Exceptional Ventures

What Exceptional Ventures does

Exceptional Ventures is a London-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2022 by Matt Cooper and Paolo Pio. The firm invests in companies that the founders believe will extend human longevity, health, and happiness, organised around three investment verticals: Wellness, Risk Assessment & Early Detection, and Smarter Treatment & Care Delivery. Its proprietary "Joyspan®" framework is used as the central lens for sourcing and evaluating opportunities, and the firm explicitly positions itself as "more than capital," offering strategic, operational, hiring, and partnership support to portfolio founders in addition to funding.

The firm operates a dual-fund structure. EV Fund 1 was launched in 2022 at £12 million and has been fully deployed across 41 portfolio companies spanning HealthTech, FoodTech, and Financial Wellbeing. EV Fund 2 was launched in 2025 with a sharpened HealthTech focus and a stated target of 50-60 portfolio companies, supplemented by a dedicated healthtech fund focused on prevention. The combined portfolio comprises 45+ companies across the UK, Europe, the US, and beyond. Exceptional Ventures LLP is registered as a Limited Liability Partnership in England and Wales (No OC440667) and is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 991058).

Revenue is generated through traditional venture capital fund management: management fees on deployed capital during the fund lifecycle and carried interest on successful portfolio exits. Deal sourcing is conducted through direct outreach, founder networks, referrals, and a structured Typeform application form on the firm's website; direct email funding inquiries are not reviewed. The firm does not disclose management fee rates, carried interest percentages, fund sizes for Fund 2, or any portfolio exits, and revenue figures are not publicly available.

Name

Exceptional Ventures

Legal name

Exceptional Ventures LLP

Website

https://exceptional.ventures/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Private Equity

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Impact / ESG Venture Capital (FSANAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

SDG / Thematic Sustainable Investment Funds (FSANAJAN), Venture Capital Fundraising Placement (FSAEALAC)

Keywords

• Early-stage venture capital
• Healthtech seed investing
• Longevity startup funding
• Venture fund management
• Pre-seed and seed investments

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Fund Management: Exceptional Ventures generates revenue through traditional venture capital fund management, collecting management fees on deployed capital and carried interest (performance fees) from successful portfolio exits. EV Fund 1 is fully deployed at £12m, and EV Fund 2 was launched in 2025 targeting a portfolio of 50-60 companies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Exceptional Ventures is a specialist early-stage venture capital firm that deploys capital from its two funds (EV Fund 1 and EV Fund 2) into HealthTech, FoodTech, and Financial Wellbeing startups. It provides portfolio companies not only with funding but also with strategic guidance, hiring support, partnership facilitation, and long-term company-building assistance, all oriented around its proprietary Joyspan® investment thesis aimed at maximising healthy, happy years of human life.

Product overview

Exceptional Ventures is a specialist venture capital firm operating as a dual-fund structure. EV Fund 1 (2022, £12m) is fully deployed across 41 portfolio companies in HealthTech, FoodTech, and Financial Wellbeing. EV Fund 2 (2025) expands the strategy with a HealthTech-focused approach targeting 50-60 companies. The firm does not offer a unified product platform but rather invests in early-stage companies that help people live longer, healthier, happier lives, maximizing what they term Joyspan.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• EV Fund 1 The inaugural venture fund of Exceptional Ventures, launched in 2022 with a £12 million target that was fully deployed across 41 companies operating in HealthTech, FoodTech, and Financial Wellbeing. It is designed for early-stage founders building scientifically proven innovations that improve human longevity, health, and happiness.
• EV Fund 2 The second venture fund of Exceptional Ventures, launched in 2025 with a sharpened focus on HealthTech, targeting 50-60 portfolio companies across prevention, early detection, and smarter care delivery, building on the deployment learnings of EV Fund 1.
• Exceptional Ventures HealthTech Fund A new healthtech fund announced on 2025-11-07 with a focus on the prevention segment of healthtech, requiring that any AI applications in the portfolio include a 'human layer.'

Quantifiable outcome

• EV Fund 1 fully deployed across 41 companies
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• FCA (Financial Conduct Authority)coreOthersExceptional Ventures LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 991058), registered in England and Wales (No OC440667).

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• LocalGlobe: London-based seed/Series A investor with deep UK founder network. Comparable by stage, geography, and selective application-driven deal flow; a frequent co-investor in UK HealthTech.
• Nina Capital: Barcelona-based specialist HealthTech pre-seed/seed investor. Direct peer — same stage, same sector, same Europe-wide footprint; Exceptional Ventures' Visiting Analyst Joan Miquel Marcos previously worked there.
• Speedinvest: Vienna-based early-stage VC with dedicated Health/Bio vertical. Comparable by European footprint, sector specialisation, and fund size; competes for the same HealthTech deal pool.
• AlbionVC: UK early-stage VC with a strong HealthTech practice. Direct peer on stage and sector; led the £18m Evaro Series A in which Exceptional Ventures participated, evidencing overlap on live deals.
• Joyance Partners: US-based early-stage VC investing in health and happiness startups; Paolo Pio was MD Europe and led 25 investments. Directly comparable by thesis, stage, and sector, and is Exceptional Ventures' most natural benchmark peer.

Others

• Marylebone Partners: UK capital-raising and investor-relations advisory to fund managers. Comparable as the prior employer of Exceptional Ventures' Head of Capital Formation (Mark Schilling) — a key LP-relationship counterpart rather than a direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Balderton Capital: Established UK early-stage investor with growing HealthTech exposure. Comparable on stage and geography, but with substantially larger fund vintages and broader sector coverage.
• Atomico: London-based European tech investor with HealthTech investments. Overlaps on geography and stage but operates as a generalist at significantly larger fund sizes.
• Octopus Ventures: Large UK early-stage VC with a deep HealthTech practice. Overlaps with Exceptional Ventures on stage and sector but operates at materially larger fund scale and broader portfolio construction.
• Index Ventures: Pan-European/US early-stage VC with strong HealthTech franchise. Comparable on geography and select sector overlap, but at vastly greater scale and brand.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/exceptional-ventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments38 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Exceptional Ventures