VC Lab Cohort 18

Announcing VC Lab Cohort 18

Build a venture fund that shapes humanity’s beautiful future with VC Lab Cohort 18. Join specialized tracks in supply chain, deeptech, govtech, space, and ethics to connect with other top managers, while our AI-powered platform and LP network accelerate your path from concept to close.

Beautiful Future

We are excited to announce VC Lab Cohort 18, the visionary program to launch venture capital funds that will shape humanity’s beautiful future. In this period of rapid change—marked by shifting geopolitical landscapes and economic transformations—the first half of 2025 presents a pivotal moment in venture capital history. It is an ideal time to launch a fund investing in startups producing meaningful innovation and which will shape our collective future.

VC Lab Cohort 18 is the premier accelerator for launching venture capital funds focused on technologies that elevate humanity to the next level. With significant enhancements to our program, technology, and focus areas, we’re empowering fund managers to invest in solutions that create a more beautiful, balanced, and flourishing world.

First, we’re witnessing unprecedented opportunities in mental health and wellbeing technologies, with innovations that promise to fundamentally improve human flourishing and address the global mental health crisis.

Next, emerging limited partners are increasingly prioritizing investments that deliver both financial returns and meaningful impact, allocating substantial capital to Venture Capital firm managers who can identify and nurture technologies that enhance our quality of life.

Lastly, established firms remain focused on traditional metrics and conventional sectors, creating a significant opportunity for emerging managers to capture exceptional dealflow in these transformative, future-focused areas.

This unique convergence creates an extraordinary opportunity for emerging managers to launch funds that not only perform financially but contribute to a more beautiful future for humanity. We’re calling Cohort 18 “Beautiful Future” because we believe the funds launched during this period will catalyze technologies that fundamentally enhance human potential, wellbeing, and our relationship with the planet.

We are here to build a Beautiful Future with you.

Cohort 18 Enhancements

Through enhanced ethical AI tools, specialized support networks, and a focus on humanity-elevating technologies, Cohort 18 offers the most comprehensive platform for managers to launch funds that shape our collective future.

Cohort 18 introduces significant enhancements to our core platform, empowering fund managers with cutting-edge tools and support:

• Emerging Institute: A comprehensive launchpad for firms raising Fund II and Fund III become institutional-grade, securing backing from top-tier LPs. We prepare emerging managers to scale with confidence and impact through strategic guidance and direct connections to institutional Limited Partners. 
• Personalized Office Hours and Playbooks: Custom-tailored mentorship sessions paired with sector-specific strategic guides for each Emerging Manager’s unique focus. Our expanded mentor network includes specialized experts in mental health, space tech, climate innovation, accelerator and venture studio fund development.
• Start Fund: Launch a preliminary fund structure in as little as 24 hours with our innovative lightweight framework. Start Fund allows managers to begin investing while building their full fund infrastructure, capturing time-sensitive opportunities without delay.
• VC Lab Raise: A concierge experience for managers raising Fund I seeking one-on-one support as they take part in the program. Participants receive a dedicated Slack channel, private office hours, and enhanced guidance tailored to their fund’s specific needs, ensuring a smooth path to closing.
• Expanded Deal Tools: Our comprehensive deal analysis suite now includes predictive modeling for long-term social impact. These enhanced tools help managers identify opportunities with both financial potential and meaningful contributions to human wellbeing.
• Click to Close: Our new one-click system streamlines the LP commitment process from initial interest to final close. This frictionless platform reduces administrative burden by 60% and dramatically accelerates fundraising timelines.
• Access to Decile Hub: Participants gain access to the latest features in Decile Hub, including AI-powered deal flow analysis and automated LP database building. These tools streamline sourcing, evaluating, and managing investor relationships, giving funds a competitive edge in fundraising and deployment.
• AI-Powered Fund Operations: Full-suite operational automation handles reporting, compliance, and portfolio management with minimal human oversight. These intelligent systems free managers to focus on relationship-building and strategic decision-making rather than administrative tasks.

Focus Fund Sectors with Tracks

Cohort 18 introduces dedicated tracks for transformative areas of investment that will define humanity’s next chapter:

• Mental and Physical Wellbeing: Our flagship track supports funds focused on technologies addressing mental health challenges and emotional flourishing. These investments range from breakthrough digital therapeutics and personalized medicine to immersive technologies that foster genuine human connection.
• Ethical Tech: This track empowers funds ensuring technological advancement aligning with ethical principles. These investments prioritize technologies designed with careful consideration of their social impact, privacy implications, and potential for enhancing rather than exploiting humans and other living beings.
• GovTech: This track focuses on funds investing in technologies that modernize public services and enhance citizen life satisfaction. These investments will transform how governments operate and deliver services, making public institutions more responsive, efficient, and human-centered.
• Supply Chain: This track backs funds investing in technologies that modernize and strengthen global supply networks. These investments target innovations that enhance transparency, resilience, and sustainability throughout supply chains, from advanced logistics platforms to breakthrough materials and manufacturing technologies.
• DeepTech: This track supports funds focused on breakthrough scientific innovations with transformative potential. These investments span frontier technologies emerging from rigorous R&D in fields like quantum computing, advanced materials, biotechnology, and other science-driven innovations that address humanity’s most complex challenges.
• Space Tech: Our expanded space track focuses on technologies that advance humanity’s reach beyond Earth while improving life on our home planet. These funds will support innovations in sustainable space infrastructure, Earth observation systems, and technologies that transfer space-derived innovations to everyday applications.
• Climate Resilience: This track specializes in funds focused on technologies helping communities adapt and thrive amid environmental challenges. We emphasize solutions that simultaneously address climate realities and enhance quality of life, from regenerative agriculture to disaster-resilient infrastructure.
• Venture Studios: This specialized track supports managers building a fund to invest in their systematic company creation engines in high-impact sectors. These studios will methodically launch and nurture startups developing humanity-elevating technologies, creating portfolios of complementary innovations with compounding value.
• AI Builders: This track supports funds investing in foundational AI infrastructure and development tools for responsible innovation. These investments focus on the technical ecosystem enabling AI applications that augment human capabilities while respecting human values and autonomy.

Join Cohort 18 and launch a fund that contributes to humanity’s Beautiful Future. VC Lab has helped launch the majority of new venture firms in recent years through our powerful combination of training, tools, capital, and vision.

Whether you’re launching your first fund focused on GovTech innovations or scaling an established firm to embrace humanity’s most significant challenges, Cohort 18 will provide you with the resources, insights, and connections to succeed in the emerging landscape of purpose-driven venture capital.

How to Apply

Our application process is straightforward and focused on identifying managers with the vision and capability to launch transformative funds:

1. Submit an Application: Early applications receive priority consideration and the best chances of enrollment.
2. Share Your Vision: In addition to the standard application, we ask you to articulate your vision for contributing to a beautiful future through your fund.
3. Schedule the Admissions Interview: Connect with our admissions team for a 15-minute conversation about your background and aspirations.
4. Get Accepted: Secure one of the limited positions in this groundbreaking cohort.
5. Embrace the Mensarius Oath: Publicly commit to ethical investing that advances human flourishing and planetary wellbeing.

We are seeking managers who combine business acumen with a genuine vision for how venture capital can help create a more beautiful future for all. We are here to help you bring that vision to life.

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