{"id":14216,"date":"2025-04-12T16:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/14216\/"},"modified":"2025-04-12T16:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:40:13","slug":"a-true-founders-fund-dig-ventures-closes-e90-million-fund-for-early-stage-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/14216\/","title":{"rendered":"“A true Founder’s Fund”: DIG Ventures closes \u20ac90 million Fund for early-stage startups"},"content":{"rendered":"

London-based DIG Ventures<\/strong><\/a>, an early-stage VC firm backing European B2B SaaS, AI and cloud infrastructure startups, has announced the successful closing of a \u20ac90 million Fund \u2013 the firm\u2019s first institutional fund.<\/p>\n

Institutional LPs backing the new fund include The Hillman Company, Granite Capital, Sofina and Grove Street. The round also drew participation from some tech Founders, including Datadog Founder Olivier Pomel and a number of MuleSoft Executives.<\/p>\n

Ross Mason<\/strong>, Partner at DIG Ventures, comments: \u201cWe see an enormous opportunity in Europe right now \u2013 this is the moment for the next generation of globally impactful tech companies to emerge from Europe. These founders combine deep technical brilliance with a powerful underdog mentality, but the bridge between technical excellence and commercial success is often missing. That\u2019s where DIG comes in. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith Fund II, we\u2019re doubling down on our operator-led approach: not just providing capital, but offering the lived experience, Silicon Valley mindset, operational insight, and network needed to go from zero to one. We\u2019re here to help founders turn high-potential technology into companies that scale globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

DIG Ventures was launched in 2018 by Ross Mason, founder of integration software giant MuleSoft, which was acquired by Salesforce for \u20ac5.9 billion. DIG began as Mason\u2019s family office before transitioning into a VC Fund, which he established alongside Melissa Klinger, former UK sales lead at MuleSoft.<\/p>\n

DIG was built to give early-stage founders hands-on, operator-led guidance in navigating go-to-market (GTM) strategy and execution, helping them position and scale their companies.<\/p>\n

Mason and Klinger are joined by: Rytis Vitkauskas, founder of YPlan (acquired by Time Out) and former Partner at Lightspeed ; and Scott Grimes, Co-founder of Stackin\u2019 and Uproxx (acquired by Warner Music).<\/p>\n

This founder-led team looks to give DIG an advantage in both understanding what entrepreneurs need and identifying the next generation of breakout companies.<\/p>\n

Through the new fund, the team will predominantly invest in startups based across Europe, although they will also consider startups located in Israel and the US.<\/p>\n

The team has already begun deploying capital from the fund, with over 15 B2B SaaS, AI and cloud infrastructure start-ups backed so far; including observability platform Dash0, founded by Instana founder Mirko Novakovic (acquired by IBM), AI orchestration platform Nexos.ai, founded by cybersecurity unicorn Nord Security founders, Tomas Okmanas and Eimantas Sabaliauskas, and enterprise middleware offering PolyAPI, founded by former MuleSoft, Google, and Oracle exec, Darko Vukovic.<\/p>\n

Mirko Novakovic<\/strong>, Founder of Dash0, adds: \u201cWe chose Dig Ventures because of their unique operating experience scaling a SaaS company to billion-dollar success, combined with the hands-on, entrepreneurial spirit their entire team brings to the table. Their expertise and proactive approach make them exactly the partner Dash0 needs at this critical growth stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

DIG Ventures specialises in pre-Seed and Seed investments, typically serving as the first institutional investor in companies that \u201coften have little more than a pitch deck and a big idea\u201c. The portfolio includes unicorns People.ai and Karat, alongside scale-ups such as Bubble, ComplyAdvantage, PlanetScale, Rasa, Taktile, Rossum, Flock and Prophecy.<\/p>\n

According to DIG, 80% of companies in their portfolio go on to raise again within two years of DIG\u2019s initial investment.<\/p>\n

Tomas Okmanas<\/strong>, Co-founder of Nord Security, comments: \u201cAs a serial entrepreneur, I\u2019ve seen every side of the funding landscape \u2013 from bootstrapping to major raises. Those experiences have shown me the value of investors who don\u2019t just understand the technical side but have lived the scale-up journey themselves. The DIG team aren\u2019t just investors; they\u2019re in the trenches with us, helping us navigate go-to-market, pricing, and the sales process. Their support is second to none \u2013 a true Founder\u2019s Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

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