Onstage, the organiser of Europe’s largest standalone demo day, launched its first venture fund.

The first close of the £10m fund, led by founding partner Joel Hambly, will be used to support European founders at pre-seed and seed stages.

It plans to make around 80 investments over the next three years.

Onstage aims to build Europe’s answer to Y Combinator, but without the accelerator element.

Founded in 2020 by Episode 1 GP Hector Mason and dmg ventures partner Taos Edmondson, Onstage has become a focal point for Europe’s fragmented startup ecosystem.