Boost for student scientists as UK-based firm raises record venture capital fund

A UK-based firm has raised the world’s largest venture capital fund aimed exclusively at finding and backing student scientists.

Creator Fund raised $56m (£42m) in this fundraising round, the firm’s second, with investors including Germany’s state-backed KfW Capital and the sovereign Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO).

Creator Fund is underpinned by a network of “fellows” trained up as part of its Scientific Founder programme, also known as the Venture Scientist fellowship, and embedded across 30 universities in 10 countries. The aim is to discover student scientists working across areas such as artificial intelligence, biotech and AI-enabled robotics, and to back them “before they leave the lab”.

Jamie Macfarlane, founder and chief executive of Creator Fund, said: “The world’s biggest problems are being solved in European university labs. The scientists working on them are extraordinary, but for too long they’ve been overlooked by venture capital, pushed towards academia rather than building companies. That’s the gap we exist to fill.”

The firm has been pursuing this model since 2019, with this new fund aimed at scaling it across Europe as the continent aims to close its innovation gap with the US, where PhD founders typically benefit from deeper pools of funding.

Creator Fund previously backed Loci, a Cambridge-founded firm that developed an AI toolbox for designers developing 3D virtual worlds. Epic Games acquired Loci in 2025.

Other recent investments include Ovo Labs, a German-founded firm developing technologies aimed at boosting IVF success rates for older women; SPhotonix, a firm with R&D operations in Southampton, which is developing glass-based data storage systems using ultrafast lasers; and Anzen Industries, a UK startup creating new materials through enzyme reactions.

Christian Röhle, co-head of investment management at KfW Capital, said: “By leveraging Creator Fund’s European academic network to access future founders at leading universities, the team addresses a key element of the innovation ecosystem, translating academic progress into high-growth startups.”

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