Begin Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Begin Capital is a London-based early-stage venture capital fund founded in 2019 by Alex Menn and Ruslan Sarkisyan. The firm frames its investing process through a distinctive TV-production metaphor ("a VC fund is very similar to a TV series"), but underneath the playful branding is a conventional generalist early-stage strategy: back exceptional founders (self-described as looking for "Pirates, Winners and Robots") who treat their business as a set of testable hypotheses reducible to numbers, rather than backing a narrative alone.
The firm frames its history in two "seasons." Season 1 (2020 onward) was a generalist mandate across all industries and genres, with a soft preference for the European market though with no strict geographic borders. Season 2, now the active mandate, narrows focus to Deeptech Software, Artificial Intelligence (particularly infrastructure), and "Ops Heavy Physical World" categories such as robotics, construction tech, and AI/hardware layers reshaping silicon and systems.
Sector Focus
Season 2 sectors: AI infrastructure and LLM tooling (Runware, Zencoder, Xmemory, SurrealDB), robotics and construction-tech automation (Crewline, ALL3), and industrial/energy automation (Tomorrow Things, Areg AI). The Season 1 back catalog is a generalist mix spanning fintech and payments (Finom, LoanBase, Kapaga, Fundraise Up), healthcare (Vamstar, Woom), e-commerce/marketplaces (Zadaa, Naduvi, Motley), proptech (Dwelly), developer tools/cloud infrastructure (Codesphere, Middleware, Simplyblock, Cloudchipr), HR/work tech (Native Teams), edtech (EBAC Online), and climate/sustainability software (Thrust Carbon).
Stage Focus
Begin Capital invests at Pre-Seed through Series A, with the bulk of activity at Seed. The firm states it has "no geographic borders for a real hit," but the European market (and London specifically) is where the team is based and most concentrated.
Check Size
Ticket size is flexible: $500K to $8M per the firm's own site (Season 1 historically ran $500K to $7M). The firm both leads and participates in rounds.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. Begin Capital has led rounds (e.g., a €1.5M lead check into Zadaa) and also come in as a co-investor alongside other funds (e.g., Woom, Mercaux in Season 1; Dawn Capital-led Runware Series A, Accel-led SurrealDB Series A extension, Initialized Capital/Nebular-led Crewline seed in Season 2).
Recent Activity
The firm is actively deploying out of its Season 2 (AI/deeptech/physical-world) mandate. Recent participations include Runware's $13M seed (Sept 2025) and $50M Series A (led by Dawn Capital, announced Dec 2025), SurrealDB's $23M Series A extension (Feb 2026, alongside Accel, FirstMark, Georgian, Chalfen Ventures), and Crewline AI's $7.1M seed for autonomous construction equipment (April 2026, led by Initialized Capital and Nebular).
Portfolio Highlights
Begin Capital's portfolio spans roughly 34 companies across both seasons. Season 1 produced several disclosed exits: Bulbshare, Woom, Zadaa, Motley, and Kapaga. Season 2 standouts by later-stage validation include Runware ($66M+ raised total, backed by Dawn Capital, Insight Partners, Comcast Ventures, Speedinvest, a16z Speedrun), SurrealDB (~$49-73M raised across rounds, backed by Accel, FirstMark, Georgian), Codesphere (>$35M raised, backed by Creandum, HOF Capital, 42CAP, 468 Capital), Dwelly ($93M raised, backed by General Catalyst, S16VC, Trinity Capital), and Finom (a fintech now well past $300M raised cumulatively, though Begin Capital's specific round of entry into Finom is unconfirmed from public sources).
Team
- Alex Menn, Co-Founder & Managing Partner — ~15 years in private equity/venture capital, 50+ transactions totaling over $3.5B; focus areas skew AI, software, and FoodTech.
- Ruslan Sarkisyan, Co-Founder & Managing Partner — former startup founder and strategy consultant; spent 5 years at Runa Capital working with Mambu, NGINX, and Brainly before Begin.
- Joël Van Dijk, Partner — co-founded Elfi (Dutch real estate), previously at Slingshot Ventures (Dutch Seed-Series A fund) and in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank; focus on deeptech software, AI infrastructure, and AI-enabled roll-up strategies.
- Saagar Bhavsar, Partner — background spanning InsurTech, buy-side fintech technology, and prior VC roles with 15+ deals led before joining Begin; focus on frontier/technical, hard-tech theses.
Decision Process
Small partnership model (four investing partners who jointly source and evaluate deals); no evidence of a larger formal investment committee structure disclosed publicly.
Founder Preferences
Begin Capital explicitly favors technical, ambitious founders who welcome scrutiny of their numbers and metrics over pure narrative. The firm states a preference for founders who "challenge the rules" (Pirates), aim to "conquer the world" rather than niche outcomes (Winners), and rigorously track KPIs (Robots).
Geographic Focus
Global mandate with a European (and especially UK) center of gravity; the firm has also backed US-based companies (Crewline AI, LoanBase, Fundraise Up) and companies across the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Denmark, and Brazil.