What Is A Venture Studio? Everything You Need To Know About Our Venture Studio Model

By Neil Vose

An interesting funding model has been making the waves for several years now.

Venture studios.

Over the past few decades, this model has had incredible results. To begin with, venture studio startups have a 30% higher success rate than traditional startups. Startups created in venture studios also achieve seed funding twice as fast and exit 33% faster than conventional startups.

But what exactly is the venture studio model? And why should it matter to founders and investors?

What is a venture studio?

A venture studio is a unique combination of company-building and venture funding. Unlike traditional VC firms that provide capital to existing startups, venture studios actively create and develop new companies from the ground up. They offer initial funding, a strategic roadmap, and hands-on operational support. 

Additionally, they can collaborate with scale-ups and corporates by leveraging their expertise and resources to drive innovation, streamline operations, and explore new market opportunities, ultimately fostering growth and long-term success.

 For founders, working with a venture studio means having a partner that offers more than just money – they get expertise, resources, and a structured approach to growth. For investors, it means accessing well-vetted, high-potential startups with reduced risk and increased chances of success. 

They benefit from the rigorous vetting and development processes that studios employ, ensuring that the startups they back are not only innovative but also structurally sound and market-ready. 

This dual approach of funding and building significantly de-risks investments and opens up opportunities to be part of high-growth ventures from their inception.

N.B. Find out more about our S/EIS AI-focused fund here.

How our venture studio model works

The EHE Group consists of EHE Ventures Limited and The Startup Factory.

Together, EHE Group is a venture studio that offers three distinct but interdependent products to enable the growth of UK start-ups/scale-ups (many of those being AI first and AI-enabled). 

Having built and invested in multiple tech startups ourselves, we understand that building and scaling a successful tech startup requires more than just a great idea. That’s why our venture studio model is designed to provide comprehensive support across these critical areas: Tech, Funding, and Advisory. 

Our mission is to empower AI-driven startups and tech entrepreneurs to achieve rapid growth and make a lasting impact. Here’s how we do it:

Tech

Our venture studio boasts an in-house engineering team through The Startup Factory (TSF). This team comprises tech experts specialising in building scalable software applications. For years, the TSF team has leveraged their technical know-how and business expertise to help startups and investors realise their potential. 

Here’s how:

• Startup sprint: Using techniques adapted from the Google Ventures Design Sprint process, TSF guides founders through problem analysis, user journey mapping, ideation, user experience design, and prototype testing. It also runs value proposition workshops and supports user research initiatives.

• MVP development: TSF helps founders develop their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), ensuring that these initial versions are robust, user-friendly, scalable, and aligned with user needs. 

• Technical due diligence: The TSF team conducts thorough technical assessments to ensure that the startups we support are built on solid technological foundations. This helps investors back the right ventures, even without deep technical expertise.

• Innovation projects: For scale-ups and corporates, TSF offers innovation projects that inject AI and cutting-edge technology into traditional industries. 

Funding

EHE Ventures provides the financial support necessary for startups to scale. We’re Entrepreneurs Helping Entrepreneurs – which is why our AI fund is being created to provide founders with the kind of hands-on support they need and help investors lead the future of innovation by backing the real winners:

• Equity fund: We will offer an equity fund focused on UK-based AI entrepreneurs, with investments ranging from £250k (pre-seed) to over £1m (seed+). This fund is designed to support early-stage and fast-growth AI companies, helping them to scale quickly. We can either lead on an equity investment or co-fund.

• S/EIS qualification: We invest in founders who have S/EIS eligibility. This makes it more attractive for investors to support innovative, high-growth potential companies.

• Strategic investment: We combine our technical due diligence with operational experience to identify and invest in AI-driven startups that have the potential to become industry leaders. Our focused approach ensures that we back the most promising ventures.

Advisory

Beyond initial investment, we also provide comprehensive support to ensure that our portfolio companies are well-prepared for growth and investment. This includes: 

• Strategic guidance: We work collaboratively with our portfolio companies to devise a clear growth strategy and highlight core areas in which we can offer bespoke support.

• Industry connections: We leverage our experience and network to help our portfolio companies make important business decisions, expand into new markets, and find valuable partnerships. This means they’ll get expert advice on how to grow their businesses, reach more customers, and connect with the right people to drive fast growth.

• Ongoing fundraising: As our portfolio companies seek more investment, EHE will connect them with potential investors and guide them through the fundraising process. This means they’ll get help finding the right investors, preparing their pitches, and securing the funds they need to grow. 

In a nutshell, we’re a team of tech experts, investors, and entrepreneurs with skin in the game who have chosen to combine our expertise to help both founders and investors achieve fast growth.

What this means for founders

Our venture studio actively helps build and develop your company from the ground up. You get access to a team of experts who work with you on every aspect of your business. This means you’re not just getting money; you’re getting a partner who is as invested in your success as you are.

With our hands-on support, technical expertise, strategic funding, and expert advisory, you’re not just launching a startup; you’re building a high-potential, scalable business with a much higher chance of success.

What this means for investors

As entrepreneurs ourselves, we align our interests with both founders and investors, sharing in the success of the companies we build. 

Our venture studio focuses on creating and nurturing high-growth AI and tech startups, giving you access to a pipeline of well-vetted, innovative companies. We combine technical expertise with operational experience to invest in startups poised to become industry leaders. 

This strategic approach, paired with our ongoing support for portfolio companies enhances their chances of success, leading to better returns for you.

Conclusion

Our venture studio model offers the best mix of technical support, funding, and expert advice. This setup helps startups succeed and gives investors a better chance of backing winners. 

If you’re an investor looking for high-growth opportunities in AI and tech or an investor mentoring a start-up founder, register your interest in our fund and let’s talk about how you can be part of the next big innovation. 

WARNING: Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This

is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more.