UK’s Moonfire VC raises its second fund at $115M to aim at early-stage startups

It was back in the pandemic era of 2021 that we reported on the launch of Moonfire, at the time a $60 million “Fund I” seed-stage “data-driven” VC geared around the new world of remote working and remote pitching.

Its new $115 million fund-raise (“Fund II”) plans to continue what it calls its “data-driven” approach.

Since its launch by former Atomico co-founder Mattias Ljungman, Moonfire says it has built-out custom AI models and a tech stack to hunt down new prospective startups.

It now claims, in a statement, to review “up to 50,000 companies every week” (although this claim has not been independently verified by TechCrunch).

That said, it claims, for instance, to have discovered U.K. fintech LiveFlow via its AI engine, going on to lead the pre-seed round alongside Seedcamp.

The fund says it is looking at companies in AI, web3  and AR/VR, as well as health, work, finance and gaming.

Ljungman said the fund is now mixing its remote-investing style with in-person meetings: “The in-person is absolutely happening more. We do that on a monthly basis. We also have our Pulse event and our Seed event as well. So we believe in the integration of remote and also in-person.”

Moonfire says it has led 23 deals and co-invested in a further 27 alongside VCs such as Sequoia, Accel, Index, General Catalyst and Accel.

Portfolio companies include Humaans (raised a $15 million Series A), Lightdash ($7 million round led by Accel) and GOALS ($20 million Series A round with Seven Seven Six). In addition to its $90 million Fund II, the firm has raised $25 million to invest via its Opportunity Fund.

Moonfire Ventures partner Mike Arpaia added: “The power of the AI and VC partnership has always been at the core of Moonfire and, with the launch of Fund II, we see it move to the next level. This new level combines human and machine like never before, hoping to turn an inefficient and inequitable industry on its head.”