A former partner at London VC firm Phoenix Court, who bet on fintech giant Wise and insurance unicorn Marshmallow, has launched her debut solo fund, a $17m fund looking to unearth Europe’s next AI success story.

Long-standing investor Yvonne Bajela has launched Evertrue Capital as investors continue to make big bets on the European AI ecosystem, hoping to find the next Lovable and ElevenLabs.

Evertrue Capital is being backed by Bajela’s former employer Phoenix Court, via is fund of funds Basecamp, the British Business Bank, Better Society Capital, Bootstrap 4F, Allocator One, along with founders, operators and GPs in Evertrue’s network.

The fund will typically invest cheque sizes of around £350,000 and is backing AI and tech companies at the pre-seed stage across the UK and Europe. While $17m is small for a fund, it is not unusually small for a first-time fund. It plans to back a minimum of around twenty startups over the next three years, the fund said.

Bajela, founder and general partner, Evertrue Capital, says she plans to invest in founders with “deep problem expertise” and the “discipline to build on it before consensus catches up”.

She said: “Over the past decade, I’ve backed founders who went on to build billion-dollar companies, and almost none of them looked obvious at the start.

“The ones I’m drawn to understand a problem deeply, often from lived experience, and have the conviction and discipline to build around it. They don’t always fit a familiar pattern, but their insight gives them an edge others can’t yet see.

“The best moment to invest is before the market has proof. That belief has shaped Evertrue. We make concentrated, early bets and give founders the capital, access and support to build companies of consequence.”

The fund will lead and co-invest, backing founders before consensus forms, it said.

It has already invested in seven companies, including Revion, an AI company for the automotive sector Poindexter Labs, an AI data and infrastructure firm, and fintech Zuba.

Bajela previously worked at Goldman Sachs, as well as having investment roles at Mitsui, the Japanese investment firm, where she backed Wise and VC Impact X Captial, leading its seed investment in Marshmallow, before joining Phoenix Court as a partner.