Backed VC closes $100M seed fund to invest in Europe's generational founders
European venture firm Backed VC has closed its third fund, Backed 3, at its $100 million cap, alongside making its 100th investment. Backed partners with outlier founders building generational frontier technology companies, who have made a fundamental technological or conceptual breakthrough.
Following two high-performing first funds – Backed’s first fund is a top decile fund and returned a further 35% of capital to investors in October 2025 – Backed is scaling its ambition with Backed 3, with a larger fund, increased presence in the US, and an expanded global events strategy. Close to 50% of Backed 3 was committed from 10 leading institutional Fund of Funds, with new investors such as Isomer Capital and Wunderland Capital. Backed 3 also now counts over 50 family offices and entrepreneurs as investors, including founders from Backed’s existing portfolio.
Backed 3 will focus on three areas of frontier tech, in which Backed has previously seeded unicorns: AI-native therapeutics, blockchain, and banking infrastructure and manufacturing automation. This fund has already re-invested in six of its strongest founders from previous funds Backed leads pre-seed or seed stage rounds with investments between $500k and $5 million.
The firm partnered early on with the founders of companies such as Invisible Technologies, Thought Machine, General Intuition, and Flow Engineering – all of which have raised $20-150 million follow-on funding rounds in the last quarter from Tier 1 US firms including Sequoia, General Catalyst, Greycroft, and Khosla.
Backed is now at a landmark 100 pre-seed or seed investments, of which five companies have already achieved unicorn status with valuations above $1 billion, and eighteen have reached an enterprise value of over $100 million. Backed has a 90% investment follow-on rate from seed, measured by the companies closing a subsequent funding round, becoming profitable, or being acquired.
Since its inception in 2016, Backed has differentiated itself by operating at the intersection of venture capital and events to gather the entrepreneurial community. Backed runs an extensive VC event programme globally, with 40 events per year, hosting over 4,000 founders and investors. During Slush next week, Backed will host six separate events for 2,000 guests.
For more startup news, check out the other articles on the website, and subscribe to the magazine for free. Listen to The Cereal Entrepreneur podcast for more interviews with entrepreneurs and big-hitters in the startup ecosystem.
