Frequently asked questions

Our community of 100+ venture partners covers every human capital development skill, business model and customer type. When we invest in you, we welcome you into that community, connecting you with those who have “been there and done it” to set you up for success.

We believe that the most important thing at the early stages is having access to people who have encountered exactly the same problems as you, in your market. It’s the most effective way of getting to the solutions that others have already figured out.

Unlike other VCs, the majority of Emerge’s Venture Partners are operators who have built the world’s most successful future of work and learning companies and providers, including the co-founders and CEOs of Udemy, Degreed, Trilogy, Beamery, Go1, Coursera, Busuu, Kahoot, Andela, Docebo and Springboard, as well as the CHROs and CLOs of Fortune500 companies such as Kraft Heinz, IBM, Boeing and McDonalds.

VPs engage with our portfolio companies throughout the entire relationship, from supporting the diligence process to co-investing with us as angels, becoming advisors to our companies and sometimes even joining their boards or becoming customers. Having access to this team of experts is a critical advantage for the entire Emerge portfolio. More than half of the VP community is based in the US, powering Emerge’s strategy to find the best founders in Europe and turbocharge their expansion into the US and global markets.

We invest anywhere between £500k and £2m at pre-seed and seed.

Our preference is to invest at pre-seed, and in most cases we are first money in. We occasionally also invest at seed.

A lead investor sets the terms for your round, helps you bring other investors (angels, other funds) to the table and usually also joins your board. We lead pre-seed and seed rounds and are happy to co-lead with others where there is a fit.

Please submit your deck via the website or get introduced to us by a mutual contact. If you are on thesis and in scope we will set up a short intro call to see if there is a potential fit. If we dig in after that, the next stage is to deeply get to know your team and collaboratively explore your vision. This process takes between 2-4 weeks and ends with an investment committee meeting with our team. We give you an in-principle decision/offer after the IC meeting.

We invest in 6-7 startups per year. This means we’re hands-on partners for the small number of founders we choose to work with. 

We are predominantly focused on European founders building global businesses and occasionally invest in companies outside of Europe. We are agnostic when it comes to jurisdiction.

At the highest level, we invest in companies that unlock human potential – whether that’s about learning and leveling the playing field for kids, helping people navigate their careers, and empowering them to use AI at work.

We invest in both B2C and B2B companies, and in both technology products and technology-enabled services.

You can find out more about our detailed investment thesis by reading our manifesto.