December update from Isomer Capital
Here is a snapshot of the top European funding rounds and exits in November:
336 funding rounds were completed in September
€5bn was invested into European Startups
56 exits occurred, 52 undisclosed, 2 were valued at €2bn
The UK raised €1.5bn across 84 deals
Isomer Portfolio Highlights
🇳🇱 Cradle, biotech startup, raises $73m Series B
🇬🇧 Arbolus, expert insights platform, raises $20m Series B
🇸🇪 Yazen, obesity healthcare, raises €19.5m Series A
🇱🇺 emma, cloud management platform, raises €17m Series A
🇬🇧 Cogna, precision solutions provider, raises $15m Series A
🇬🇧 Genie.ai, an AI legal editor, raises £13.3m Series A
🇩🇪 tozero, Lithium battery recycling startup, raises €11m Seed
🇫🇮 Cambri, AI consumer insight platform, raises €8m Venture round
🇩🇪 Valuedesk, savings and optimisation platform, raises €5m Series A
Places to Meet Isomer's Team
🇯🇵 🇰🇷 Road trip to Japan and Korea (3rd to 13th of December) - Chris and Isomer's venture partner Hiroshi Baba will meet investors and participate in the Hello Tomorrow Japan conference and Global Corporate Venturing Asia Summit.
🇹🇷 Take Off Startup Summit (Istanbul, 11th to 12th of December) - Harry will be attending and meeting with VCs and LPs
🇩🇪 Roadtrip Zurich (13th December) - Thomas will be doing a fundraising roadtrip to meet with LPs.
🇹🇼 Trip to Asia (Week of the 20th of January) - Thomas and Chris will attend the quarterly corporate meeting of an existing LP and meet other investors in the region.
🇫🇷 IPEM (Cannes, 28th to 30th of January) - Thomas will attend the event and speak at a panel on venture capital.
Emerging Manager – Why we make time for this portion of the market?
Chloe Dagnell, Principal at Isomer was asked to give the keynote speech at Flourish Partners Ltd x Carta‘s Emerging Manager event.
Whilst the event focused on the operational side of running a fund – the part that most emerging managers have not done before – At Isomer Capital we get asked time and time again why we make time for this portion of the market, why we focus on managers with smaller fund sizes, and why we have a programme to invest in micro funds.
1. An oldie but a goldie – this Cambridge Associates chart showing time and time again that the top performing funds are often Emerging Managers
2. A great chart by James Heath using PitchBook data, showing the majority of top performers were sub $100m in size, and if not, sub $200m
3. Data kindly shared from Hugo at Carta, showing the pronounced over performance of funds sub $25m in size in the 90th percentile. A closer look at the chart shows you better be a good picker when it comes to these micro funds, as there’s quite a disparity in performance. It’s why we at Isomer run a programme to surface the best, have an open door to speak to all emerging European GPs, and spend far too much time discussing this great layer of new GP talent internally!
What does a fund-of-fund do all day?
We’re often asked, sometimes with a hint of scepticism, “Do fund-of-funds work as hard as direct investors? Once you allocate, isn’t your job mostly done?”
At Isomer we take pride in being a proactive, hands-on investor, deeply embedded in the European tech ecosystem. Our approach is far from passive - we are constantly considering deals, managing portfolios, sourcing opportunities, building ecosystems, and engaging with our community. November was no exception. Here’s a glimpse into what our team accomplished last month:
Investments:
Investment Committee met and approved
1 co-investment into a UK/CEE mRNA pioneer company (IC II)
2 new micro-manager funds in two contries, one specialising in tech bio and one in technical founders (IC III)
2 secondary purchases of LP interests (IC III, IC Secondaires)
Due diligence projects: two new co-investments, four fund commitments, two secondary transactions
Deal Execution: September/October deals now in KYC and Legals.
Closed secondary purchase of 17 LP positions in an exciting early-stage VC fund.
Legals on secondary purchase of a CVC portfolio.
Finalised DD and memo for a Deeptech/Crypto VC (IC III).
Completed 16th VC commitment, DD on 17th (separate account).
Portfolio Management: The team attended
5 LPACs
4 AGMs
1 company board meeting
12 Catch-up / support meetings with portfolio GPs
Dealflow and Sourcing
35 GP meetings and evaluated 5 companies for potential co-investments.
Slush (Helsinki) - 13,000 attendees including 5,500 founders, 300 LPs, and many European VCs. This conference provides a platform to connect with our portfolio, explore co-investments and secondary opportunities, discover emerging players and reconnect with VCs we actively monitor
SuperClimate (Helsinki) - Meet with climate-focused VCs.
VentureESG (London) - Meet with VCs focused on sustainability and get an update on what the industry does in that space.
Micro GP Summit (Vienna) - Meet with the micro VC ecosystem.
Ecosystem Events
BVCA Event for Emerging VCs (London) - panel discussion on firm formation topics
Organisation of the 2025 European VC awards.
Flourish Partners & Carta Emerging Manager Event (London) - Delivered a keynote speech to support emerging managers
During the above “usual” workload, an exciting but very short-timing opportunity came in. One of our portfolio VCs sent us a hot co-investment opportunity in a company that has built a generative AI to model molecular interactions in cells. The high profile of the founders made the round very competitive and fast. Can we run for it in time? As usual, we did - the team decided to do an intensive DD process over 1 week to bring it to IC in time for the round to close.
Every month brings a fresh wave of challenges and opportunities, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. At our core, we’re passionate about enabling Europe’s technology entrepreneurs and building a thriving, interconnected ecosystem. This work is intensely hands-on and powered by deep networks, insider knowledge, and relentless effort from every member of our team.
We love what we do, and we hope this gives you a sense of the energy and dedication we bring to every aspect of our mission.
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