Founders Factory Research
Overview
Founders Factory is a London-headquartered venture studio and startup accelerator founded in 2015 by Brent Hoberman (Executive Chairman) and Henry Lane Fox (CEO). It describes itself as building and funding startups together with exceptional entrepreneurs and the world's leading companies. The site cites 500+ startups, 60+ operators and a presence on 5 continents. The FT European Startup Hubs Ranking 2025 named it the top venture studio and accelerator in the UK and a top five startup hub in Europe.
Investment Thesis
The firm's pitch is "go further, faster": capital plus dedicated operating support from a team of 60+ operators, plus access to a coalition of corporate partners that provide pilots, distribution, market intelligence and follow-on capital. It calls corporate access its unfair advantage. It focuses on four areas: Fintech, Industrials, Health and Deep Tech. The current studio request for builders targets healthcare founders.
Stage Focus
Founders Factory funds startups at idea, pre-seed and seed through its investment programs, and supports them toward the next round. The studio co-founds new companies with outside entrepreneurs. The accelerator invests in outside founders through sector programmes. Later stages appear in the portfolio (Series A to Series C), but those are follow-on outcomes, not stated entry stages.
Check Size
The firm does not publish check sizes. A third-party review (April 2026) reports roughly £30,000 for the accelerator and £150,000 to £250,000 for the studio, with 4-7% equity for the accelerator. This is unverified and low confidence, so no check size range is submitted.
Programs and Funds
- Venture Studio: co-found a new company with the Founders Factory team and partners.
- Accelerator: corporate-backed pre-seed and seed programmes. Currently open: Northwestern Medicine Healthcare Accelerator (health), Aviva Fintech Accelerator, Rio Tinto Mining Tech Accelerator, and WA Government Nature Tech Accelerator.
- Venture Funds: Creator Fund, a pre-seed fund for scientific founders in deep tech, AI and life sciences with a team of PhDs across 25+ European universities; and G-Force, pre-seed and seed investments in mission-driven climate tech.
- MSWA announced a $1.75M joint venture with Founders Factory to fund neurological care technologies, run from Perth.
Lead Tendency
Not stated. Founders Factory acts as studio co-founder and program investor rather than a conventional round lead, so lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- Endolith announced a US$13.5M Series A in 2025 for its critical minerals recovery platform.
- Storyblok raised an $80M Series C (June 2024).
- Landvault was acquired by Infinite Reality for $450M (2024).
- Monolith was acquired by CoreWeave (2025).
- Shop Circle raised a $120M Series A (September 2023), featured in the firm's stories.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists dozens of companies. Exits shown on the site: Feedr (Compass Group, 2020), Honest Health (Hims & Hers, 2021), Flourish (Canva, 2022), Landvault (Infinite Reality, 2024), Monolith (CoreWeave, 2025) and Fluidstack. Active companies include Scan.com (Series C), Storyblok (Series C), Perlego (Series B), Dronamics (Series B), Fundamental VR (Series B), Peptone (Series B), Circeus (Series B), Xapien (Series B), Tembo, Valarian, Terra AI, Byway, Iris AI, Synthesized, Endolith and Hades Mining.
Team
- Henry Lane Fox, Chief Executive Officer and Founder
- Brent Hoberman, Executive Chairman and Founder
- Damian Routley, Chief Operating Officer
- Claire Morris, Chief Studio Officer
- David Hickson, Chief Strategic Development Officer
- Olivia Brooks, Head of Investments
- Edoardo Gentili, Elena Vittone and Jack Kennedy, Investors
- George Northcott, Vice President
- Olly Betts, Sector Director, Fintech
- Tamryn Barker, Sector Director, Mining and Nature
- Levi Young, Sector Director
- Frank Webster, Head of Corporate Development
- Sahil Sachdev, Director of Venture Design
Decision Process
Not public. The firm operates through sector directors, studio venture designers and an investments team, with corporate partners involved in several programmes. Recorded as investment committee on a best-guess basis. Warm introductions are not required: founders apply through a public form.
Founder Preferences
Founders who want operator support and corporate pilots. The studio is for entrepreneurs willing to co-found a new company on a studio-defined theme. The accelerator suits founders already building in fintech, health, industrials or deep tech.
Geographic Focus
UK and Europe first, with programmes in Australia (Perth, Western Australia) and partners across 5 continents. Third-party sources reference AUM figures that conflict, so AUM is not submitted.
Gaps
- Check size and equity terms are not published by the firm.
- AUM figures from third-party sites conflict and the firm is not a conventional fund, so none is submitted.
- Domains for Honest Health and Hades Mining are left empty because the homepage links did not resolve to the company's own sites.
- Stage at investment is not stated per company, so none is recorded.