A new fund aiming to support early-stage technology businesses has been unveiled by a team of celebrities, bringing together figures from the worlds of entertainment, sport and investment.
The Artists Collective has launched after operating in stealth for several months, during which time it has already backed 20 startups.
The portfolio includes co-investments alongside major global funds such as Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and Seedcamp.
Set up by Fergus and Ruari Bell, the brothers behind athlete-focused investment vehicle Players Fund, the initiative builds on a model that has previously attracted high-profile supporters including England cricket captain Ben Stokes and Bayern Munich star Serge Gnabry.
The fund is focused on backing companies from seed through to Series A, writing cheques of between £50,000 and £300,000.
Its investment remit spans sectors including AI, FinTech, cybersecurity, HealthTech and media, with a particular emphasis on opportunities across the UK and Europe.
A number of well-known figures are involved in the project, including comedian Jack Whitehall, TV presenter Maya Jama, actor Daniel Kaluuya, musician Tom Grennan and broadcaster Roman Kemp.
“High-profile individuals from sport and entertainment consistently face the same structural barriers when attempting to invest in venture: fragmented deal flow, misaligned incentives, limited domain expertise and pressure toward transactional ‘brand partnership’ models that extract rather than create value,” said Ruari.
“We built The Players Fund to solve this for athletes. Education before transactions. Network effects before social media reach. Long-term value creation before short-term marketing wins.
“The Artists Collective extends this model to entertainment. Our founding artists come with prior angel investing experience and a shared conviction: that their peers deserved access to credible, education-led venture participation without compromising their integrity, IP or becoming just billboard space.
“We believe The Artists Collective will prove additive to competitive cap tables and valuable to fellow GPs seeking aligned co-investors.
“The Artists Collective is here.”
Fergus added: “Our aspiration remains: prove that artists create nuanced, outsized value (far beyond social posts and billboards) at the earliest stages.
“Prove they’re additive to competitive cap tables when properly engaged. For fellow GPs: prove we can be your most additive co-investor in the room.
“Emerging funds are startups. Value creation for founders is our product. Artist / athlete education and engagement is our compounding moat.
“We are delighted to expand our firm’s offering by welcoming more exceptional people into the ecosystem. We’re still early on this journey and we’ll do our best to make this work.”