Meliora Ventures • Fund One: First Close on the 23rd June
Meliora Ventures

Fund One.

We invest in early-stage tech founders. Bringing capital, CTO-level insight and support to help them scale.

At Meliora, we believe AI is a cognitive revolution not just another technology wave. Faster, broader, and more human than any industrial transformation before it.

AI redefines how value itself is created, not just through replacement, but reinvention. Future value flows to those who use intelligence, both human and artificial, to accelerate financial returns.

An investment opportunity measured not in billions, but in trillions.

The opportunity

Why now.

$0tn

AI exceeds Energy & Education: investment forecast to grow over 30% to $1.30tn by 2029.

Source/s: IEA, Bank of America Global Research, Goldman Sachs

$0bn

VC investment doubling YoY: Vertical AI investment in 2026 is forecast to double from $8.9bn in 2025.

Source/s: Digital Cooperation, Crunchbase, and Menlo Ventures

0bn

AI adoption in the last 38 months: weekly active users of AI – less than 20% of active smartphone users.

Source/s: Open AI, Alphabet, Anthropic, and Meliora

Operators and builders

Meet your team.

Meliora Ventures blends builders, operators, and investors that know how to identify businesses that scale.

Clive Dickens

Clive Dickens

Managing Partner • International

LinkedIn
Jack Lonergan

Jack Lonergan

Partner

LinkedIn
William Hedberg

William Hedberg

Fund One

LinkedIn
Chris Barton

Chris Barton

Fund One

LinkedIn
Mel Lee

Mel Lee

Partner

LinkedIn

Proven outcomes

Our track record.

Selected exits:


Chronosphere

Chronosphere

$3.35bn USD, acquired by Palo Alto Networks. NASDAQ: PANW. Nov 2025 via Cardinia VC.

Australian Financial ReviewAussies sell their tech company to US giant for $5b

Shazam

Shazam

$400m USD, acquired by Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL. September 2018.

The GuardianGame that tune: Apple snaps up Shazam for reported $400m

Omny Studio

Omny Studio

Acquired by Triton Digital. NYSE: IHRT. Jun 2019 via Cardinia VC.

ExchangeWireTriton Digital announces acquisition of Omny Studio

The thesis

Where we invest.

CTO-led by design. We prioritise technical founders who build disruptive products that scale fast and accelerate investor value.


Vertical AIVertical AIVertical AI

Vertical AI

Vertical AI products and apps. Example investments from the Meliora advisory and investment committee members: Agentic – via Advance VC · Agentic – via NextGen VC · Agentic – via Catenai VC.


SaaSSaaSSaaS

SaaS

Software as a service. B2B + B2C. Example investments from the Meliora advisory and investment committee members: Data – via Direct Investment · Data – via Cardinia VC.


TechnologyTechnologyTechnology

Technology

Tech with AI as a differentiator. Example investments from the Meliora advisory and investment committee members: Creator – via Direct Investment · Fintech – via Cardinia VC · Reporting – via Cardinia VC.

By the numbers

Fund One snapshot.

$0m+

Target size, USD

Pre-Seed

Stage

0

Sectors, Vertical AI, SaaS, Tech

0–15

Investments at $100k – $250k

0%

Reach, AMER, 45% rest of world

0

Investment period, months

New • built for venture capital

Signal, not noise. Meet MvSE.

MvSE, the Meliora Ventures Signal Engine, tracks thousands of companies across 11 live data feeds and collapses them into one conviction score. The discovery edge behind Fund One.

Two ways in

Join Fund One.