Veteran VC Yvonne Bajela closes $17M fund for early-stage European startups
British venture investor Yvonne Bajela has announced the close of Evertrue's $17 million Fund I. The fund will back early-stage companies in the U.K. and Europe, mainly in AI and fintech.
Yvonne Bajela, a venture capitalist with more than a decade of experience, announced on Tuesday that her new firm Evertrue has closed an oversubscribed $17 million Fund I. The fund will invest in early-stage startups in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe. Venture capital funds provide financing to young companies in exchange for equity.
Before founding Evertrue, Bajela worked in venture capital for over ten years, most recently at LocalGlobe and Impact X Capital Partners. She has backed companies including fintech Wise, insurer Marshmallow and robotaxi company Mooves. She began her career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and lived in Japan as a senior investment manager at Mistusi.
Fund plans
Evertrue has already backed seven companies. The average check will be around £350,000, and the firm plans to support at least 20 companies over the next three years. Its main focus is AI and fintech. Bajela says she is interested in founders with unique insight into a problem and the ambition to build something much bigger than their first product.
She said the fund initially aimed to raise about $13 million but drew strong investor interest. She chose to turn away additional investors rather than enlarge the fund. It has five institutional backers, including the British Business Bank and Basecamp, the fund-of-funds of investment firm Phoenix Court. Evertrue was part of the British Business Bank's £400 million Investor Pathways initiative, which directed £90 million to 10 first-time fund managers.
Around 80% of the fund's limited partners (LPs) are based in the U.K., with the rest in Europe, Asia and the U.S. More than half of the portfolio already operates in the U.S.
Market conditions
The market is tough for emerging fund managers. According to PitchBook data through the end of September, emerging managers in the U.K. have raised $7.4 billion, already above the $6.2 billion raised in all of 2025. Bajela said fundraising was a grind, and the hardest rejections were those that came after months of conversations.
