Yvonne Bajela knew it was time to launch her personal fund. She spent greater than a decade as a VC, most lately at LocalGlobe and Influence X Capital Companions, the place she made bets on now-unicorn firms just like the fintech Smart, the insurance coverage firm Marshmellow, and robotaxi Mooves.
On Tuesday, she introduced that her personal fund, Evertrue, formally closed an oversubscribed $17 million Fund I.
“After greater than a decade backing founders who guess every part on their concepts, it felt like time to make a guess of my very own,” she mentioned. “I wished the independence to behave on these convictions and construct one thing that mirrored my very own method to investing.”
The agency, which has already backed seven firms, will concentrate on early-stage investing throughout the U.Okay. and Europe. The typical examine measurement will likely be round £350,000, she mentioned, with plans to again no less than 20 firms over the following three years.
Maybe unsurprisingly, she mentioned this AI increase helped her understand that this was the correct time to launch her personal fund. Not solely has it modified the economics of launching an organization, she mentioned, nevertheless it has created new alternatives for early-stage buyers like herself. “The flexibility to construct has been democratized,” she mentioned. “However the capability to construct one thing enduring stays uncommon.”
As TechCrunch has beforehand reported, the U.K.’s startup scene is having a moment. King’s Cross, for instance, is without doubt one of the world’s high AI hubs, whereas firms like Revolut, Synthesia, ElevenLabs, and the Bezos-backed CuspAI are redefining what it means to scale and appeal to success within the U.Okay. market. For somebody like Bajela, this second means there is a chance to snap up investments within the subsequent technology of high British expertise early. “I feel extra globally vital companies will emerge from a wider vary of beginning factors,” she mentioned.
Nevertheless, that is additionally a tricky marketplace for rising fund managers. Within the U.S., it has been described as a barbell market the place capital is concentrated on the high and amongst corporations led by those that have already got stable observe information. Issues could also be barely rosier within the U.Okay., as PitchBook information via the top of September reveals that rising fund managers on this area raised $7.4 billion, already surpassing the $6.2 billion they raised in all of 2025.
Nonetheless Bajela mentioned fundraising was a grind. The toughest rejections weren’t essentially the outright nos. “They had been those that got here after months of conversations and vital time invested, just for the reply to finally be no,” she mentioned. “Time is without doubt one of the most useful sources a founder has, and a chronic course of with out readability has an actual price.”
Nonetheless, she mentioned the fund nabbed 5 institutional backers, together with the British Enterprise Financial institution and Basecamp, the fund-of-funds of the funding agency Phoenix Courtroom, which can also be house to LocalGlobe. Evertrue was a part of the £400 million British Enterprise Financial institution’s Investor Pathways capital initiative, which noticed it pour £90 million to 10 first-time fund managers. Bajela mentioned Evertrue wished to lift round $13 million however noticed a number of investor curiosity. She determined to show down further buyers slightly than increase the fund measurement.
“Fund measurement is a strategic determination, not a measure of success in itself,” she mentioned. “I wished sufficient capital to construct significant positions in my highest-conviction investments with out creating strain to deploy capital just because it was out there.”
Round 80% of Evertrue’s LPs are U.Okay. based mostly, with the remainder scattered throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. She mentioned her worldwide LP base represents the relationships she’s constructed “over greater than a decade investing throughout markets.” It additionally displays the fund’s international ambition, she mentioned, particularly since so many British founders preserve their eyes on a U.S. enlargement; greater than half her portfolio already operates within the U.S.
Evertrue will make investments primarily throughout AI and fintech, she mentioned, including that she’s “significantly taken with folks with a singular perception into an issue, an uncommon capability to execute and the ambition to construct one thing a lot larger than their preliminary product.”
“I additionally take note of the space a founder has traveled, what they’ve overcome, and the way that has formed their perspective,” she continued.
She’s lived in Japan as a senior funding supervisor at Mistusi and began her profession as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. All through her profession, she mentioned she’s seen how “extensively distributed ambition and expertise are.”
“I need Evertrue to be identified for the standard of the founders I again and the companies they go on to construct.”
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