Investment: “Brighteye Ventures raises $72M”
Brighteye Ventures is a European venture capital firm that backs early-stage companies shaping the future of learning and work; it has announced a $72 million first close of Fund III, taking the firm to $245 million in assets under management.
New investors include Lumina Foundation, Zanichelli and PI Impact, joining existing limited partners such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), Jacobs Foundation and several European family offices.
Fund III, branded the HumanOS: Technology that helps people learn, work and adapt, broadens Brighteye’s focus to companies expanding human capability. The firm expects to make up to 35 investments across AI, learning, productivity and labour infrastructure, and will back AI-driven intelligence and productivity platforms, particularly those impacting high-stakes environments like healthcare, education, infrastructure, cybersecurity and climate.
Early Fund III investments include imagi, which helps schools build AI fluency, NEX Health Intelligence, which provides augmented intelligence for infection-control teams in hospitals, and Gyver, an enhanced marketplace for electricians. Brighteye’s existing portfolio includes labour marketplaces such as Zen Educate, Ornikar, Shakers and installer. Since inception the firm has invested in more than 50 companies that have collectively raised over $1 billion, with multiple portfolio companies generating over $100 billion in revenue per year.
Ben Wirz is a founding partner; the firm recently promoted David Guérin to Partner, Isabella Vahdati to Principal and Rhys Spence to Head of Platform & Research. The team is evenly split between investment and platform and is based in London and Paris.
The $72 million first close will be deployed through Fund III to back companies across the defined themes and to support Brighteye’s plan to make up to 35 investments as it broadens its remit to expand human capability in the AI era.
“The defining opportunity of the AI era is not replacing humans with machines. It is expanding what humans can do with machines. Autonomous intelligence multiplies the potential value of human skills, judgement, and talent. The next generation of category-defining companies will use technology to redefine human capability. We call this the HumanOS and we’re partnering early with the founders building in this space.”
