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The Venture Codex

Backed

Floor 1 6 Cavendish Square, London, Greater London, W1G 0PD, United Kingdom

Overview

BACKED is the human-centric venture capital fund. We invest in exceptional founders, at Seed, in Europe. We provide founders with an extensive support system to catalyse their development as a company operators and leaders. Through our Founder Experience Platform and energetic portfolio community we help entrepreneurs across all areas of a startup: from talent management to business development, further fundraising and international expansion. Founded in 2015 by partners Andre de Haes and Alex Brunicki, we invest across sectors including BioTech, Blockchain, Financial Services, Advanced Manufacturing, and more. Investments to date include Hutch, Thought Machine, LabGenius, THIS, Enterprise Alumni, and many more.

Total investments
60
Lead investments
14
Investments · 12mo
8
Active investors
7

Sector focus

  • Biotechnology
  • Blockchain
  • Consumer
  • FinTech
  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • Infinity Constellation

    Participated · Series A · Jun 2026

    Founded and led by CEO Brennan Pothetes, Infinity Constellation is a venture studio and builder that creates AI tools and software companies tailored to professional services such as law and accounting. Its current portfolio includes a branding platform, a construction permitting automation startup, and an AI-driven executive assistant. The studio intends to continue rapid company creation, aiming to launch up to eight new AI-focused software businesses each year. With the recent $24 million Series A, the company has raised $41 million in total capital to date. The fresh capital will be used to scale its operations and expand its studio pipeline. The company is based in the United States.

  • Ruka

    Participated · Equity · May 2026

    Founded in 2021, Ruka develops and sells synthetic wigs, weaves, braiding hair and accompanying haircare products and tools. Its Synths 2 product is a next‑generation braiding hair made from collagen protein fibers produced in Japan, positioned as a lower‑cost alternative to human hair; Synths 2 retails for about $31 versus human braiding hair starting at about $170 per bundle. Ruka filed a patent application in 2025 for Synths 3, described as featuring shape‑memory technology and scheduled for release in the first quarter of next year. The company reports geographic customer mix with roughly 48% in the U.K., 47% in the U.S., 4% in the EU and 1% in Africa, and B2B sales comprise about 14% of its business. Ruka has expanded into luxury retail (Selfridges) and is entering an undisclosed U.S. retailer, opened a U.S. East Coast warehouse to support international growth, and projects 101% year‑over‑year growth by April 2027. The company is investing in education and academic research on hair‑extension safety as part of its product and brand strategy.

  • Round Treasury

    Participated · Seed · Apr 2026

    Round provides an AI-powered finance automation platform that combines intelligence with financial infrastructure to automate tasks such as invoice approvals, payment execution, payroll funding and synchronization with ERPs. It recently launched two products, Agentic Workflow Builder, which converts natural-language workflow descriptions into continuously running automated processes, and Autonomous Payroll, which streamlines the payroll cycle from payslip import to payment execution. The company emphasizes automating repetitive operational finance tasks rather than replacing finance leaders. Round integrates with existing banks and accounting systems and has existing customers, about 10% of whom invested in the recent seed round. Proceeds from the $6M seed will be used to accelerate product development, hire across engineering and go-to-market, deepen integrations, scale infrastructure, and support community initiatives to drive adoption.

  • Keith

    Led · Seed · Mar 2026

    Keith is a UK-based, AI-native law firm founded by Andy Shovel, Pete Sharman, and Sam Tucker that aims to be a fully regulated practice with AI at its core. The firm plans to start by serving conveyancing clients and then expand into other practice areas. Keith says it intends to automate up to 80% of traditionally human legal work through a network of specialised AI agents for document review, drafting, communication, and workflow management, all within controlled legal frameworks and subject to human oversight. It will offer 24/7 client service via phone and WhatsApp and emphasises faster response times and continuous operation. The company cites problems in the UK property market—more than 530,000 collapsed transactions annually—and targets the €62.4 billion UK legal market as ripe for disruption. Eddie Goldsmith is listed as strategic advisor and non-executive director, and the firm is hiring ahead of a planned Q3 2026 launch.

  • Vuelo

    Led · Seed · Mar 2026

    Vuelo offers an AI-native platform that replaces traditional search with a proprietary engine that combines discovery, booking, personalised financing, and in-trip support. The platform embeds personalised, interest-free instalment plans (three to twelve months) into trip recommendations, with a risk engine pre-authorising payment options before customers view offers. Vuelo plans an in-trip AI assistant to make personalised dining and activity recommendations and to feed preferences back into its personalisation and risk systems. The company reports onboarding thousands of new travellers each month and cites a large addressable BNPL market opportunity. Founded in 2025 and based in London, Vuelo intends to use the recent funding to accelerate growth and scale its product across the UK and US.

Team