London AI procurement company Omnea launched a $250,000 fund to back employees who want to start their own companies after five years of service.

The Future Founders Fund, created with European angel fund Firedrop, replaces the traditional "side hustle" secrecy with open entrepreneurial support. Eligible employees pitch their concepts in a single 30-minute meeting to CEO Ben Freeman and Firedrop founder Pietro Invernizzi, with funding decisions delivered within 24 hours.

"Starting a business, you don't want to speak to investors who you don't know," Freeman told Crunchbase News. "You want to speak to people you know and trust, who want you to succeed and know what they're talking about."

How the funding works

The fund offers flexible terms to avoid rigid formulas for first-time founders. Omnea set guidance of $250,000 against a $10 million valuation — converting to 2.5% equity — but founders can instead choose an uncapped, discountless SAFE note structure.

The initial funding serves as seed capital to build a product and establish founder salaries. Freeman expects Omnean founders will later raise larger seed rounds of several million dollars.

Accepted founders receive dedicated office space, operational support, and ongoing coaching from Omnea's executive team alongside the capital.

"The fund is set up to be able to write lots of checks, and they don't all need to land," Freeman said.

The initiative aims to eliminate the awkwardness of hidden corporate side projects. Instead of employees secretly working on startups while employed, the program creates transparency and clean transition timelines.

"Somebody wants to start a business, but they can't tell their employer or their team, so they're awkwardly trying to have side hustles," Freeman explained. "This will solve that, because they can talk about it, they can have a timeline, they can plan."

The fund draws capital from over 150 angel investors, tech founders, and executives rather than institutional sources. The network includes former Stripe COO Claire Hughes Johnson, former Asana COO Anne Raimondi, and Wise CTO Harsh Sinha.

Omnea partnered with Firedrop to provide professional fund management and leverage Invernizzi's existing investor network and infrastructure.