Acurio Ventures

Acurio Ventures Research

Investment Thesis

Acurio Ventures (formerly All Iron Ventures) is a European early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Bilbao, Spain, with additional offices in Madrid, London, and Barcelona. Founded in 2018 by operator-entrepreneurs, Acurio takes a true generalist approach to investing — partnering with visionary European founders from the earliest stages of company building.

The firm is grounded in an "entrepreneurs at heart" ethos. Its four founding General Partners — Ander Michelena, Diego Recondo, Hugo Fernández-Mardomingo, and Kate Cornell — bring firsthand experience founding and scaling companies, including Ticketbis (sold to eBay in 2016), Libere (200+ employees), Aplanet (€1.5M ARR SaaS), and Jobandtalent UK (revenue scaled 80x to €40M/month). This operator DNA informs their ability to support founders through practical challenges, not just capital.

Acurio positions itself as a trusted companion to founders — not on founders' backs every day, but available as a strategic partner when it matters. They leverage a community of advisors (founders of top European tech companies and multinational executives) plus a network of 150+ international co-investors to support portfolio companies with introductions, hiring guidance, and strategic counsel.

In September 2024, All Iron Ventures rebranded to Acurio Ventures, drawing inspiration from Juan de Acurio — a Basque sailor from Bermeo who served as boatswain on Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe (1519–1522). The rebrand coincided with the close of their third direct fund.

Sector Focus

Acurio is a true generalist investor, sector-agnostic by design. Their stated exclusions are narrow:

• Life sciences (traditional pharma and drug discovery) — generally out of scope
• Crypto/blockchain — out of scope

Their portfolio spans enterprise software, marketplaces, edtech, fintech, healthtech, logistics, energy, adtech, proptech, gaming, media, and more across 16+ countries.

Stage Focus

Acurio invests primarily at:

• Pre-Seed and Seed (earliest primary focus)
• Series A (core sweet spot)
• Follow-on up to Series B (supporting existing portfolio)

Their portfolio construction is deliberately wider than typical VCs — targeting ~50 companies per fund versus the industry standard of 20 — with a dynamic follow-on approach. They review the portfolio quarterly to decide follow-on allocations, and treat each follow-on investment with the same 10x return hurdle as initial investments.

Check Size and Ownership

• Initial checks: up to €3M per investment
• Target ownership: 3–10% equity stakes (single-digit stakes)
• Follow-on: selective, supporting milestone achievement up to Series B

Lead Tendency

Flexible co-investor by default. Acurio frequently invests alongside other VCs, leveraging their 150+ international co-investor network. They will step up to lead or co-lead when it adds strategic value. Their third fund (Acurio Ventures III) was structured as a follow-on vehicle that explicitly does not lead deals.

Fund History and AUM

Acurio manages five investment vehicles totaling over €450M in AUM (as of July 2026):

• Acurio Ventures I — first direct startup fund (2018)
• Acurio Ventures II — second direct startup fund
• Acurio Fund Investments — VC fund-of-funds (invested in 20 European VC funds)
• Acurio Ventures III — €150M direct startup fund closed September 2024; follow-on focused, targeting ~50 European companies; already invested ~€40M in 20 companies
• Acurio Secondaries I — €115M secondaries fund closed July 2026; buys stakes in mature European early-stage VC funds (8+ years old) at sub-€20M transaction sizes; already committed ~€45M with 1.75x TVPI; targeting 2x+ net returns and 25%+ IRR

LP base across funds includes a US university endowment, insurance companies, pension plans, major corporates, 35+ family offices, tech entrepreneurs, and executives.

Recent Activity

Actively deploying across all vehicles:

• July 2026: Closed Acurio Secondaries I at €115M (exceeded €100M target); management team committed €15M+
• 2026: Pre-seed investment in 40folds (decision intelligence / Bayesian analytics platform)
• September 2024: Closed Acurio Ventures III at €150M (€40M already deployed in 20 companies at announcement)
• 2024–2026: Described as "one of the most active VCs in Europe" — 20 investments in 12 months around the fund III close

Portfolio Highlights

Over 120 startups invested across 16+ countries. Notable active portfolio companies:

• Seedtag (seedtag.com) — Leading AI-powered contextual advertising company; Series C, Europe
• Preply (preply.com) — Global language-learning marketplace; Series C, USA
• Jobandtalent (jobandtalent.com) — European workforce staffing unicorn; Series E
• Lingokids (lingokids.com) — Children's educational app, 50M+ users; Series C
• Refurbed (refurbed.com) — Europe's fastest-growing refurbished electronics marketplace; Series C
• Exoticca (exoticca.com) — Online travel agency for exotic vacations; Series D
• Paack (paack.co) — Leading eCommerce delivery platform in Europe; Series D
• Ironhack (ironhack.com) — Global tech school ranked top 2 worldwide; Series B
• Indexa Capital (indexacapital.com) — Spain's largest automated investment manager (€2.5B+ managed); publicly listed
• Phagos (phagos.com) — Bacteriophage biotech tackling antibiotic resistance; Series A
• Rebag (rebag.com) — Premium luxury handbag resale marketplace; Series E, USA
• Lime (li.me) — World's largest micromobility operator, 200+ cities; Series E, USA
• Manual (manual.co) — Men's health and wellness platform; Series B
• Spotahome (spotahome.com) — European long-term rental marketplace; Series C
• Fintonic (fintonic.com) — Spanish open banking and financial management platform; Series C

Notable Exits

• Reply.ai — Customer service automation (acquired by Kustomer; Kustomer subsequently acquired by Meta)
• Paul Camper — European camper-sharing platform (acquired by Camplify)
• Coches.com — Spain's leading online car marketplace (exited)
• Deporvillage — Sports equipment eCommerce (exited)
• Kave Home — Online interior design marketplace (exited)
• Abound (USA) — B2B marketplace connecting retailers with emerging brands (exited)
• Rive — AI-powered real estate platform (exited)
• Circular — Tech talent hiring community (exited)

Team

• Ander Michelena, General Partner — Co-founder of Ticketbis (sold to eBay 2016); launched Libere (200+ employees), Aplanet; former Head of International at StubHub ($5B BU)
• Kate Cornell, General Partner — Former UK CEO of Jobandtalent (grew revenue 80x to €40M/month); ex-CEO of Glossybox; Goldman Sachs Private Equity and Credit Suisse alumni; Oxford graduate
• Diego Recondo, General Partner — Former VP Business Development at CrossLend (German fintech); attorney at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; MBA from NYU Stern
• Hugo Fernández-Mardomingo, General Partner — Built Acurio from inception in 2018; previously at Mercapital PE; former strategic consultant at Palladium/Monitor Group; airline pilot
• Piotr Bukanski, Principal — Previously Investment Manager at Beringea (~$800M AUM); prior M&A at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in EMEA Consumer and Retail
• Ainhoa Saralegui, Senior Investor — Previously at EY (Transaction Advisory Services) and Deloitte Financial Advisory in Bilbao
• Miguel González, Senior Investor — Previously at AZ Capital Investment Bank in Madrid; M&A advisory across infrastructure, technology, and health sectors
• Kiril Dimov, Fund Investments Principal — Previously at Greyhound Capital ($1.5B AUM global fund); founding team for technology investing at L Catterton ($37B PE); began career at Citigroup M&A
• Luis Robledano, Head of Investor Relations — Previously 6 years at Arcano Capital IR; also worked at A&G Private Bank and BNP Paribas
• Iñaki Ecenarro, Venture Partner — Founded Trovit (acquired by Lifull for €80M in 2015); active business angel in Spain; MIT MBA; AV venture partner since 2019
• Bart Tompkins, Venture Partner — 30+ years at Amadeus; former CEO of Opodo, Managing Director China, Head of e-Commerce Investments; law and social anthropology from Cambridge, MBA from Bayes Business School

Decision Process

Partnership model with four General Partners. The firm emphasizes speed: "We decide fast and deliver value since the first interactions." They explicitly state they typically do not take formal board seats or observer roles, preferring to be a trusted partner available when needed rather than an intrusive presence.

Geographic Focus

Europe is the primary focus, with investments across 16+ countries. They make opportunistic investments in the USA and Latin America when the opportunity is sufficiently compelling. Their portfolio includes US-headquartered companies like Preply, Gordian Software, Lime, Rebag, Hip eCommerce, Microverse, Roofstock, Keyway, Mini Studio, and Zentist.

Founder Preferences

Acurio strongly prefers founders with entrepreneurial DNA and mission-driven ambitions. Given the partners' own operator backgrounds, they resonate with founders who are bold, internationally-minded builders taking on large markets. They are strong believers in capital efficiency, closely evaluating unit economics and expecting realistic paths to profitability in the medium to long run. They will walk away from deals where valuations do not add up, even at very early stages.

Anti-thesis: Traditional life sciences (pharma/drug discovery) and cryptocurrency/blockchain are excluded. They also avoid companies with poor unit economics or unrealistic profitability timelines.