Nebular Research
Investment Thesis
Nebular is a curiosity-first venture capital fund founded by Finn Murphy in 2023. Its thesis is deliberately non-thematic: "the founder is the wedge—category comes after." Nebular invests at the very earliest stages of company formation, looking for uncommon founders building in unexpected or underappreciated areas—where markets and movements are "on the brink of inevitable." The firm's website captures the philosophy: "We're drawn to what's (very) early and unexpected—the uncommon people, ideas, and technologies where new markets and movements are on the brink of inevitable. We move fast. We write lead checks. We won't try to tell you how to run your business."
Murphy founded Nebular in the aftermath of the FTX collapse and the VC nuclear winter of 2022–2023, deliberately building against consensus—backing "rebels and pirates" charting unmarked territory. He left Frontline Ventures, an Irish-headquartered, US-focused fund, to go solo and pursue a higher-conviction, faster-moving style of investing that larger partnerships couldn't accommodate.
Stage Focus
Nebular invests primarily at Seed stage, with selective Pre-Seed investments and occasional Series A follow-ons into existing portfolio companies. Fund I deployed 19 core positions and 5 strategic positions—a high number for a $30M fund, suggesting bite-sized first checks with reserves held for follow-on.
Check Size
Average seed round size across portfolio: ~$4M. Average Series A (follow-ons): ~$13M. Initial checks are likely in the $500K–$2M range given fund size and portfolio breadth.
Lead Tendency
Nebular explicitly writes lead checks. From the website: "We write lead checks." This is a defining differentiator for a small, solo-GP fund—Murphy moves fast and makes high-conviction bets without requiring syndicate partners to go first.
Recent Activity
Nebular has been actively deploying from both Fund I (closed April 2024 at $30M+) and Fund II (first close at $32.3M, October 2025). 2025 saw 8 investments—the firm's most active year to date:
- January 2026: Follow-on in Project Eleven (Series A, $7.6M round, quantum computing/cryptography)
- September 2025: PraxiPal – AI healthcare receptionist, Berlin, Seed ($6.7M round led by HV Capital)
- September 2025: Teton.ai – AI patient monitoring, Copenhagen, Series A ($6.6M round)
- July 2025: Delian – defense autonomy hardware/software, Greece, Series A (~$3.5M round)
- June 2025: Project Eleven – Seed round ($4.7M, Variant Fund + Quantonation + Castle Island)
- 2025: Arya Health – AI healthcare workforce management, NYC, Series A ($25M total)
- 2025: Onos Health – behavioral health platform, SF, Series A ($6.3M total)
- 2025: Trace.Space – space startup
Portfolio Highlights
Nebular's portfolio is deliberately eclectic and conviction-driven:
- Star Cloud (Redmond, WA): Building megawatt-scale data centers in space using solar energy—backed by Sequoia and a16z, $28M total raised.
- Project Eleven (Stanford): Post-quantum cryptography research to secure digital assets against quantum threats. Coinbase backed in the Series A at $120M valuation; $26M total raised. Finn Murphy is co-founder.
- Teton.ai (Copenhagen): AI patient monitoring platform. $25.3M raised, backed by Bertelsmann and Plural.
- Arya Health (NYC): AI-powered healthcare workforce management and staffing. $25M total, backed by Ridge Ventures and ACME.
- Nuha: AI companion teddy bear for young children to support speech and language development—one of Nebular's earliest bets (end of 2023).
- PraxiPal (Berlin): AI receptionist for healthcare front desks; $6.7M seed led by HV Capital.
- Delian (Greece): Full-stack hardware + software for defense and autonomy.
- Onos Health (SF): Behavioral health platform for payers, using ML to reduce waste and improve clinical pathways.
Team
Nebular has a team of 5 people including 3 partners:
- Finn Murphy, Founder/General Partner – Former partner at Frontline Ventures (Dublin/SF). Co-founder of Project Eleven. Based in New York. Irish.
- Parvin Mammadov, Partner – Based in London.
- Robbie Osborne, Partner – Based in Dublin.
Decision Process
As a solo-GP-founded fund, Finn Murphy is the primary decision maker. The firm moves fast and does not require extensive committee processes. "Being solo is great. But the great firms are built with others" suggests an evolving structure as Fund II grows.
Founder Preferences
Nebular backs "uncommon people"—curiosity-driven founders willing to chart unusual paths, often technically deep. Murphy has backed founders in their 20s, international founders, and those working at the very edge of scientific possibility. Founder character and quality of insight matter more than resume pedigree.
Geographic Focus
Primary: United States. Secondary: Europe—Denmark, Germany, Greece, UK/Ireland (team presence). Murphy is Irish with strong Dublin/London network.
Sector Focus
Deliberately non-thematic, but empirically concentrated in:
- HealthTech / Digital Health – AI workforce management, patient monitoring, behavioral health, AI receptionists
- Deep Tech / Space – Data centers in space, space infrastructure
- Quantum Computing / Cryptography – Post-quantum security for digital assets
- Defense & Autonomy – Full-stack hardware/software
- Enterprise AI / Infrastructure – B2B AI tooling
Co-Investors
Frequent co-investors include: Tiny (most frequent), Castle Island Ventures, Variant Fund, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bertelsmann Investments, HV Capital, Plural, Air Street Capital, HCVC, NFX, ACME, Y Combinator, Haystack, Frontline Ventures.
Fund Status
Actively deploying Fund II (first close $32.3M, October 2025). Fund I ($30M+, final close April 2024) is fully deployed across 24 positions.