Arāya Ventures has announced the £8.25 million first close of its £19m Arāya Super Angel Fund.
The firm, led by exited entrepreneur Rupa Popat (pictured), plans to invest in up to 60 pre-seed and seed stage founders across next four years in HealthTech, FinTech, ClimateTech, commerce and work.
Fund investors include Bridgerton actress Charithra Chandran, former Credit Suisse CEO Phil Cutts and former Browns CEO Holli Rogers.
Popat – who sold FUTR Group, which ran events and insights identifying coming trends, in 2019 – says its ‘unique’ community-powered model aims to be the ‘most value-add investor’ on the cap table.
It will invest pre-seed and seed cheques of $200k-550k and give founders access to Popat, the Arāya Ventures team, the Super Angel Fund investors and Arāya’s extensive angel and scout network.
The Arāya Super Angel fund benefits from a flexible hybrid structure which accommodates both EIS and non-EIS investments. It will invest capital over a four-year deployment, with 10 to 15 investments per year to increase diversification and maximise on performance, reserving 25% for repeat founders who have already built a business previously.
Some of Popat’s previous investments include sequel by repeat entrepreneur Alex Macdonald, Jude by Peony Li, Indē Wild by Diipa and Oleg Buller-Khosla and Lapse by Dan and Ben Silvertown which last year closed a $30m Series A round.
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The Arāya Super Angel fund is powered by a community of over 80 fund investors including current and exited entrepreneurs such as Media Zoo founder Rachel Pendered and Cambridge Spark founder & chairman Dr Raoul-Gabriel Urma, angel and VC investors such as Niraj Pabari of Switzerland-based Giano Capital and former COO and co-founder of Precede Capital Partners Daljit Sandhu, operators, financial professionals from Royal Bank of Canada, Plurimi and Blackrock, C-suite leaders and family offices from a variety of industries.
Founders will also benefit from Arāya Ventures Academy for Angels (AVA Angels), which will have 250 angel investor graduates by the end of 2024 and over 1,000 by the end of 2025.
“This is Arāya Ventures’ first fund and I’m incredibly proud of what we’re able to offer both investors and founders,” said Popat.
“As a former founder turned investor, I’ve been on both sides of the table and I know that for most early-stage founders, whilst capital is important, it’s also about the additional value and support that investors can provide.
“Our approach is incredibly bespoke and personalised and with this unique structure, we’re optimising not only for performance, but plugging a gap to offer real support to early-stage founders and giving them value beyond the cheque.”