MJ Hudson has advised Octopus Ventures (OV) on the establishment of its first dedicated pre-seed fund, backing early-stage start-ups across Europe, which held a first closing in May 2022.
OV’s all-female pre-seed team has already made its first wave of investments into 10 businesses across the UK, Germany and Spain. Of those, 40% have a female founder and 30% at least one ethnic minority founder.
OV, part of the Octopus Group, is one of the most active VCs in Europe and its notable investments include Cazoo, Zoopla and Depop (all of which have either gone public or been acquired).
MJ Hudson law team supported the OV team from the outset of the launch of their new fund proposition, providing structuring and general commercial advice relating to the fund and fund terms as well as coordinating other service providers to first closing and have built a strong relationship with OV’s team as a result.
