Eka Ventures invest in companies that aim to help make a global shift from linear and carbon-intense supply chains to a circular and decarbonised system.
£0.5m - £3m
Early stage
Eka Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in technology companies that drive positive system change, particularly in the areas of sustainability, health, and inclusivity. The firm is headquartered in London, England.
Thesis: “There is an urgent need and unprecedented opportunity to use the power of science, data and technology to build a better economy”.
Goals:
Core Values:
Eka Ventures was founded in 2018 by Jon Coker, Camilla Dolan and previous partner, Andrew Richardson, with the conviction that the most successful future businesses would address social or environmental challenges. The founding team brought over 20 years of combined venture capital experience. Eka was established to integrate impact investing into mainstream venture capital, built on the belief that measurable societal impact could deliver strong financial returns alongside positive change.
Camilla Dolan Co-founder and General Partner
Jon Coker Co-founder and General Partner
Eka Ventures is a UK-based early-stage venture capital fund focused on impact investing, backing founder-led companies that are building category-defining consumer technology businesses to drive positive systemic change for a more sustainable, healthy, and inclusive world. The fund has a particular emphasis on sustainability, health and wellness, and financial inclusion, and it actively seeks out consumer business models. Eka invests in UK-based companies from the pre-seed (idea) stage up to and including Series A, typically making initial investments ranging from £500,000 to £3 million and is happy to lead funding rounds.
Eka operates with a broad investment mandate, focusing on technology-driven companies that drive positive change across global markets. Headquartered in London, Eka’s reach extends throughout the UK and Europe, while also actively seeking opportunities in other innovation hubs worldwide. The firm’s portfolio reflects this international outlook, backing ventures that address sustainability, health, and inclusivity across a range of geographies. Eka’s global perspective is further reinforced by its engagement with a diverse network of founders and stakeholders, positioning the firm to support transformative companies wherever they emerge and to catalyse impact on a global scale.
Sustainable Consumption: Eka invests in companies developing circular consumption models and supply chains to reduce emissions and waste. Portfolio companies include Sourceful (sustainable packaging), Hived (zero-emissions delivery), Again (reusable packaging), Hylo (sustainable sportswear), and Axle (energy optimisation).
Consumer Healthcare: Focus on reducing chronic illness through prevention, early detection, and low-impact treatment. Investments span digital physiotherapy (Flok Health), bladder care (Jude), relationship platforms (Paired), running coaching (Runna), surgical navigation (XARlabs), cancer detection (Oxford Cancer Analytics), and remote monitoring (Isla).
Inclusive Economy: Targets reducing financial exclusion by lowering costs for life-essential products. Urban Jungle exemplifies this through socially responsible insurance using behavioral data rather than demographics to serve underserved populations.
Eka Ventures targets early-stage consumer technology companies with a UK-focused mandate that create positive system change through three core themes: sustainable consumption, consumer healthcare, and inclusive economy. The firm prefers to be the first institutional investor and invests at seed to Series A stage with cheque sizes ranging from £500,000 to £3 million, seeking companies where positive impact can be directly attributed to the product being developed rather than through ESG policies alone.Investment criteria require that portfolio companies operate within sustainable consumption (reducing emissions, waste and resource use through efficient, circular consumption models), consumer healthcare (reducing chronic illness and health inequality through prevention and early detection), and inclusive economy (reducing poverty and financial exclusion by improving access to essential products and services).
Eka Ventures employs a founder-centric evaluation framework focused on developmental capacity and impact alignment to identify early-stage consumer technology companies building sustainable, healthy and inclusive economies. All investments must demonstrate Eka's "shared value" thesis, whereby social and environmental impact is delivered in parallel with financial returns. The firm focuses exclusively on consumer technology companies within three thematic areas, sustainable consumption, consumer healthcare, and the inclusive economy, with investment sizes ranging from £500,000 to £3 million. Founders must demonstrate clear impact directly connected to their product or service that scales proportionally with business growth.
Runna: A digital running coaching app designed to help people start running and elevate their fitness to the next level. The platform focuses on making running more accessible and enjoyable, supporting users in building sustainable exercise habits. Research shows that habitual runners can add three years to their lives and experience a 27% reduction in all-cause mortality rates. Runna’s mission is to get more people into running and help them improve their abilities, ultimately contributing to healthier, longer lives. Visit Runna
Again: They leverage data science, robotics, and model innovation to enable brands to offer reusable packaging at the same cost as single-use alternatives. By making reusable packaging more accessible and affordable, Again aims to accelerate its adoption across the fast-moving consumer goods sector. This shift has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions, water consumption, and plastic waste associated with packaging. Visit Again
Foresight Data Machines: They are developing a platform that optimises manufacturing processes in electric arc furnace (EAF) steel plants. By applying artificial intelligence to EAF steel manufacturing, the company aims to significantly reduce energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions. Additionally, improving the efficiency and economics of EAF plants supports wider adoption of circular steel production. Visit Foresight Data Machines
MedlyAI: Developing a platform that delivers personalised tuition to students in an engaging way, accessible across multiple device types. By leveraging AI, the platform offers affordable, tailored educational support, aiming to improve learning outcomes and reduce educational inequality. Visit MedlyAI
Sustained: They provide solutions for food and beverage companies to measure and reduce their environmental footprint at scale. By automating product life cycle analysis, the platform enables clients to develop more effective strategies for minimising the environmental impact of their product portfolios. Visit Sustained
Discover more successful investments: Eka Ventures Portfolio.
Eka Ventures operates with a diversified funding structure for its £68 million fund, the largest impact-driven early-stage venture capital fund in the UK. The British Business Bank is the largest investor, contributing £36 million through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme. Big Society Capital invested £8 million to support the fund's mission of backing purpose-led startups. Other institutional investors include Isomer Capital, Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation, Planet First Partners, Draper Esprit, and Snowball. The fund is also supported by 24 technology entrepreneurs, including 12 founders previously backed by Eka's partners, who provide strategic insights and networks. This combination of government backing, institutional capital, and entrepreneurial expertise enables Eka to invest in consumer technology companies that create positive environmental and social impact alongside financial returns.
Stage: Eka Ventures focuses on early-stage investments, specifically targeting seed to Series A stage companies. The firm currently invests at the seed stage, though ranges from pre-seed to Series A, with cheque sizes from £0.5 million to £3 million. Eka provides capital to early-stage consumer technology companies developing solutions that create positive system change, actively supporting portfolio companies through crucial commercialisation and scale-up phases. The firm invests early and leads rounds, focusing on the UK market and backing category-defining consumer technology companies that positively shape the world.
Equity: Eka Ventures operates as a traditional venture capital firm providing equity investments in portfolio companies. The firm only invests in companies where positive impact can be directly attributed to the product being developed, ensuring that as companies grow, their impact scales accordingly.
Funds: Eka Ventures operates with a £68 million fund. The fund is also supported by 24 technology entrepreneurs, including 12 founders previously backed by Eka's partners.
Eka Ventures has established a significant and growing impact on the UK's sustainable technology and healthcare innovation landscape through its focus on consumer technology companies that deliver positive system change. Several portfolio companies achieved major milestones during the year: Byway raised £5 million in Series A funding led by Heartcore Capital with Eka Ventures' participation to accelerate its flight-free travel technology that has already saved 3,045 tonnes of carbon versus flying, while 32Co expanded its healthcare training platform for dental professionals and MakeSense advanced its haptic navigation technology for the visually impaired, addressing the significant gap where only 4,000 guide dogs serve 170,000 blind people in the UK.
Eka Ventures' investments have supported the scale-up of sustainable consumption technologies, consumer healthcare solutions, and inclusive economy platforms across its £68 million fund, which stands as the largest impact-driven early-stage venture capital fund focused on the UK. The firm's commitment to impact-driven investment is reinforced through its "shared value" thesis, where social and environmental impact is delivered in parallel with financial returns, with portfolio companies spanning areas from decarbonising steel manufacturing using AI to providing affordable digital physiotherapy and enabling remote patient monitoring.
Eka Ventures provides comprehensive community support that extends far beyond capital investment, offering portfolio companies access to a robust network of industry experts, strategic partnerships, and collaborative resources. The firm assists portfolio companies from multiple dimensions including strategy development, network facilitation, talent acquisition, and fundraising support, creating a holistic ecosystem for founder success. Through their experienced team and extensive industry connections, Eka fosters a collaborative environment where portfolio companies can leverage shared expertise and cross-pollinate ideas across their diverse investment themes of sustainable consumption and consumer healthcare. The community benefits are further enhanced by Eka's unique positioning as a B-Corporation certified impact investor, which attracts like-minded founders and creates opportunities for meaningful partnerships with organisations committed to positive system change. Additionally, the firm's strong relationships with institutional investors, technology entrepreneurs, and industry specialists create valuable networking opportunities and business development prospects for their portfolio companies.
The Eka team is a small and experienced group united by a shared commitment to catalysing positive change through venture capital investment. Their approach centers on supporting founders who are building technology-driven companies that aim to make the world more sustainable, healthy, and inclusive. With expertise spanning data analysis, finance, research, and operational efficiency, the team leverages their collective background in consumer technology, venture investing, and impact-driven business models to identify and nurture companies with the potential for both significant social impact and commercial success. Their investment strategy focuses on three core themes: sustainable consumption, consumer healthcare, and the inclusive economy, reflecting a belief that the most successful next-generation businesses will solve pressing social and environmental challenges. The Eka team works closely with entrepreneurs, offering hands-on support and a deep understanding of how technology and capital can drive systemic change for a better future.
Learn more about the team on the Eka Ventures Team Page.
1. What is Eka Ventures and what does it do?
Eka Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in London, England, that focuses on investing in technology companies driving positive system change, particularly in sustainability, health, and inclusivity. The firm operates on the thesis that "there is an urgent need and unprecedented opportunity to use the power of science, data and technology to build a better economy". Eka backs founder-led companies building category-defining consumer technology businesses to create a more sustainable, healthy, and inclusive world.
2.What is Eka's geographic investment scope?
While headquartered in London, Eka operates with a broad investment mandate focusing on UK-based companies but with reach extending throughout the UK and Europe. The firm also actively seeks opportunities in other innovation hubs worldwide, reflecting an international outlook that positions them to support transformative companies wherever they emerge and catalyse impact on a global scale.
3. Who founded Eka Ventures and when?
Eka Ventures was founded in 2018 by Jon Coker, Camilla Dolan, and previous partner Andrew Richardson. The founding team brought over 20 years of combined venture capital experience and established Eka with the conviction that the most successful future businesses would address social or environmental challenges. Both Jon Coker and Camilla Dolan previously worked as partners at MMC Ventures, with Coker holding a managing partner position.
4. What stage companies does Eka invest in and how much do they invest?
Eka Ventures targets early-stage companies from pre-seed (idea stage) up to and including Series A1. The firm typically makes initial investments ranging from £500,000 to £3 million and is happy to lead funding rounds. They prefer to be the first institutional investor and focus on seed to Series A stage companies where they can provide meaningful support during crucial commercialisation and scale-up phases.
5. How large is Eka's fund and who are their investors?
Eka Ventures operates a £68 million fund, which is the largest impact-driven early-stage venture capital fund in the UK. The British Business Bank is the largest investor, contributing £36 million through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme. Big Society Capital invested £8 million, and other institutional investors include Isomer Capital, Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation, Planet First Partners, Draper Esprit, and Snowball1. The fund is also supported by 24 technology entrepreneurs, including 12 founders previously backed by Eka's partners.
Are you a tech founder committed to creating a healthier, more inclusive, and sustainable future? Discover how Eka can support your journey by visiting: Eka Ventures Website.
Stay inspired and informed by following Eka Ventures on LinkedIn for the latest news, opportunities, and insights into building the next generation of purpose-led businesses: Eka Ventures LinkedIn.
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