After spending more than a decade carving out a prominent reputation as a venture capitalist at established firms like LocalGlobe and Impact X Capital Partners, Yvonne Bajela has officially taken the leap to launch her own independent investment vehicle. On Tuesday, Bajela announced the official close of Evertrue, her debut early-stage fund, which successfully secured an oversubscribed $17 million for its Fund I.
Throughout her career as a venture capitalist, Bajela has earned a reputation for backing high-potential startups long before they achieved household-name status. Her investment track record includes early bets on several now-unicorn companies, such as the digital fintech giant Wise, the innovative insurance platform Marshmellow, and the autonomous robotaxi venture Mooves. With her extensive background working within major global financial institutions and prominent venture firms, Bajela felt the time was right to strike out on her own and establish a firm that reflects her personal investment thesis and operational philosophy.
"After more than a decade backing founders who bet everything on their ideas, it felt like time to make a bet of my own," Bajela said in an interview discussing the launch. "I wanted the independence to act on those convictions and build something that reflected my own approach to investing."
Even before officially closing the fund, Evertrue has already deployed capital into seven early-stage companies. The newly minted firm will focus primarily on early-stage investments across the United Kingdom and continental Europe. According to Bajela, Evertrue will maintain an average check size of approximately £350,000 per deal, with a strategic roadmap to back at least 20 companies over the course of the next three years.
The timing of Evertrue’s debut is deeply intertwined with the broader macroeconomic and technological shifts currently sweeping the venture capital landscape. Bajela noted that the recent artificial intelligence boom played a significant role in convincing her that this was the ideal moment to launch her own fund. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence has fundamentally altered the economics of starting and scaling a company, while concurrently generating a fresh wave of compelling opportunities for early-stage investors operating at the ground level.
"The ability to build has been democratized," Bajela observed, highlighting how modern technological tools have lowered the barriers to entry for founders. "But the ability to build something enduring remains rare."
Bajela’s launch coincides with a remarkably dynamic period for the United Kingdom’s technology sector. As previously reported by TechCrunch, the U.K. startup ecosystem is experiencing a major moment of global prominence. Technology clusters such as London’s King’s Cross have rapidly evolved into world-class artificial intelligence hubs, while breakout success stories like Revolut, Synthesia, ElevenLabs, and the Jeff Bezos-backed CuspAI are actively redefining what it means to scale globally and attract immense commercial success from a British home base. For an experienced early-stage investor like Bajela, this thriving environment presents a prime opportunity to identify and secure stakes in the next generation of top-tier British entrepreneurial talent before they enter the mainstream radar.
"I think more globally significant businesses will emerge from a wider range of starting points," she said.
Despite the vibrant technological tailwinds, the fundraising climate for emerging fund managers remains fiercely competitive and structurally challenging. In the United States, early-stage fundraising has frequently been characterized as a barbell market, where available capital is heavily concentrated at the top among established firms and seasoned investors who already boast extensive, long-standing track records.
The environment in the United Kingdom has proven to be somewhat more encouraging for first-time managers. According to PitchBook data tracking market activity through the end of September, emerging fund managers in the U.K. region have collectively raised $7.4 billion—already surpassing the $6.2 billion they managed to secure throughout the entirety of 2025.
Nevertheless, Bajela emphasized that securing commitments for Evertrue was far from easy. The fundraising process was described as a grueling endeavor, marked by prolonged deliberations with prospective institutional investors. She noted that the most discouraging rejections were not the immediate, outright declinations, but rather those that materialized only after months of intense discussions and significant investments of time.
"They were the ones that came after months of conversations and significant time invested, only for the answer to ultimately be no," Bajela shared. "Time is one of the most valuable resources a founder has, and a prolonged process without clarity has a real cost."
Despite the hurdles inherent in launching a first-time fund, Evertrue successfully secured backing from five institutional investors. Among them are the British Business Bank and Basecamp, the dedicated fund-of-funds vehicle operated by investment firm Phoenix Court, which is also the parent organization of LocalGlobe. Evertrue participated in the British Business Bank’s £400 million Investor Pathways capital initiative, a program designed to support emerging managers that channeled £90 million across 10 first-time fund managers.
Interestingly, Bajela revealed that Evertrue’s initial internal target was to raise around $13 million. However, driven by unexpectedly high levels of investor interest, the fund found itself oversubscribed. Rather than yielding to the temptation to expand the final size of the fund by accepting all available capital, Bajela made a deliberate strategic choice to turn down additional investors.
"Fund size is a strategic decision, not a measure of success in itself," she explained. "I wanted enough capital to build meaningful positions in my highest-conviction investments without creating pressure to deploy capital simply because it was available."
Geographically, approximately 80% of Evertrue’s limited partners are based in the United Kingdom, with the remaining investors distributed across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Bajela noted that this international base of limited partners is a direct reflection of the professional relationships she has cultivated over more than a decade of cross-border investing. It also aligns seamlessly with Evertrue’s global ambitions, particularly given the strong tendency for ambitious British founders to look toward U.S. expansion early in their lifecycles. Notably, more than half of the companies currently in Evertrue’s nascent portfolio already maintain operational footprints or activities in the United States.
In terms of sector focus, Evertrue will primarily target opportunities spanning artificial intelligence and financial technology. When evaluating prospective founders, Bajela looks for specific qualitative traits that signal exceptional potential. She is particularly drawn to individuals who possess a deep, unique insight into a complex problem, an unusual capacity for rapid execution, and the overarching ambition to construct an enterprise that extends far beyond their initial product offering.
"I also pay attention to the distance a founder has traveled, what they’ve overcome, and how that has shaped their perspective," she continued.
That appreciation for diverse backgrounds and global perspectives is rooted in Bajela’s own extensive professional journey. Before entering the venture capital ecosystem, she lived in Japan while serving as a senior investment manager at Mitsui, and she originally kicked off her career working as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Throughout her years navigating international financial and entrepreneurial circles, she has witnessed firsthand how widely distributed ambition and talent truly are across different geographies and cultures.
As Evertrue embarks on its journey of deploying capital and partnering with early-stage visionaries, Bajela remains focused on the foundational tenets that guided her into the venture capital industry over a decade ago.
"I want Evertrue to be known for the quality of the founders I back and the businesses they go on to build," she concluded.
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