Aspire11 Deploys $115M in Revolut, ElevenLabs

Jan de Vries · 2026-07-14

Prague-based venture capital firm Aspire11 has made its first moves, deploying $115 million from its $593 million pension fund into a portfolio that includes heavyweights like Revolut, Databricks, VAST Data, Vinted, ElevenLabs, and Baseten. This news came alongside the announcement that Zaya Kadyrova, a former investor with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, has joined as co-founder. The fund launched in late 2025 with a clear mission: to open new pathways for European pension funds to get more exposure to VC and growth companies. ### Why This Matters for European Startups Pavel Mucha, Founder of Aspire11, put it simply: "Europe has no shortage of innovation, entrepreneurial talent or ambitious founders. The challenge is connecting that innovation with the pools of long-term capital that can help it scale." Aspire11 was created to bridge that gap and show how pension capital can play a bigger role in backing companies shaping the future economy. Aspire11's deployment is part of a bigger wave. EU-Startups reported at least $336 million in related capital announcements in 2026 across private-markets infrastructure, investment technology, pension software, and venture debt. Here's a quick look at some of those deals: - Orbit Capital's $123 million Growth Debt Fund II - Upvest's $124 million financing round - bunch's $34.6 million Series B Add in raises from Copenhagen-based Performativ, Festina Finance, and Belgium's Warren, and the total disclosed or deployed capital hits at least $451 million, including Aspire11's tranche. ### Bridging the Pension Gap Zaya Kadyrova, co-founder and Managing Partner of Eternals, highlighted a key issue: "While many of the world's most valuable technology companies now create the majority of their value while still private, much of Europe's pension capital remains significantly underrepresented in venture and growth investing." Her goal is to help long-term institutional capital access exceptional businesses and stay invested through their most important growth phases. "Being geography agnostic, we focus on backing global leaders regardless of where they are, whether in Europe or the US," she added. Founded in 2025, Aspire11 is a private markets investment platform that connects long-term institutional capital with innovation-led growth opportunities. Through its Eternals and Tribes strategies, the firm invests directly in tech companies and selectively in emerging venture and growth managers. ### The Shift to Private Markets Data shows the median time to IPO has jumped from about seven years to 11 over the past decade. Meanwhile, the world's private unicorns are now worth an estimated $7.4 trillion. The rise of AI is accelerating this trend, with more than half of global venture capital now flowing into AI companies. Aspire11 believes the public is missing out on gains made in private markets, especially in Europe where pension funds allocate only about 4% of assets to private markets. For comparison, Canada's leading pension funds allocate around 21% to venture and private-capital backed companies. Tülin Tokatli, co-founder and Managing Partner of Tribes, explained: "Aspire11 was designed to create a pipeline of opportunities spanning the entire innovation ecosystem. Our goal is to identify exceptional companies as early as possible and remain a long-term partner as they scale." ### Two Strategies, One Mission Aspire11 achieves exposure across the innovation lifecycle by combining two complementary investment strategies. Through its Tribes strategy, led by Tokatli, the firm invests in emerging venture managers backing companies at the pre-Seed and Seed stages. Through Eternals, led by Kadyrova, the firm backs more mature businesses poised to become global leaders. This dual approach ensures pension capital can participate from early innovation all the way to growth-stage success, without missing the value creation that happens in private markets.