We back founders who are reimagining the world. We invest $1-10m early, in those building daring adventures across Europe.  Our partners have worked in leading Silicon Valley startups since the dawn of the Internet and have collectively amassed over 50 years in tech on both sides of the Atlantic. We are a small team of investors and startup operators who typically make just a small number of new investments per year, so every relationship matters. We appreciate that success is not built overnight; we are in it for the long haul. We are humble, curious, open and straightforward — having learned from both mistakes and successes. Read about our thesis-driven approach to investing and what you can expect when working with us on our website.

Mosaic Ventures

Metaplanet Holdings is an early-stage investment firm that invests in diversified sectors. They support novel and evidence-based innovations that could produce an outsized return for the benefit of humankind. The firm specializes in the fields of business development, venture capital, and financial services.

Metaplanet

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that engages in consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets. It focuses on seed, early-stage, later-stage, expansion-stage, start-ups, growth companies, and incubation, and specializes in debt financing for start-ups and growth companies. Lightspeed Venture Partners invests in various sectors that include enterprise, consumer, big data, bitcoin, enterprise technology, cleantech, mobile, internet, financial technology, cloud solutions, e-commerce, storage, media, networking, energy, and software, software-as-a-service, information technology, biotechnology, and social. It mainly invests in countries such as the United States, Europe, Israel, China, and India.

Lightspeed Venture Partners

Virgin is a leading international investment group and one of the world's most recognised and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays and health & wellness.  Virgin employs more than 65,000 people around the world, operating in over 50 countries. The Virgin Group is managed by [Virgin Management] (www.crunchbase.com/virginmanagement) - who support the Branson family and the growth of the Virgin brand.

Virgin Group

Taavet+Sten is a venture capital fund that primarily invests in early-stage European founders. Taavet+Sten is a partnership of founders backing founders with their own personal capital and analytical diligence.

Taavet+Sten

Lightyear

Lightyear is a simple and approachable way to invest your money globally without unnecessary barriers and fees.

Lightyear is a UK-based investing platform that offers access to exchange-traded funds, FX trading, and both fractional and full US and European stocks for retail investors without any associated trading and custody fees. The platform only charges 0.35% fees on FX trading and consists of over 3,000 global stocks and ETFs. Lightyear provides multi-currency accounts, which allow users to hold their capital in GBP, USD, and EUR.

Retail investors demanding sophisticated passive investment strategies are looking for an edge.

Retail Trading Infrastructure

Lightyear is a UK-based investing platform that offers access to exchange-traded funds, FX trading, and both fractional and full US and European stocks for retail investors without any associated trading and custody fees. The platform only charges 0.35% fees on FX trading and consists of over 3,000 global stocks and ETFs. Lightyear provides multi-currency accounts, which allow users to hold their capital in GBP, USD, and EUR.The platform was launched in the UK in 2021 and has expanded into Austria, Germany, France, Spain, and 15 other European countries (as of July 2022).Funding and financialsIn July 2022, Lightyear raised USD 25 million in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11670">Series A </a>funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company planned to use the capital to support further expansion within Europe.

Ellevest is a hybrid investment management platform that specifically targets women, with an algorithm that takes into account gender-specific factors such as career breaks, longer life expectancy, and income differences.Ellevest currently offers services under three categories: Ellevest Essential (at a monthly fee of USD 1), Ellevest Plus (USD 5 per month), and Ellevest Executive (USD 9 per month). All three offerings include portfolio customization, banking services (spending and savings accounts), access to human advisors, and on-demand learning for subjects such as investing, career, and money. Ellevest Plus is more costly because it handles retirement accounts for clients. Meanwhile, Ellevest Executive handles both retirement accounts and investment management for multiple goals. The company also offers private wealth management services for clients who wish to invest USD 1 million or more through the platform. A dedicated advisor will work together with clients to create investment plans to meet their goals.Ellevest reported assets under management (AUM) of USD 1.4 billion as of December 2021, growing 44% during the year.In April 2022, Ellevest raised USD 53 million in Series B <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9622?industryIds=28">funding </a>co-led by BMO and Contour Venture Partners. The company planned to use the funds to expand its product offering and provide personalized coaching.

Ellevest

ComposedPro is a digital investment advisor that handles clients’ investment accounts at their employers (such as employer-sponsored accounts) as well as private investment accounts, focusing on low cost Employer-Coordinated Portfolios. The company oversees USD 25 million in total assets over 181 customer accounts as of the company’s Q2 2020 filing. ComposedPro manages half of the company’s accounts on a discretionary basis, meaning an investment advisor has the discretion to make buy and sell decisions for a client’s account. ComposedPro also has 46 non-discretionary accounts totalling USD 7.9 million in assets. The average investment account size is USD 138,222 placed across exchangeable assets such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), equities, bonds, and options.

ComposedPro

Guideline provides automated investment management services for employer-sponsored retirement accounts. The services also include plan set-up and administration, enrollment and education, recordkeeping, compliance with Retirement Income Security Act, and reporting.As of July 2023, Guideline had assets under management (AUM) of over USD 9 billion and over 350 employees. The company stated that it is the only provider that does not charge plan participants (i.e. employees) with any fees. Guideline charges the employers with a straightforward pricing of one flat fee per participant, in contrast to the asset-based fee model predominant in the industry (i.e. fee is charged on account balances). The standard service has a base fee of USD 49 per month and an additional USD 8 per participant. The standard service includes unlimited phone/email support to both plan participants and employers. For prime service, access to a dedicated account manager is available at a higher base fee of USD 129 and an additional fee of USD 8 per participant. In addition, the company stated that it has a low mutual fund expense ratio, at 0.08%. It purchases mutual funds from Vanguard and other fund providers.Funding and financialsIn June 2021, Guideline raised USD 200 million in funding led by General Atlantic. The company intends to utilize the funding to broaden its 401(k) offerings and introduce new retirement plan solutions.

Guideline

Based in Plano, Texas, AssetBuilder is a robo-advisory company that develops investment portfolios based on the Fama/French school of thought, using low-cost active index funds. It has Dimensional Fund Advisors (the eighth largest fund company in the world as of September 2019) as its funding partner. Human advisors are available to provide investing guidance. As of April 2019, the firm’s assets under management (AUM) amounted to USD 765.9 million. The firm’s business model relies on a fee-only structure, meaning a customer solely pays AssetBuilder to create and manage investments (the company does not receive product-specific commission). The minimum investment for AssetBuilder is USD 50,000 with an asset management fee ranging from 0.24% to 0.45%; the higher the investment, the lower the fee. Though the firm does not have a setup fee, it requires a custodial cost for setting up a portfolio of USD 11.95 per trade for each recommended mutual fund. Most of the platform’s portfolios require about 11 to 14 mutual funds, costing about USD 131.45 to USD 167.30 to open an account.

AssetBuilder

Based in Canada, Smart Money Invest provides portfolio management services to individual clients, advisors, and employers (such as group saving plans for retirement). Human advisors are available to serve individual investors.The company provides financial tools to develop a long-term financial strategy by calculating net worth, setting a budget, managing investment accounts, and planning for retirement.

Smart Money Invest

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services directly to individuals solely via digital platforms.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to individuals via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provide solutions for financial advisors/asset managers to automate wealth management and administration functions.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to businesses via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provides solutions for financial institutions to set up their own robo-advisory function and offer services to clients.

Startups that offer online platforms for investors to trade various securities such as stocks, ETFs, and options directly via the platform

Leverages AI/ML to automate allocation and management of investment funds to cater to retail investors

Operates a B2B SaaS model to support financial institution in offering various investment related services

Lightyear

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