI-native engineering leadership
  • You design and execute the go-to-market
  • We design and execute the technical roadmap
  • You own the company, the IP, and the customer relationships
  • We share risk through cash + equity co-investment

Our funds

When we invest.

Three vehicles, deployed across the journey from idea to seed and beyond.

01

Start Fund

Idea stage · Initial check

Pre-seed cash plus production-grade MVP build. We act as your lead pre-seed angel and build the first version of the product alongside you.

$4M committed (2024–25)
02

Launch Fund

MVP stage · Initial check

Larger checks for teams with a working MVP who need senior engineering, traction support, and a fundraising path to seed.

$2M deployed annually
03

Reinforce Fund

Seed stage · Follow-on

Pro-rata or super-pro-rata follow-on into our highest-conviction graduates. We co-invest beside the lead seed fund — never alone.

$3M reserved for follow-ons

Fund sizes are indicative and reset annually. Actual check sizes are calibrated per company at term-sheet stage.

FAQ

Common questions

Why do you only invest in non-technical founders?+

Because we are the technical co-founder. Two technical founders is redundant; one domain expert plus our senior engineering bench is the model that compounds. If you want to write the code yourself, we are not the right partner.

What does "subject-matter expert" actually mean?+

Years inside the industry you're disrupting — as an operator, clinician, scientist, lawyer, designer, or domain leader. You see inefficiencies outsiders can't, you have relationships to validate fast, and you can sell the first ten customers yourself.

What's the minimum I need to co-invest?+

$25K USD on the Start program, $50K USD on Launch. Co-investment is non-negotiable — it aligns risk and forces sharp decisions. Higher co-investment means lower equity given up.

Why do you require giving up control of technical decisions?+

Because we own the technical outcome. Our Tech Leads operate as your fractional CTO, head of design, and head of product during the program. Our processes, stack, and senior bench are the reason the program works in 18–20 weeks instead of 18 months.

What industries do you invest in?+

Software, broadly. We have deep playbooks in fintech, proptech, edtech, insurtech, healthtech, marketplaces, AI products, and developer tools. We do not invest in hardware, biotech wet-lab, or services-only businesses.

Where are you geographically?+

Headquartered in London, UK with operating partners across the US and EU. We work predominantly with US early-stage startups and UK scaleups, and back founders based in the US, Canada, UK, and EU. Other geographies are case-by-case.

Think you're a fit?

Apply to the next incubation cohort.

Applications take ~10 minutes. We respond within 5 business days, with sharp, candid feedback either way.