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Passion Capital
Passion Capital established itself as one of Europe’s earliest operator-led venture funds, deploying plain-language term sheets as a deliberate signal to...
Passion Capital
Passion Capital established itself as one of Europe’s earliest operator-led venture funds, deploying plain-language term sheets as a deliberate signal to founders. The firm’s London partnership — led by a roster of named partners including Robert Dighero, Sarah Stafford, and Andrew Jenkins — built its reputation on getting into AI, FinTech, and Risk deals at the idea stage, before a product ships or a revenue line appears. The firm targets pre-seed rounds across the UK and continental Europe, writing initial commitments of £400k to £500k with the capacity to follow on across subsequent rounds. Portfolio companies that grew from Passion’s seed-stage backing include Monzo, the smartphone-first challenger bank; GoCardless, the recurring-payment infrastructure company; digital insurer Marshmallow; SME banking platform Tide; fresh dog-food subscription service Butternut Box; cybersecurity monitoring firm Digital Shadows; conversational AI provider PolyAI; and integration-platform-as-a-service company Tray.ai. The firm is flexible — it leads, co-leads, or participates — and adds roughly ten new startups per year. Passion’s portfolio count sits at 104 early-stage tech companies, according to the firm’s own disclosures, spanning AI/ML, financial technology, and risk-adjacent software. The team operates from a single London base and publishes ESG and sustainability disclosures alongside portfolio investment documents. The firm does not disclose aggregate assets under management, and its partnership structure means investment decisions are distributed across the partner group rather than concentrated in a single founder-CIO. A structural differentiator remains the firm’s insistence on Plain English term sheets, which it publicly credits as a significant industry development when it launched. That posture — operator-led, legally streamlined, and pre-revenue — positions Passion as a distinct early-stage vehicle in the European seed landscape, where founder-friendly documentation and operator credibility serve as a sourcing moat for the most competitive AI and FinTech founder circles.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
United Kingdom
City
London
Corporate office
London, United Kingdom
Principals
Robert Dighero
Partner
Sarah Stafford
Partner
Andrew Jenkins
Partner
Will Orde
Partner
Greg Bennett
Partner
Paul Walker
Partner
Fern Scott
Partner
Antonia Brine
Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does Passion Capital source proprietary deal flow?
Passion’s operator-led pedigree and Plain English term-sheet stance function as a sourcing filter that attracts founders at the earliest stage — before product or customers exist. By leaning on partner operating experience rather than a standard scout or banker-referral model, the firm competes for founder mindshare in London and continental European tech hubs, particularly in AI, FinTech, and Risk software.
Does Passion Capital lead rounds or co-invest alongside other firms?
The firm states it is flexible to lead, co-lead, or participate in funding rounds. That posture lets Passion anchor a round when the partnership has high conviction or join a syndicate when a lead has already been set, giving it access to a broader range of early-stage deals.
What is Passion Capital’s average initial investment size?
According to the firm’s own disclosures, Passion writes an average initial cheque of £400,000 to £500,000. It also emphasizes strong follow-on capacity to support portfolio companies over subsequent rounds.
Which sectors does Passion Capital explicitly avoid?
Passion publicly states it concentrates on AI, FinTech, and Risk. While the firm does not publish a formal exclusion list, its commitment to these three domains — and its deliberate choice of roughly ten new startups per year — signals that it avoids sectors outside its partners’ direct operating expertise, such as deep life sciences, hardware-intensive climate tech, and non-European consumer brands.
How is Passion Capital structured compared to founder-led European seed funds?
Unlike many European seed funds built around a single founder-GP, Passion functions as a partnership of named operators — Robert Dighero, Sarah Stafford, Andrew Jenkins, and others — with investment authority distributed across the group. That multi-partner structure, combined with its self-described “operator-led” DNA, differentiates it from the single-personality funds that dominate early-stage venture in Europe.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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