Yvonne Bajela 知道是时候创立自己的基金了。她担任风险投资人已超过十年，最近在 LocalGlobe 和 Impact X Capital Partners 任职，曾投资现已成为独角兽的公司，如金融科技公司 Wise、保险公司 Marshmellow 以及 Robotaxi 公司 Mooves。
Yvonne Bajela knew it was time to launch her own fund. She spent more than a decade as a VC, most recently at LocalGlobe and Impact X Capital Partners, where she made bets on now-unicorn companies like the fintech Wise, the insurance company Marshmellow, and robotaxi Mooves.
周二，她宣布自己的基金 Evertrue 正式完成首期基金募集，认购超额，规模达 1700 万美元。
On Tuesday, she announced that her own fund, Evertrue, officially closed an oversubscribed $17 million Fund I.
“在支持那些孤注一掷押注自己想法的创始人超过十年后，我觉得是时候为自己下一次注了，”她说。“我想要独立行事，坚持自己的信念，打造一种反映我个人投资理念的模式。”该机构已投资七家公司，将专注于英国和欧洲的早期投资。她表示，平均单笔投资额约为 35 万英镑，计划在未来三年内至少投资 20 家公司。
“After more than a decade backing founders who bet everything on their ideas, it felt like time to make a bet of my own,” she said. “I wanted the independence to act on those convictions and build something that reflected my own approach to investing.”The firm, which has already backed seven companies, will focus on early-stage investing across the U.K. and Europe. The average check size will be around £350,000, she said, with plans to back at least 20 companies over the next three years.
也许不出所料，她说这波 AI 热潮让她意识到现在是创立自己基金的正确时机。她表示，AI 不仅改变了创业的经济模型，也为像她这样的早期投资者创造了新机会。“构建的能力已实现民主化，”她说。“但构建经久不衰事物的能力依然稀缺。”正如《TechCrunch》此前报道，英国初创企业正迎来高光时刻。例如，国王十字区是全球顶尖 AI 中心之一，而 Revolut、Synthesia、ElevenLabs 和贝佐斯支持的 CuspAI 等公司正在重新定义在英国市场规模化和取得成功的含义。
Perhaps unsurprisingly, she said this AI boom helped her realize that this was the right time to launch her own fund. Not only has it changed the economics of launching a company, she said, but it has created new opportunities for early-stage investors like herself. “The ability to build has been democratized,” she said. “But the ability to build something enduring remains rare.”As TechCrunch has previously reported, the U.K.’s startup scene is having a moment. King’s Cross, for example, is one of the world’s top AI hubs, while companies like Revolut, Synthesia, ElevenLabs, and the Bezos-backed CuspAI are redefining what it means to scale and attract success in the U.K. market.
对 Bajela 这样的人来说，这个时刻意味着有机会早早押注下一代英国顶尖人才。“我认为，更多具有全球意义的企业将从更广泛的起点涌现，”她说。
For someone like Bajela, this moment means there is an opportunity to snap up investments in the next generation of top British talent early. “I think more globally significant businesses will emerge from a wider range of starting points,” she said.
不过，这对新兴基金管理人来说也是一个艰难的市场。在美国，这被描述为哑铃型市场，资金集中在头部以及由已拥有扎实业绩记录的公司所主导的机构手中。情况在英国可能略好一些，PitchBook截至9月底的数据显示，该地区的新兴基金管理人已募集74亿美元，已超过去年全年募集的62亿美元。
However, this is also a tough market for emerging fund managers. In the U.S., it has been described as a barbell market where capital is concentrated at the top and among firms led by those who already have solid track records. Things may be slightly rosier in the U.K., as PitchBook data through the end of September shows that emerging fund managers in this region raised $7.4 billion, already surpassing the $6.2 billion they raised in all of 2025.
尽管如此，Bajela表示募资过程依然艰辛。最难接受的拒绝不一定是直接的“不”。“那些是在数月沟通和投入大量时间后，最终答案依然是‘不’的情况，”她说。“时间是创始人最宝贵的资源之一，漫长且缺乏明确结果的过程有着真实的成本。”尽管如此，她表示该基金还是获得了五家机构投资者的支持，包括英国商业银行和Basecamp——投资公司Phoenix Court旗下的基金中的基金，LocalGlobe也隶属于Phoenix Court。
Still Bajela said fundraising was a grind. The hardest rejections weren’t necessarily the outright nos. “They were the ones that came after months of conversations and significant time invested, only for the answer to ultimately be no,” she said. “Time is one of the most valuable resources a founder has, and a prolonged process without clarity has a real cost.”Still, she said the fund nabbed five institutional backers, including the British Business Bank and Basecamp, the fund-of-funds of the investment firm Phoenix Court, which is also home to LocalGlobe.
Evertrue参与了英国商业银行4亿英镑的“投资者路径”资本计划，该计划向10家首次募资的基金管理人投入了9000万英镑。Bajela表示，Evertrue原本计划募集约1300万美元，但获得了大量投资者兴趣。她决定拒绝额外投资者，而非扩大基金规模。
Evertrue was part of the £400 million British Business Bank’s Investor Pathways capital initiative, which saw it pour £90 million to 10 first-time fund managers. Bajela said Evertrue wanted to raise around $13 million but saw a lot of investor interest. She decided to turn down additional investors rather than expand the fund size.
“基金规模是一项战略决策，而非本身的成功标准，”她说。“我希望拥有足够的资本，在信心最强的投资项目中建立有意义的仓位，而不必因为资金可用就产生必须部署资本的压力。” Evertrue 约 80% 的 LP（有限合伙人）位于英国，其余分布在欧洲、亚洲和美国。她说，她的国际化 LP 阵容代表了她“十多年来跨市场投资建立的关系”。她还表示，这也反映了基金的全球雄心，特别是因为许多英国创始人都将目光投向美国扩张；她的投资组合中已有超过一半在美运营。
“Fund size is a strategic decision, not a measure of success in itself,” she said. “I wanted enough capital to build meaningful positions in my highest-conviction investments without creating pressure to deploy capital simply because it was available.”Around 80% of Evertrue’s LPs are U.K. based, with the rest scattered across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. She said her international LP base represents the relationships she’s built “over more than a decade investing across markets.”It also reflects the fund’s global ambition, she said, especially since so many British founders keep their eyes on a U.S. expansion; more than half her portfolio already operates in the U.S.
她说，Evertrue 将主要投资于 AI 和金融科技领域，并补充道，她“特别关注那些对某个问题拥有独到洞察、具备非同寻常的执行力，且怀有将业务做得远超初始产品规模野心的人”。她接着说：“我也会关注创始人走过的路程、克服的困难，以及这些经历如何塑造了他们的视角。”
Evertrue will invest mainly across AI and fintech, she said, adding that she’s “particularly interested in people with a unique insight into a problem, an unusual ability to execute and the ambition to build something much bigger than their initial product.”“I also pay attention to the distance a founder has traveled, what they’ve overcome, and how that has shaped their perspective,” she continued.
她曾在日本担任三井（Mistusi）高级投资经理，职业生涯始于高盛分析师。她说，在整个职业生涯中，她见证了“雄心与才华是如何广泛分布的”。“我希望 Evertrue 因我所支持的创始人的质量，以及他们随后打造的企业而闻名。”
She’s lived in Japan as a senior investment manager at Mistusi and started her career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Throughout her career, she said she’s seen how “widely distributed ambition and talent are.”“I want Evertrue to be known for the quality of the founders I back and the businesses they go on to build.”