Omnea launches Venture Fund with Firedrop to back its employees
Omnea announces the launch of the Omnea Future Founders Fund in partnership with European angel fund, Firedrop. The new initiative will enable all employees to pitch for Seed funding to start their own business after 5 years at Omnea.
Employees will have the opportunity to pitch Omnea Founder and CEO, Ben Freeman, and Pietro Invernizzi, Founder and Investor at Firedrop, for $250,000 of Seed funding. The purposely simple process will involve just one 30-minute pitch meeting with immediate investment.
Ben Freeman, Founder and CEO of Omnea, comments: “Joining a high-growth startup is often the ideal way to practice building one of your own. People who want to start their businesses in the future are looking for an environment that allows them to develop the skills they need and to provide a launchpad. Omnea does exactly this. And that is why we have the confidence to invest in any long-serving Omnean who chooses to go on that path.”
In addition to the capital, successful employees will also receive workspace, operational support, and hands-on coaching from Omnea’s CEO and executive team, as well as access to Omnea and Firedropʼs network of operators, advisors, and investors. The extended network includes successful entrepreneurs and investors, including Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO at Stripe), Anne Raimondi (COO at Asana), Joel Hellermark (CEO at Sana), and Harsh Sinha (CTO at Wise).
Pietro Invernizzi, Founding Partner at Firedrop, comments: “Omnea attracts and develops the kind of operators who become great founders: they work hard, care deeply, think outside the box, and make decisions with a longer time horizon. These are all qualities that early-stage investors actively look for. We believe Omnea can be a launchpad for the next generation of ambitious founders, and we’re excited to partner to help make that happen.”
In the last four years, Omnea has grown to nearly 200 employees across London and New York, becoming one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies. The dedication to hiring exceptional talent with an entrepreneurial mindset is reflected in its talent acquisition strategy; interviewing more than 10,000 candidates for its first 50 roles.
Today, around 15% of Omneaʼs employees have previously founded companies themselves, including: Arie Barendrecht, founder and former CEO of Bessemer-backed, global proptech business, WiredScore; Ben Champion, co-founder of Fygo, an Accel-backed student marketing and loyalty app; and Chris Mansfield, co-founder and CEO of GoodCourse, a YC-backed corporate learning platform.
“When you build a team of ambitious, hard-working, and entrepreneurial people, some of them are inevitably going to want to start their own companies one day. I saw that first hand among my Tessian alumni-founder peers – including ElevenLabs’ Piotr Dabkowski, Maze’s Harry Wetherald, and Tracebit’s Andy Smith,” Freeman continued. “If we can provide the structure, network and initial capital injection that will help these exceptional people get their businesses off the ground faster, that’s a great outcome.”
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