Playfair Capital
VC Fund
London, United Kingdom
Playfair Capital is a VC fund in London focused on Software and Artificial Intelligence. Playfair is a sector agnostic fund focused exclusively on pre-seed investing. Based in London, Playfair invests across the UK and Europe with an intentionally high conviction, low volume approach: making six investments a year out of its third $70m fund and preserving time, capital and resource to help companies post-investment. Our 78% Series Agraduation rate is ~3x industry average. Playfair has backed 100+ companies since 2013, including Thought Machine, Orca AI, Protex AI, StackOne and Nory.
- Total investments:
- 148
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 24%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Playfair Capital invests in
Stages Playfair Capital invests in
Countries Playfair Capital invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Round size
- Seed
- $1.2M–$7.6M
- Pre-Seed
- $700k–$3.1M
- Series A
- $2.7M–$18M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 29 (20%)
- Artificial Intelligence 23 (16%)
- Information Technology 13 (9%)
- Machine Learning 12 (8%)
- E-Commerce 10 (7%)
Stage
- Seed 59 (40%)
- Series A 32 (22%)
- Pre-Seed 22 (15%)
- Funding Round 11 (7%)
- Series B 9 (6%)
Country
- United Kingdom 57 (39%)
- United States 17 (11%)
- Germany 3 (2%)
- Switzerland 3 (2%)
- France 2 (1%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Andrew Sheffield
Associate
|
Associate | Total investments: 4 | Find email | |
Chris Smith
Managing Partner
|
Managing Partner | Total investments: 31 | Find email | |
Clare Zhang
Analyst
|
Analyst | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Federico Pirzio-Biroli
Founder & Chairman
|
Founder & Chairman | Total investments: 11 | Find email | |
Henrik Wetter Sanchez
General Partner
|
General Partner | Total investments: 19 | Find email | |
| See all 9 team members → | ||||
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Exclaim Robotics
|
Exclaim Robotics focuses on jobs that need dexterity and precision, such as cable bundles that were not designed with a robot in mind, optics that flex if forced, and drives that must fit absolutely squarely. | $5M / Pre-Seed / Aug 04, 2026 | |
Astral Systems
|
Astral Systems is a pioneering transformative fusion technology to address real global health and energy challenges.Our mission is to provide innovative, cutting edge fusion technology that enhance access to critical medical isotopes, accelerate fusion research, and lay the groundwork for sustainable energy systems. | $30.4M / Series A / Jun 23, 2026 | |
Wassist
|
Wassist is a platform for building AI-powered WhatsApp agents that help businesses automate sales, customer support, and marketing directly inside WhatsApp. | $1.1M / Pre-Seed / Jun 08, 2026 | |
auryx
|
Turning audible sound into health insights using AI | $2M / Pre-Seed / Apr 30, 2026 | |
Eccasion
|
Eccasion operates as an online marketplace that specializes in ex‑lease electric vehicles, sourcing them from closed trade auctions on behalf of customers. | $3.7M / Seed / Apr 23, 2026 | |
Otel AI
|
Otel AI acts as an AI-powered teammate for hotel leaders, streamlining back-office tasks and turning complex data into clear, actionable business insights. | $2.4M / Seed / Apr 15, 2026 | |
Refute
|
Refute identifies and addresses misinformation on behalf of there businesses. | $6.8M / Seed / Feb 03, 2026 | |
Belidor
|
Belidor Helps preconstruction teams win more bids with AI bid leveling and bid management tools. | $3.1M / Pre-Seed / Oct 27, 2025 | |
Jack & Jill AI
|
Jack & Jill AI is the creator of an AI-powered recruiting tool that aims to automate the job search process. It provides job offers and interview assessments, allowing users to locate jobs without the inconvenience caused by traditional techniques. | $20M / Seed / Oct 16, 2025 | |
Yaso
|
Kuai Commerce is a social commerce solutions for brand acceleration. | $11.1M / Series A / Sep 21, 2025 | |
| See all 148 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does Playfair Capital invest in?
Playfair Capital invests primarily in Software, Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 148 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Playfair Capital's check size?
Playfair Capital typically joins rounds of $1.2M–$7.6M at Seed, $700k–$3.1M at Pre-Seed and $2.7M–$18M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Playfair Capital participates in.
How do I contact Playfair Capital?
Public channels for Playfair Capital 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 Playfair Capital?
The team at Playfair Capital includes Andrew Sheffield (Associate), Chris Smith (Managing Partner) and Clare Zhang (Analyst), among 9 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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