About Ahren
Ahren is a venture capital firm founded in 2017. It is primarily based out of Cambridge, United Kingdom. As of Jan 2026, Ahren is an active investor, having invested in 27 companies, with 3 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United Kingdom based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from High Tech to Enterprise Applications and Life Sciences. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of OutSee Overall, Ahren portfolio has seen 2 unicorns, 1 IPO and 3 acquisitions including key companies like Graphcore Systems, AI21 Labs and Mentee Robotics. A lot of funds co-invest with Ahren, with names like IQ Capital sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Ahren has team of 16 people including 11 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 4 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Soonicorns
Deals in last 12 months
Ahren's List of Top Investments
Ahren has a portfolio of 27 companies, including 2 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Cassidy Bio and Bit Fount.Their portfolio spans across United Kingdom, United States, Germany and 1 more locations. They have invested in High Tech, Enterprise Applications, Life Sciences and 13 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 4 more. Here is the list of top investments by Ahren:Manufacturer of hardware and software for machine learning processing tasks. This business produces specialized processors and software tools designed to accelerate artificial intelligence computations. The hardware architecture supports natural language processing and speech recognition applications. These products facilitate the development of machine learning models by providing the necessary computational infrastructure for complex data analysis.
Key facts about Graphcore Systems
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: Bristol (United Kingdom)
- Annual Revenue: £50M - £100M as on Mar 31, 2025
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $742M
- Employee Count: 679 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Dell, Merian Global Investors and 74 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series E, Dec 29, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
2. AI21 Labs
Platform offering AI focused writing and reading assistants. It provides users with AI systems with a high capacity to understand and generate natural language. Its product WordTune also uses AI to give suggestions for rewriting texts.
Key facts about AI21 Labs
3. Nu Quantum
Developer of quantum cryptography systems. It develops modular hardware based on single-photon source array technology for quantum cyber security. It also provides a quantum random number generator which generates secure encryption keys, and a quantum key distribution system that provides quantum-secure communication.
Key facts about Nu Quantum
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $72.1M
- Employee Count: 83 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Amadeus Capital, National Grid Partners and 18 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Dec 10, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Heirloom
Provider of direct air capture technology for permanent carbon dioxide removal. The company accelerates natural carbon mineralization to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It integrates this mineralization approach into direct air capture facilities. The company’s facilities are powered by renewable energy and constructed with labor protections.
Key facts about Heirloom
- Founded Year: 2020
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $203M
- Employee Count: 165 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Mitsui, Japan Airlines and 32 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Dec 02, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Provider of a security service protecting websites from online attacks. The service mitigates threats through identifying and blocking suspicious activity. It analyzes website traffic to prevent malicious actions and ensure availability. The system is designed to safeguard against various forms of cyber threats.
Key facts about Ambi Robotics
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Emeryville (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $67M
- Employee Count: 49 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Tiger Global Management, The House Fund and 7 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Oct 17, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Ahren's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Ahren has invested in 27 companies over the last 8 years, with an average of 4 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 7 investments, while as of Jan 2026, it has made 1 investment in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Cassidy Bio and most recent follow-on round was in OutSee.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2025 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
2024 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
2023 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
2022 | 9 | 0 | 9 |
2021 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2020 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2019 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
2018 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Ahren's Investments by Stage
Ahren has made 11 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $5.66M, 6 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $31.4M and 5 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $37.1M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 11 |
Series A | 6 |
Series B | 5 |
Series E | 2 |
Series C | 1 |
Others | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Ahren's Investments by Sector
Ahren has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the High Tech, Enterprise Applications, Life Sciences, HealthTech and Sustainability Tech. Notably, it has invested in 25 Tech companies, 24 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 16 Software companies and at least 9 companies focusing on Tech hardware.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
High Tech | 15 |
Enterprise Applications | 11 |
Life Sciences | 10 |
HealthTech | 5 |
Sustainability Tech | 4 |
Others | 22 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Ahren's Investments by Geography
Ahren has made most investments in United Kingdom (10), followed by United States where it has made 10 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | 10 |
United States | 10 |
Germany | 3 |
Israel | 3 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Ahren's recent investments
Ahren has made 1 investments in 2026 so far - OutSee.Here are the most recent investments by Ahren:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 13, 2026 | United Kingdom | Seed | 8993 | [+1] | |
Dec 10, 2025 | United Kingdom | Series A | 8332 | ||
Nov 20, 2025 | Israel | Seed | 8292 | [+2] | |
Sep 17, 2025 | United Kingdom | Seed | 2043 | [+1] | |
Aug 28, 2025 | United States | Seed | 5133 | [+6] |
Unicorns in Ahren's Portfolio
Ahren has 2 unicorns in its portfolio - AI21 Labs and Sunfire. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is AI21 Labs. It became a unicorn in 2023, 1 years after Ahren first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Ahren's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
66 | Platform offering AI focused writing and reading assistants | 2017 | Tel Aviv | Series D | qw{o{pv | ||
61 | Manufacturer of industrial alkaline and solid oxide hydrogen electrolysis systems | 2010 | Dresden | Series E | dvhywum |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Ahren's Portfolio
1 of Ahren's portfolio company became public - Rockley Photonics. It got listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in Aug 2021 at marketcap of undefinedHere are Ahren's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 13, 2021 | Mar 12, 2020 | Series E | 4428 |
Acquired companies in Ahren's Portfolio
3 companies from Ahren's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Mentee Robotics in Jan 2026 by Mobileye for $*****.Here are Ahren's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 06, 2026 | Apr 17, 2024 | Series B | 1606 | |
Jul 12, 2024 | - | - | 2045 | |
Jul 17, 2023 | Dec 18, 2020 | Series A | 9506 |
Team profile of Ahren
Ahren has a team of 16 members including 11 Partners and 2 Principals located in United Kingdom. Ahren's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of top team members in Ahren:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | United Kingdom | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | London | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | London | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - |
Co-investors of Ahren
Over the past 8 years, 212 investors have co-invested in Ahren's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Ahren: America’s Seed Fund, Walden Catalyst and 64 others have invested in rounds before Ahren. There are 2 companies where America’s Seed Fund has invested before Ahren and 1 company where Walden Catalyst has invested before Ahren.
- Top Co-investors of Ahren: 87 investors entered a company along with Ahren. These include investors like IQ Capital (3 companies).
- Invested after Ahren: A total of 59 investors have invested in Ahren's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Gov (3 companies), Nvidia (2 companies) and Parkwalk (2 companies).
Recent News related to Ahren
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OutSee Closes £2.5M Seed Funding RoundFinSMEs•Jan 13, 2026•OutSee, Empirical Ventures, Kadmos Capital, Panacea Venture and 2 others
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Nu Quantum Raises $60M Series A in Largest Financing Round for Quantum Computer NetworkingBusiness Wire•Dec 10, 2025•Ahren, IQ Capital, Amadeus Capital, University of Cambridge and 12 others
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Cassidy Bio Launches with the Goal to Develop Safer, More Scalable Gene Editing TherapiesBusiness Wire•Nov 20, 2025•AION Labs, 10D, Merck, Ahren and 1 other
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Cassidy Bio Secures $8M Seed Round for AI-Driven Genetic Medicine DesignCTech•Nov 20, 2025•Look AI Ventures, 10D, Merck, Ahren and 1 other
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Startup launched by Google DeepMind researchers raises fundsBusinessCloud•Sep 17, 2025•Hiverge, Google DeepMind, Ahren, Flying Fish Ventures
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OutSee secures £1.8M to advance predictive genomics drug discovery with AI platform NomalyTech Funding News•Jun 24, 2025•OutSee, Ahren, Kadmos Capital, Empirical Ventures and 1 other
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AI21 Labs raises $300M from Google and Nvidia to expand enterprise AI offerings
SiliconAngle•May 11, 2025•AI21 Labs, Google, Nvidia, Intel Capital and 7 others
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Nvidia-backed Israeli AI startup AI21 raises $300M in fundingDnyuz•May 09, 2025•AI21 Labs, Google, Nvidia, Intel Capital and 7 others
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Ovo Labs Secures €4.7 Million Seed FundingMunich•Apr 30, 2025•Ovo Labs, Creator Fund, Phoenix Court, Blue Wire Capital and 1 other
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Heirloom Raises $150 Million Series B to Rapidly Scale Commercial Direct Air CaptureBusiness Wire•Dec 04, 2024•Heirloom, Future Positive Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, H&M Group and 15 others
