Under the hood of a VC fund
📅 Tuesday, 10 March 2026
⏰ 6:00 – 9:00 PM
📍 Addleshaw Goddard offices - 41 Lothbury, London EC2R 7HG
🍸 Drinks & bites provided
🎟 Limited spots – make sure to RSVP!
What actually goes into structuring a first-time venture fund?
This panel goes beyond pitch decks and investment theses to unpack the real mechanics of fund design. From fund size and ticket construction to portfolio concentration, reserves, and pacing, we explore the decisions that quietly determine whether a fund works in practice.
Drawing on firsthand experience from emerging fund managers who have recently closed or are closing their first funds, alongside academic insight and legal perspective, the discussion will cover how early structural choices differ across sectors like deep tech and defense, where capital intensity, timelines, and risk profiles demand a different approach.
A candid conversation on what first-time GPs get right, what they underestimate, and how fund design shapes everything that follows.
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84 guests attended (only approved attendees can see the guest list)
Addleshaw Goddard is a London-headquartered, international full-service law firm with deep roots dating back to 1775. Known for solving complex legal challenges with a blend of strategic insight and innovation, AG advises more than 5,000 clients across 50+ areas of business law in over 100 countries. With 1,800+ lawyers collaborating from 20+ global offices, the firm combines high-quality outcomes with forward-thinking approaches to deliver real impact for organisations ranging from FTSE 100 companies to dynamic growth businesses. Its culture of collaboration, innovation and responsible practice sets it apart in the legal world.
Allocator One is an asset manager aimed on backing the top 3% of high-performing, first-time fund managers globally. We provide an initial anchoring investment, accelerating fund launches with proprietary infrastructure and a robust technology platform. Allocator One has invested in 25 fund managers and aims to anchor 10-20 annually.
Our investor base spans 25+ countries and includes family offices, leading corporations, funds of funds, unicorn founders, billion-dollar fund managers, and board members. With the largest deal flow globally, we assess approximately 80% of the emerging fund manager market.
Alongside capital, we provide fund administration infrastructure through Infra One - our in-house platform built to replace the bloated, fragmented, and manual-heavy workflows that dominate the industry today.
Infra One isn’t just a nicer dashboard on top of old processes. We’re rebuilding fund admin from first principles: fully digital, API-native, and cost-aligned with the way venture funds actually operate. That means faster onboarding, cleaner data, better LP reporting, and radical cost reduction across the lifecycle of a fund.
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Nicola Sinclair is currently focused on establishing Twin Track Ventures, a venture capital initiative aimed at fostering innovation and supporting early-stage startups. With a background in entrepreneurship and venture development, Nicola brings a wealth of experience to the table, working on creating opportunities for high-growth companies. She is passionate about building the next generation of ventures that balance both financial and social impact, leveraging her deep expertise in the startup ecosystem.
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Mahir Sahin is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cloudberry Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in the foundational infrastructure of the next decade across AI and compute, industrial systems, and financial transformation. A seasoned operator-investor, he brings nearly two decades of leadership experience from Google, Alphabet’s X The Moonshot Factory, and Oracle, where he worked at the intersection of deep technology, commercial scale, and global partnerships. Alongside building Cloudberry, Mahir serves as Senior Advisor for Frontier Tech at Antares Ventures and advises the Airbus Executive Committee, offering founders a rare global perspective shaped by operating across Europe and Asia. He holds an MSc from the Technical University of Berlin and a BSc from the University of Bonn, and is a strong advocate for greater inclusivity in global business and investing.
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Ramana Nanda is Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance and Associate Dean for Enterprise at Imperial’s Business School. He also serves as Director of the Institute for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship at Imperial and as the Academic Theme Lead for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship at Imperial’s Global USA hub. His research focuses on financial intermediation including bank finance of small businesses, venture capital, and the financing of innovation. He is a research fellow at the Banking and Corporate Finance Programme of the CEPR and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School.
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Ben is a fund formation lawyer specialising in private equity and venture capital funds. He advises traditional fund sponsors, independent/fundless sponsors, and represents institutional limited partners. Ben is particularly passionate about supporting emerging managers through their fundraising journeys, combining his experience on large, institutional fundraisings with a pragmatic, commercial and proportionate approach.
