We've raised a fund!

Today we're announcing the first close of Baseline Venture Fund I at €4M, with a target of €5M total. We'll be investing €100,000 first checks into 50 Irish and European startups over the next three years.

The fund is backed only by private investors, all founders and high-net-worth individuals from Ireland, Europe, and the US. No government money. No institutional capital. Just people who believe in what we're building here.

Why we're doing this

Over the past 20 years as contributors to the Irish ecosystem, Fiona and I have become increasingly frustrated by the institutionalisation of how startups are built here. Incubators, accelerators, and established funds are funded by government programs or state funds, which means they're ultimately more aligned to job creation than value creation. 

This has created an environment where founders aren't pushed to their full potential. The best Irish founders have either left Ireland completely, or they raise their first round abroad and build at home. We're here to support the latter. Our approach is simple: be the first cheque into exceptional teams raising pre-seed, then help them raise the remainder of the round from co-investors across the EU and US. This means they'll probably raise on better terms, from investors with a deeper bench of capability, expertise and networks, while staying rooted in Ireland.

The community came first

This fund didn't start with a pitch deck and a fundraising plan. It actually started with Baseline as a community and workspace, Founder Filter (our regular coffee mornings, of which we have hosted 64 in the past two and half years), and of course our bi-annual Rebase retreats. We spent a huge chunk of time just building relationships with founders, understanding what they actually needed, and creating the conditions for peer-driven support to happen naturally. 

What we learned is that there's a massive gap in Ireland for truly independent and focussed pre-seed capital with a healthy appetite for risk. The kind that comes with no strings attached, that is fast moving and connected. The kind that's focused purely on backing founders and their behaviours, knowing that the variable stuff will be figured out as they grow. So we decided to formalise what we'd been doing informally: finding the best technical founders building AI-native SaaS and infrastructure companies, and backing them with capital, not just community.

Already deployed

We started fundraising in May, and we're pleased to have closed €4M in a relatively short period. We see that as evidence of appetite amongst experienced and exited founders and investors who realise the untapped potential in what has been historically an ecosystem dominated by government programs, FDI, and multinational tech companies.

We've already made 10 investments (8 completed, 2 in progress), co-investing alongside the likes of Foreword, Point Nine, Y Combinator, NAP, Nebular, Octopus, Pitchdrive, Playfair, Helloworld, and a host of well-known angels in Europe and the US.

Paul Ryan, co-founder and CEO of Otel, put it well: "Baseline were the first to back us, which is always the hardest check to get. Beyond the capital, Eamon and Fiona gave us the conviction to keep building when things got tough. Their support was foundational. They're not just deploying a fund, they're building a powerful node in the European ecosystem."

Chris Lynch, co-founder and CEO of Rekord, added: "Baseline were a gamechanger for us! We raised a great pre-seed led by Point Nine, and the support Fiona and Eamon gave us from the start was pivotal."

Who we're looking for

We have a preference for working with technically strong teams building in AI-native SaaS, intelligent automation, and infrastructure for execution-heavy or regulation-heavy environments.

But beyond the sector focus, we're looking for founders who have proven they can build early relationships with decision makers in their target market, and can ship great product experiences that align with the target market's needs. If you're raising pre-seed and think we might be a fit, reach out. We're actively deploying and looking to back exceptional founders.

What makes us different

Baseline is Ireland's only private VC fund exclusively focused on pre-seed, with no government or institutional LPs. We're backed entirely by private founders and investors who've built and exited companies themselves.

We're not building a traditional fund. We're not running an accelerator. We're building an ecosystem where founders can build alongside each other, access capital when they need it, and tap into a growing network of European founders and investors through Rebase.

Running a local community grounded in founders helping each other is core to how we're developing the earliest stage of the Irish ecosystem from an independent perspective. It helps with deal flow and diligence, but more than that, Rebase as a unique and growing community-led network widens our top-of-funnel at the same time as helping our founders develop strong ties to other ecosystems.

What's next

We're keeping our second close open through Q1 2026 to reach our €5M target. If you're an experienced founder or investor who wants to be part of what we're building, get in touch.

More importantly, if you're a founder building something exceptional at pre-seed, we want to hear from you. We move fast, we back founders who move fast, and we're here to help you build from Ireland while raising from the best investors across Europe and the US.

Reach out at fund@baseline.community or come to our next Founder Filter. Always happy to chat.