Cornerstone VC has launched a £20 million fund for investing in ’exceptional’ entrepreneurs in the UK from diverse backgrounds.

Born out of black-led investor Cornerstone Partners, the venture capital fund will focus on tech-enabled companies at pre-seed and seed stage, with typical investment of an initial £250,000 and one million with capital reserved for follow-on funding, the company said.

The company stated its aim was to invest in up to 40 companies, with a significant proportion based outside of London.

One of the fund’s key aims is looking to address the funding equity gap that sees founders of certain genders, ages, and ethnicities at a disadvantage when it comes to securing investments, the company said.

Rodney Appiah, managing partner at Cornerstone, said: “We are on a mission to put teams at the heart of our investment approach, believing diversity is key to driving outperformance.”

He added: “We are looking for businesses that are intentional about team composition, can excel in high-growth environments and are truly obsessive about execution. People first, software second.”

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