Beyond the Cheque: AI, Platforms and Portfolio Value Add in VC, 2026
RBC Brewin Dolphin and Execution Capital are co-hosting an evening on how AI, platforms and operator networks are reshaping portfolio value-add in venture capital, and what that means for VCs, LPs and founders.
Why this evening
The largest VCs have platforms. Talent teams, GTM teams, content, community, executive networks. Eleven of the fifteen biggest firms by AUM run one: a16z, Sequoia, Lightspeed, Accel, Bessemer, Khosla, Greylock, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Felicis and First Round. a16z alone runs around 600 staff, and only a tenth of them invest.
That is what billions in AUM buys you.
Now run a £20m to £100m fund. You are fundraising, constantly. Then admin, NAV, compliance, LP reporting, portfolio intros. Then networking, sourcing, diligence, modelling, closing. Then repeat. Somewhere in between, you are also supposed to be the platform to increase the odds.
Founders demand it. LPs underwrite it. Nobody budgeted for it.
AI is changing that arithmetic. It is rewriting what a platform does, what it costs, and who gets to have one. The question is no longer whether a small fund can add value beyond the cheque, but how.
That is the conversation, with the people doing it.
Programme
Welcome drinks
5 mins — Introduction: RBC Brewin Dolphin
20 mins — VC Panel: The Role of AI and Platforms in VC in 2026
Moderator: Kevin Monserrat, Execution Capital
Dany Bidar, Edenred Ventures (LP)
Duran Cesur, Atlas Ventures (VC)
Nick Cochran, Celero Ventures (VC)
10 mins — Break
20 mins — Founder and Venture Partner Panel: Portfolio Support in Practice
Moderator: Adam Gentry, RBC Brewin Dolphin (Wealth Management)
Osman Kent, Atlantic Bridge (Venture Partner)
Adem Kader, Priam AI (Founder)
Guillaume Bouchard., Checkstep (Founder)
10 mins — Fireside Chat: Kevin Monserrat with Iwona Cymerman, AGX
Presenting the VC Tech Stack Pulse 2026
Drinks, canapés and networking to follow
Who should come
GPs and platform leads. Emerging managers. LPs, family offices and syndicate leads. Founders who have raised or are about to. Operators and venture partners who do the work between rounds.
Hosts
RBC Brewin Dolphin is one of the UK's leading wealth managers, working with founders, entrepreneurs and investors across the venture ecosystem.
Execution Capital is a venture execution-infrastructure platform. It embeds senior operators into early-stage companies and funds through scoped, milestone-gated Tickets, so value add is delivered and verified on proof rather than promise. Execute First. Build Proof. Raise Later.
Places are limited. Please register to confirm your seat.