In the world of startups, it is not uncommon for talent from successful companies to start their own ventures. This is especially evident in fintech in Europe, where alumni of unicorns like Monzo, N26, Revolut and others have started a stream of new companies.
Andrena Ventures, a solo GP fund based in Great Britain, aims to support this snowball effect of startup factories by investing in such second-generation startups at the pre-seed and seed stages. To do this, it has raised $12 million from backers, including several venture capital funds and entrepreneurs.
The firm's general partner Gideon Valkin told JS that while he will fund talent with roots in European and UK fintech, Andrena himself is sector agnostic. He expects most of his portfolio companies to focus on other categories, such as AI, climate technology and B2B enterprise solutions.
Andrena has already made his first investment: Nusteam, an AI startup founded by Monzo's co-founder Jonas Templestein, to whom Valkin reported while at Monzo. Nustom hasn't launched publicly yet (which explains its abbreviated website), but it already boasts a long list of investors, including OpenAI, Balaji Srinivasan, Garry Tan, Naval Ravikant and others.
Andrena's participation in Nustom's party round reflects the company's thesis and strategy: Typically, it will contribute between $100,000 and $400,000 to rounds that will be led by others. However, Valkin hopes his network will make it easier for founders to raise Series A rounds, possibly from his limited partners or from other investors he is connected to.
The solo GP approach
By leveraging its network and writing relatively small checks, Valkin hopes to gain access to hot deals that larger funds may not be able or willing to participate in.
Having a small fund means that small investments have the potential to return all the capital invested; for a larger company, such investments would yield no returns and would not be worth the risk. Valkin knows that side of the equation: After leaving Monzo, he became an angel investor himself and began working as a seed investor at venture capital firm Entrée Capital, which is now one of Andrena's limited partners.
But managing a solo fund is not without its challenges, and not just because management fees are proportionately lower. As my colleague Rebecca Szkutak noted last year, “emerging executives have been on the same roller coaster as startups in recent years.”
Valkin says he has taken a significant pay cut, but he sees this as a plus: the founders can see him as a trusted partner with just as much at stake. “I think this really aligns us,” he said. His value proposition is to open his network to founders and help them raise a Series A round, while also relying on his operational knowledge.
This mix is more common in the US than in Europe, where many local VCs have never started a company. But things are changing and angel investing is becoming increasingly common among European entrepreneurs, especially in fintech.
One of Andrena's LPs, Taavet+Sten, is an investment vehicle run by Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus and Teleport co-founder Sten Tamkivi. Both are former Skype employees and have now formally launched a venture capital fund, Pluralwith two other partners.
The fact that the pair chose to support Valkin can be seen as a validating signal for his thesis. With swarms of early-stage fintech workers looking for their next challenge, the name Valkin has chosen for his venture is fitting: Andrena is a species of bee, and “pollination is probably the best analogy in my mind for what I do,” says he. said.
