{"id":2055,"name":"Luminous Ventures","slug":"luminous-ventures","website":"https://www.luminous.vc/","hqGeo":"London, United Kingdom","stageFocus":["Pre-Seed","Seed"],"sectorTags":["Healthcare","Consumer","AI / ML","Security"],"excludedSectors":[],"checkSizeMin":250000,"checkSizeMax":5000000,"thesisSummary":"Invests in deep tech applying innovative technologies to healthcare and life sciences, primarily at Seed and Series A.","thesisNarrative":null,"logoUrl":null,"aumUsd":55000000,"submissionUrl":null,"linkedinUrl":null,"twitterHandle":null,"portfolio":[{"companyName":"Small Pharma","companyUrl":null,"stage":null,"sector":"Psychedelic Therapy","investmentYear":null,"description":null,"amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":null},{"companyName":"Pinduoduo","companyUrl":null,"stage":null,"sector":"E-commerce","investmentYear":null,"description":"A Chinese e-commerce platform that connects farmers and consumers 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Financing","sector":"Biotechnology / Immunotherapy","investmentYear":null,"description":"Developing computationally designed peptide cancer immunotherapies (precision & off-the-shelf)","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"LGN","companyUrl":null,"stage":"Seed Round","sector":"Likely AI / Health / Life Sciences","investmentYear":null,"description":"(Listed twice in Crunchbase; little detail in sources)","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"Universal Quantum","companyUrl":null,"stage":"Seed Round","sector":"Quantum computing / Hardware / Deep Tech","investmentYear":null,"description":"Spin-out from University of Sussex developing scalable trapped-ion quantum computers","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"Oxford VR","companyUrl":null,"stage":"Series A","sector":"VR & Mental Health / Health Tech","investmentYear":null,"description":"Immersive virtual reality treatments for behavioral health / mental illness","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"Optellum","companyUrl":null,"stage":"Seed (follow-on)","sector":"Medical imaging / AI / Health Tech","investmentYear":null,"description":"AI-based early lung cancer diagnosis & decision-support software","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"Astroscreen","companyUrl":null,"stage":"Seed Round","sector":"Social Media / Security / AI","investmentYear":null,"description":"Platform to detect fake social media activity, bots, disinformation campaigns using ML + analysis","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"Vital Bio","companyUrl":null,"stage":"Seed round","sector":"Biotech / Life Sciences","investmentYear":null,"description":"(Very little public description in sources) likely biotech / life sciences startup","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"Earendil Labs","companyUrl":null,"stage":"Private placement","sector":"Biotech / AI-R&D","investmentYear":null,"description":"AI-powered biotech that applies machine learning across biologics R&D, with ~40 programs including anti-inflammatory and biologic therapeutics","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":"Fund I"},{"companyName":"MistlabsUSA","companyUrl":null,"stage":null,"sector":"AI hardware/robotics","investmentYear":null,"description":"AI hardware/robotics company","amountUsd":null,"relevanceNote":null,"fundName":null}],"partnerCount":2,"partners":[{"id":19832,"name":"Isabel Fox","title":"Founding Partner","seniority":null,"focusTags":["deep tech","life sciences","healthcare","applied science"],"linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelfox","twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":null,"recentPosts":[]},{"id":19833,"name":"Lomax Ward","title":"Founding Partner","seniority":null,"focusTags":["deep tech","science-driven startups","frontier technologies"],"linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/lomax-ward-1868b6139","twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":null,"recentPosts":[]}],"funds":[],"activity":{"lastInvestmentYear":null,"investmentsThisYear":0},"activityItems":[{"kind":"news","title":"Former Plaud exec Peter Mo’s Ambi secures $26M funding led by Luminous Ventures","url":"https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/10/13/former-plaud-executive-peter-mos-ambi-secures-26m-to-build-always-listening-ai-assistant/","source":"The AI Insider","occurredAt":"2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z"},{"kind":"news","title":"Mistlabs launches Ambi after US$26 million funding led by Luminous Ventures and Huaqin","url":"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mistlabs-launches-ambi-a-new-type-of-ai-that-thinks-ahead-and-aims-to-enable-ai-to-ai-communication-302905117.html","source":"PR Newswire","occurredAt":"2026-10-12T00:00:00.000Z"},{"kind":"news","title":"Luminous Ventures closes $700 million+ dual-currency funds","url":"https://pandaily.com/luminous-ventures-closes-usd-700-million-dual-currency-funds","source":"Pandaily","occurredAt":"2026-04-15T00:00:00.000Z"}],"contentUpdatedAt":"2026-10-28T11:34:42.378Z","investorType":"vc","preferredApproach":"warm intro preferred","prefersFounderType":null,"oneClickPitchEnabled":false,"relatedFirms":[{"id":7722,"name":"Sheesha Finance","slug":"sheesha-finance","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://sheeshafinance.gitbook.io/","stageFocus":[],"sectorTags":["AI / ML","Developer Tools","Fintech"],"hqGeo":null},{"id":13762,"name":"NeuroNet Ventures","slug":"neuronet-ventures","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://neuronetgpo.com/","stageFocus":["Seed"],"sectorTags":["AI / ML"],"hqGeo":"Chicago, IL"},{"id":11767,"name":"LiftScale Partners","slug":"liftscale-partners","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://weareliftscale.com/","stageFocus":["Pre-Seed"],"sectorTags":["AI / ML","SaaS"],"hqGeo":"San Francisco, CA"},{"id":11323,"name":"Mountain Pine Capital","slug":"mountain-pine-capital","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://mountainpineholdings.com/","stageFocus":["Seed"],"sectorTags":["Consumer","Healthcare","Real Estate"],"hqGeo":"Salt Lake City, UT"},{"id":1574,"name":"Plaid Ventures","slug":"plaid-ventures","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://plaid.com/","stageFocus":["Pre-Seed","Seed"],"sectorTags":["Fintech","Developer Tools","AI / ML"],"hqGeo":"San Francisco, CA"},{"id":12955,"name":"Jovono","slug":"jovono","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://jovono.com","stageFocus":["Seed","Series A"],"sectorTags":["Climate / Energy","Fintech","Consumer","SaaS","Healthcare"],"hqGeo":"Los Angeles, CA"}],"featuredIn":[{"slug":"pre-seed","displayName":"Pre-Seed Investors","pageType":"stage"},{"slug":"seed","displayName":"Seed Investors","pageType":"stage"},{"slug":"ai","displayName":"AI & ML Investors","pageType":"industry"},{"slug":"healthcare","displayName":"Healthcare Investors","pageType":"industry"},{"slug":"consumer","displayName":"Consumer Investors","pageType":"industry"}],"fundraisingResources":[{"slug":"how-many-investors-should-you-pitch","title":"How Many Investors Should You Pitch? The Math Most Founders Get Wrong"},{"slug":"what-vcs-actually-look-for-pitch-deck","title":"What VCs Actually Look for in a Pitch Deck"},{"slug":"find-right-pre-seed-investors-b2b-saas","title":"How to Find the Right Pre-Seed Investors for Your B2B SaaS Startup"}],"overviewNarrative":"Luminous Ventures is a venture capital firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm invests in deep tech applying innovative technologies to healthcare and life sciences, primarily at the Seed and Series A stages. Luminous Ventures focuses on pre-seed and seed investments across sectors including wellness, psychedelic therapy, e-commerce, consumer, healthcare, AI/ML and security.\n\nThe firm typically deploys checks ranging from $250K to $5.0M. Luminous Ventures has $55M in assets under management and a portfolio of 14 companies. Warm introductions are the preferred way to approach the firm. The investment team consists of Founding Partners Isabel Fox, who focuses on deep tech, life sciences, healthcare and applied science, and Lomax Ward, who focuses on deep tech, science-driven startups and frontier technologies.","portfolioNarrative":"Luminous Ventures has recorded investments in 14 companies. The firm's portfolio includes Astroscreen in social media, security and AI at seed; Earendil Labs in biotech and AI-R&D via private placement; Ellipsis Health in health tech, AI and digital health at Series A; and LGN, likely in AI, health and life sciences at seed. Additional investments include Molecule.one in drug discovery, chemistry and AI at seed; Optellum in medical imaging, AI and health tech via seed follow-on; and Oxford VR in VR, mental health and health tech at Series A.\n\nThe firm has also invested in Small Pharma in psychedelic therapy; Treos Bio in biotechnology and immunotherapy via convertible note; Universal Quantum in quantum computing, hardware and deep tech at seed; and Vital Bio in biotech and life sciences at seed. Other recorded investments include Meituan in service platforms, MistlabsUSA in AI hardware and robotics, and Pinduoduo in e-commerce.","seoTitle":null,"seoDescription":null,"lastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-28T01:13:07.952Z"}