I run VC investments for a family office. Ask me anything.
Hi, I’m Jay. I run startup investments at Adeline Arts & Science, a first-generation family office based in London.
Before becoming an investor, I was an operator. I was part of the founding teams of two fintech startups in India, including BharatPe, and helped take businesses from zero towards growth — launching products, building operations and figuring things out when there wasn’t yet a playbook.
I later moved into venture, investing in early-stage companies across Europe, and today I lead startup investing at Adeline.
This is an AMA for founders who want to understand what actually happens on the other side of the table.
Come with questions about raising a pre-seed or seed round, what investors look for in an early company, how we evaluate founders and markets, what makes us lean in or pass, fundraising mistakes, valuation, investor outreach, choosing the right investors, or anything else you’ve wanted to ask a VC but haven’t had the chance to.
A bit about us:
Adeline is a first-generation family office founded by Des Tan, a mathematician, technical entrepreneur and macro trader. That makes us a little unusual on both sides. Compared with a traditional family office, we have a strong venture orientation: we’re comfortable backing ambitious technology companies in pursuit of non-linear returns. And compared with a traditional venture fund, we pay close attention to the macro environment and how it shapes the companies and markets we invest in. As a family office, we can also take a long-term view.
We invest primarily at pre-seed and seed, with opportunistic Series A investments. We’re generalists, but particularly interested in businesses where technology or science creates real leverage.
Recent investments include TaiSan, building next-generation sodium battery technology; Capsa AI, the AI operating system for private capital; NEX Health Intelligence, using AI to predict and prevent hospital infections; and Ralio, building infrastructure for agentic business payments.
We’ve invested alongside firms including Antler, Atomico, TX Ventures, Brighteye Ventures, SVV and others.
Ask me anything.