# Luminate Group

> Luminate Group is a VC fund backing Software and Information Technology. See 6 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Total investments: 6
- Last investment: Oct 2022
- Lead investor: 67%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/luminategroup/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/luminategroup
- Website: https://luminategroup.com/

Luminate Group is a VC fund in London focused on Software and Information Technology. Established in 2018, Luminate is a global philanthropic organisation with the goal of empowering people and institutions to work together to build just and fair societies.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Luminate Group. Shizune tracks 6 team members at Luminate Group. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/luminate-group?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $600k–$3.3M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 3 | 50% |
| Information Technology | 3 | 50% |
| GovTech | 2 | 33% |
| Government | 2 | 33% |
| Digital Media | 2 | 33% |

19 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 3 | 50% |
| Convertible Note | 1 | 17% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 1 | 17% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Brazil | 2 | 33% |
| Canada | 1 | 17% |
| Nigeria | 1 | 17% |
| United States | 1 | 17% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Alissa Black | Investment Director | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alissa-black |
| David Madden | Head of Innovation | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/david-madden |
| Laura Bacon | Director, Partner Support | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/laura-bacon |
| Martin Tisné | Managing Director | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/martin-tisn |
| Olena Boytsun | Investment Director, Central & Eastern Europe | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/olena-boytsun |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stears | Stears is a data and intelligence company with its headquarters spanning Lagos, Abuja, and London. Initially established as a media publication called Stears Business, the company was founded in 2017 by Preston Ideh, Abdul Abdulrahim, Foluso Ogunlana, and Michael Famoroti, who met at the London School of Economics and Imperial College in the UnitedKingdom. Stears has evolved into a provider of subscription-based comprehensive data collection tools and insight services tailored to meet the needs of businesses and professionals operating or investing in Africa. The company's mission is to become the world's most trusted source of African data, insight and data collection tools for businesses, financial and policy professionals. | $3.3M | Seed | Oct 10, 2022 |  |
| Uptrust | Uptrust is a software company that provides criminal justice system to help people and its mission is to keep people out of jail who shouldn’t be there. | $2M | Seed | May 18, 2021 |  |
| Nexo Jornal | Nexo is an independent digital news outlet for those who seek precise explanations and balanced interpretations on the main facts of Brazil and the world. It provide readers with contextualized information with an original approach. It was launched in November 2015 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. | $394.1K | Convertible Note | Apr 14, 2021 |  |
| Colab | Colab is a citizen-to-government engagement platform that offers a social network for citizens focused on public and governmnet services. | $558K | Venture - Series Unknown | Jul 08, 2020 |  |
| Stears | Stears is a data and intelligence company with its headquarters spanning Lagos, Abuja, and London. Initially established as a media publication called Stears Business, the company was founded in 2017 by Preston Ideh, Abdul Abdulrahim, Foluso Ogunlana, and Michael Famoroti, who met at the London School of Economics and Imperial College in the UnitedKingdom. Stears has evolved into a provider of subscription-based comprehensive data collection tools and insight services tailored to meet the needs of businesses and professionals operating or investing in Africa. The company's mission is to become the world's most trusted source of African data, insight and data collection tools for businesses, financial and policy professionals. | $600K | Seed | Apr 22, 2020 |  |
| New/Mode | We founded one of the world’s largest and most successful online campaigning organizations, OpenMedia, and led campaigns for progressive advocacy organizations and politicians. Our founders saw the power of community-driven campaigns first-hand. Now, we’re putting the powerful tools used by the world’s leading campaigns into more campaigners’pockets. New/Mode was born to help progressive organizations activate grassroots power and win more change. |  | Seed | Mar 02, 2020 |  |

6 of 6 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Cascador](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cascador) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Co-Creation Hub Nigeria](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/co-creation-hub-nigeria) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [De-Carceration Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/de-carceration-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [EDP Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/edp-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Future Africa](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/future-africa) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Helder Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/helder-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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## FAQ

### What does Luminate Group invest in?

Luminate Group invests primarily in Software, Information Technology and GovTech startups, most often at Seed and Convertible Note stage. Most of the 6 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Brazil. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Luminate Group's check size?

Luminate Group typically joins rounds of $600k–$3.3M at Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Luminate Group participates in.

### How do I contact Luminate Group?

Public channels for Luminate Group include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Luminate Group?

The team at Luminate Group includes Alissa Black (Investment Director), David Madden (Head of Innovation) and Laura Bacon (Director, Partner Support), among 6 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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