Yvonne Bajela launches Evertrue fund with $17 million for UK and European startups

A new $17 million fund

Venture investor Yvonne Bajela has announced the launch of her own fund, Evertrue, which closed its oversubscribed first fund (Fund I) at $17 million. She has worked as a venture investor for more than a decade — at LocalGlobe and Impact X Capital Partners, where she invested in companies that became unicorns: fintech Wise, insurer Marshmellow, and robotaxi company Mooves. The launch was reported by TechCrunch.

Fund strategy and parameters

Evertrue will invest at early stages in the UK and Europe, mainly in AI and fintech. The average check size is around £350,000; over the next three years the fund plans to back at least 20 companies. So far it has already invested in seven companies. Bajela originally aimed to raise about $13 million, but due to strong investor interest the fund raised more — yet she declined additional investors to avoid increasing the fund's size: in her words, fund size is a strategic decision, not an end in itself, and she did not want the pressure to 'deploy capital simply because it exists.'

Investors and market context

The fund received support from five institutional investors, including British Business Bank and Basecamp — the fund of funds of Phoenix Court, which also includes LocalGlobe. Evertrue took part in the British Business Bank's £400 million Investor Pathways initiative, under which £90 million went to ten managers launching funds for the first time. About 80% of Evertrue's investors are based in the UK, with the rest in Europe, Asia, and the US; more than half of the fund's current portfolio already operates in the US.

Why now

Bajela herself links the timing to the AI boom: in her words, it has changed the economics of launching companies and created new opportunities for early-stage investors — 'the ability to build has been democratized, but the ability to create something durable remains rare.' In this connection, TechCrunch recalls its earlier piece noting that the British startup ecosystem is experiencing an upswing: the King's Cross area has become one of the world's leading AI hubs, and companies such as Revolut, Synthesia, ElevenLabs, and Bezos-backed CuspAI are changing ideas about scaling in the British market. At the same time, the outlet notes that the market remains difficult for new funds: in the US it is described as a 'barbell market,' where capital concentrates at the top and with managers of proven reputation. In the UK the situation looks milder: according to PitchBook data as of the end of September, new fund managers in the region raised $7.4 billion — already more than the $6.2 billion raised in all of 2025.

The founder's personal experience

Bajela began her career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, worked as a senior investment manager at Mitsui, and lived in Japan. She says that over her career she has seen 'how widely distributed ambition and talent are,' and wants Evertrue to be known for the quality of the founders it invests in. She also noted that fundraising was hard: the most painful rejections were not outright 'no's, but those that came after months of negotiations and significant time spent.