Ada Ventures launched its Scout Programme in 2020 to widen access to venture capital – both for founders historically overlooked and for the people who spot them first. Today a distributed network of 70+ scouts operates across the UK, Ireland and Denmark, funnelling early‑stage opportunities that align with Ada’s inclusion‑led thesis: massive markets serving female, LGBTQ+, ethnic‑minority, disabled and low‑income communities.

Scouts come from a mosaic of backgrounds – university society leaders, grassroots community organisers, product managers, angel investors, healthcare clinicians and more. Once accepted they complete a structured onboarding covering: how to source authentic deal flow, use Ada’s screening questionnaire, support founders pre‑pitch and comply with FCA regulations. Ongoing learning happens through monthly Zoom salons with the investment team, skill‑share workshops run by senior scouts and an annual in‑person retreat in London for deeper relationship‑building.

The economics are deliberately generous. When a scout’s referral becomes an Ada Ventures portfolio investment, the scout receives an immediate £5 000 cash bonus plus 10 % of Ada’s carried‑interest share in that specific deal (payable on fund returns). Scouts need not deploy their own capital, nor do they face claw‑backs if a company fails. The programme is 100 % free to join and entirely remote: scouts decide how many founders they meet each month and submit leads through a simple Airtable form that feeds directly into Ada’s pipeline.

Impact to‑date: scouts have referred 120+ companies, of which 19 have secured Ada cheques, generating £95 000 in bonus payments and helping several founders who might have been missed by traditional networks raise institutional rounds. Four scouts have since transitioned into full‑time investing roles at Ada Ventures or other European funds, demonstrating the programme’s value as a springboard into venture careers.

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Ada Ventures is a venture capital firm funded by entrepreneurs and a collection of mission-driven investors from around the world. The fund invests on undervalued entrepreneurs and undervalued markets.

Ada Ventures is named after Ada Lovelace, a pioneering computer programmer and mathematician who was never recognized for her contributions to the progress of science and technology during her lifetime.