Anamcara, a London-based VC led by a solo female general partner, Annelie Ajami, has closed its first $10.6m fund to back early-stage B2B software startups.
Europe is seeing more and more investors decide to run VC funds on their own — but they’ve mostly been men so far.
This week, which also saw the final close of Gloria Bäuerlein’s €21.5m solo GP fund Beyond Capital, has seen that balance start to shift.
Female investors are severely unrepresented in the European venture market, but for Ajami the fact that she’s a woman doesn’t make a big difference. “Being a solo GP is hard, full stop. We all face the same challenges. It's not gendered. I’m an investor first, then a woman,” she says.
Where will the money go?
Anamcara wants to invest in 25-30 pre-seed and seed-stage startups across Europe. Ajami will write $200k angel-sized cheques, collaborate with other investors, never leads rounds and won’t take board seats.
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The fund has already invested in 11 startups, including Irish hospitality management platform Nory and employee enablement platform Zavvy.
It has also created an advisory network of B2B operators who can support portfolio founders on topics like engineering, sales and product.
What’s Ajami’s background?
Ajami, originally from the Netherlands, worked at financial services company Nomura as an investment banker and at investment firm Bedrock as an asset manager. In 2016, she joined B&Y Venture Partners, an early-stage venture firm operating in the Middle East and Europe. She also founded Gaia Venture Consulting, an advisory firm working with private and institutional investors on direct tech investments.
She also used to box competitively.
What are Anamcara Capital’s LPs like?
Anamcara has been backed by 25 LPs, including founders of public tech companies, C-suite executives, large institutional investors and fund managers. Ajami doesn’t want to name them but says that “thankfully” the fact that she’s a solo female GP was never part of her conversations with investors.
