Vento

Vento is a London-based pre-seed fund focused on backing technically deep founders at the earliest stages, often before a product exists in any meaningful form. For physician AI and deeptech founders coming out of research environments or industry labs, Vento is one of the earliest cheques in the UK ecosystem and is comfortable taking real technical risk in exchange for fair early-stage terms.

The thesis sits at the intersection of applied AI, deep tech, and frontier software, with healthcare appearing through AI/ML in clinical decision support, computational biology, diagnostics, and infrastructure for life sciences research. Vento prefers founders who can credibly speak to the underlying research, whether that means a PhD background, time inside a top AI lab, or a track record of shipping technical product in industry. Pure go-to-market plays, services-heavy companies, and consumer-only models are less likely fits.

Check sizes typically range from two hundred and fifty thousand to one million dollars at pre-seed and seed, occasionally as a first institutional cheque alongside angels and accelerators. The fund is comfortable being a co-lead or following another believer-led seed and tends to stay engaged through subsequent rounds with introductions and operational support, even when not following on with capital. Geography is UK and European, with London as the main hub.

The team is small, technical, and partner-led, which means decisions are quick and conviction-based rather than committee-driven. Diligence tends to focus on the founders, the underlying technical thesis, and the size and shape of the wedge into the market. Portfolio support is concrete on hiring senior technical talent, refining product positioning, and lining up the next round of seed and Series A investors.

The right way to reach Vento is a warm introduction from a previously backed founder, a credible angel in the London or European AI scene, or via the firm’s events and content where the partners are active. Cold inbound is read but converts less reliably than a warm route. Approach when you have a clear founding thesis, a credible technical team, and at least a working prototype or compelling research artefact, even if a full product is months away. Bring a sober view on the clinical and regulatory pathway and a sharp answer to why now and why this team. The right time to engage is at the start of formal fundraising for a pre-seed or early seed round, when there is enough technical signal to back conviction but the round is still small and movable. Founders who need millions in capital before a working prototype, or who lack any clinical or technical co-founder, should keep building and revisit later.