Cornerstone VC

We are delighted to welcome ComplyStream to our ever increasing portfolio of exceptional founders. The early stage investment was completed alongside Ascension with participation from some other notable angels. ComplyStream is transforming how FinCrime investigations are managed with its intelligent, unified operations platform that tackles post-event complexities. “Financial crime remains one of the biggest challenges facing institutions globally and continues to cause huge economic and social harm by undermining the financial system on which billions of people depend. As technological advancements increase the complexity, disruption and sophistication of the threats we are facing, compliance teams and financial crime operations need new tools to respond effectively. We are therefore delighted to back Kartik and S. in their mission to redefine financial crime operations and turn it into a strategic advantage for the compliance industry” said Rodney. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eeEr-DSA

As we approach the end of 2024, its time to look back on another great year for Cornerstone VC 🚀 Definely and Passionfruit reached Series A this year, raising a combined $16m to bolster their growth in overseas markets 💰 Our portfolio has doubled in revenue, with one of our best-performing businesses achieving ~6x revenue since our original investment 👩🏼 For every £1 we’ve invested 40p has gone into the hands of female founders 👫🏾 73% of founders within our portfolio identify as ethnically diverse, demonstrating clearly that alpha can be realised in a people-focused strategy 🇬🇧 …and finally, our investment footprint is expanding across the UK Thank you to our team, LPs, co-investors, advisors, friends and most importantly of all, our founders for believing in our vision of a “people first” VC firm. Here is a short clip of the extraordinary Rob Pierre at our fireside chat & drinks that followed our AGM at Curve Club. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! #cornerstonevc #peoplefirst #waituntil2025

We are delighted to welcome Capsa AI to our growing portfolio of exceptional founders with a £1.7m seed investment alongside Outward VC who led the round with participation from Antler and some other notable angels. Capsa AI is an operating system for private equity professionals that accelerates the initial screening and due diligence of private companies. “In a short period of time, Danyal and Callum have created a product that has caught the attention of the private equity sector, harnessing the benefits of AI whilst maintaining flexibility and control over how it is deployed in internal workflows. Their long term ambition to unlock the value of unstructured data within the private markets industry is something that excites us and one we see great potential for going forward. We are delighted to be part of their round and look forward to working with the team as they seek to scale Capsa AI in the coming years” said Rodney. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eDKarqm4

We are delighted to announce Jarvis £1.8m seed round we led alongside Ascension with participation from Tokio Marine Group. Jarvis, is a pension fintech that empowers employees to plan for their ideal retirement lifestyle. “We are proud to back Royden in his mission to transform retirement planning for the hybrid worker. As we all live longer, the need for dynamic and personalised tech in the pensions industry has never been clearer. Jarvis has developed an intuitive platform that gives employers the tools to simplify pension management and users the information to not only save for retirement, but shape it. We look forward to helping the team build the future of pensions with Jarvis." said Rodney. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/e-xiquzE

We are delighted to announce Passionfruit's $9m Series A round led by Seaya with participation from Playfair firstminute capital, FJ Labs and Portfolio Ventures Passionfruit, is a SaaS marketplace connecting corporate teams with pre vetted freelance talent. “Raffi and Issah have that rare combination that we look for in founding teams – big vision, strong work ethic and execution focus without ever taking themselves too seriously! Since backing the business at pre seed, it’s been fantastic to see the firm gain momentum in new markets and with larger companies ready to embrace the future of work. We are delighted to be part of their latest round and look forward to seeing the business continue to re-imagine independent work for today’s knowledge workforce." said Rodney. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/es2xJSG8

We are delighted to announce our investment in Exactly.ai's $4m seed round led by Speedinvest and with participation from InReach Ventures, alongside some notable angel investors. Exactly AI is a personalised AI model and image generation platform which supports artists and visual creators to build and train their own generative AI models. “What really attracted us to Exactly was Tonia’s vision for a new and more sustainable way forward for AI that seeks to work in partnership with the creative sector rather than replace it. We are delighted to be part of the round and look forward to seeing the impact that personalised AI has on the sector." said Rodney. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/dNiNqjzt

We are delighted to announce that Cornerstone VC portfolio company Definely has closed a $7 million Series A round led by Octopus Ventures with some participation from Zrosk Investment Management and a number of notable angels. Definely is an AI powered LegalTech company created to make legal documents easier to read, edit and understand. “AI disruption across the legal sector is set to continue, with productivity and cost efficiency remaining top priorities for legal firms across the globe. Definely is well placed to serve enterprise accounts across the spectrum, including a roster of marquee Magic Circle and AM 100 law firms. We couldn’t be more pleased with their progress having made an initial seed commitment last year. Congratulations Nnamdi and Feargus, you deserve all of the success.” said Edwin. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/digKnktS