- Brighteye secures $72M Fund III First Close
- Expanded focus on the HumanOS: technology that helps people learn, work and adapt
- European VC funding for learning and work companies doubled from 2024-2025, to $1.85B
- New brand, website and team promotions reflect the firm’s broader investment strategy
London 16.09.26: Brighteye Ventures has announced a $72M first close of their Fund III, taking the firm to a total of $245M in AUM. Brighteye backs early-stage European companies redefining the future of learning and work globally. Since inception, the firm has invested in more than 50 companies, which have gone on to raise over $1B in aggregate, with multiple portfolio companies now generating over $100M in revenue/year.
New investors include Lumina Foundation, Zanichelli Venture and PI Impact, coming in alongside existing LPs the European Investment Fund (EIF), Jacobs Foundation and several European family offices.
Brighteye’s European Learning & Work Funding Report 2026 found that VC funding secured by European companies in this space surged from 2024 to 2025, more than doubling from $825M to $1.85B. This matches the highest funding total since 2021. The H1 2026 data reinforces this evolution, with the H1 2026 Edition: The European Learning & Work Funding Report showing that companies in the space raised $1.63B so far this year, on pace to nearly double the 2025 total.
The HumanOS: Technology that helps people learn, work and adapt
Fund III marks a strategic evolution for Brighteye beyond traditional edtech to a broader focus on companies expanding human capability. Central to the strategy is the recognition that while the potential of AI is enormous - representing trillions in incremental economic value - this value will not be captured simply by deploying models. As AI makes intelligence abundant, human capability can become either a bottleneck or a lever. Brighteye backs founders building technology that unlocks human potential; helping people learn, work and adapt in this new era.
Ben Wirz, Founding Partner at Brighteye said:
“The defining opportunity of the AI era is not replacing humans with machines. It is expanding what humans can do with machines. Autonomous intelligence multiplies the potential value of human skills, judgement, and talent. Our conviction is that the next generation of category-defining companies will use technology to redefine human capability. We call this the HumanOS and we’re partnering early with the founders building in this space.”
Specific opportunities that embody the HumanOS
Brighteye remains open to any application of technology that has the potential to fundamentally change the way people learn and work.
That said, the fund anticipates investing in companies using artificial intelligence to augment the practice of learning. Large language models and AI powered apps are already widely used in education, but most applications are not particularly engaging or pedagogically effective. Purposefully embedding AI into teaching and learning workflows can yield outsized outcomes, particularly in helping to harness AI itself. Among Fund III’s first investments is imagi - a solution tailored to help schools build AI fluency and expand the scope of what we expect from students.
As learning and productivity overlap more than ever, Brighteye will also fund both AI-driven intelligence and productivity-enhancing platforms, particularly those impacting high stakes environments like healthcare, education, infrastructure, cybersecurity and climate. One of Brighteye’s early investments from Fund III is in NEX Health Intelligence, which provides augmented intelligence for infection-control teams in hospitals.
In addition, Brighteye will invest in managed labour platforms and talent software that help organisations and individuals to navigate increased labour volatility, layer in agentic workflows and build the labor infrastructure of the AI age. Brighteye’s existing portfolio includes some of the most successful labour marketplaces in Europe, including Zen Educate, Ornikar, Shakers and installer. One of the initial investments from Fund III is Gyver, an enhanced marketplace for electricians helping to meet Europe’s growing demand for energy infrastructure.
New Brand and website, Team Promotions
The refreshed brand and website, developed with Justified Studio, reflect Brighteye’s expanded focus on the future of human capability in the age of AI and the founders shaping it. The firm is also doubling down on its content platform, Sidekick, to share insights and support the next generation of founders building across learning and work.
The firm has also recently promoted three team members: David Guérin to Partner, Isabella Vahdati to Principal, and Rhys Spence to Head of Platform & Research. The team is evenly split across investment and platform and based between offices in London and Paris.
Brighteye has so far made eight new investments, a few not yet announced, and expects to make up to 35 investments from Fund III in the coming years and is actively looking to back founders building at the intersection of AI, learning, productivity and labour infrastructure. Founders are encouraged to get in touch.
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