Pietro Bezza

Who they are

Pietro Bezza is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Connect Ventures — a serial founder who sold Neo Network to the De Agostini Group and co-founded Qustomer (acquired by Pipedrive) before turning to seed-stage VC.

Person

Pietro joined Connect Ventures in 2012 when it was a freshly minted seed fund with no portfolio — he's been building it ever since, making it one of Europe's more recognisable product-focused early-stage firms. Before VC, he co-founded Neo Network, a digital marketing and mobile media company that reached $30 million in annual revenues before being sold to the De Agostini Group. He also co-founded Qustomer, a startup later acquired by Pipedrive. Earlier in his career he was at D'Adda Lorenzini Vigorelli BBDO, Kraft Foods, and Cisco, then did a post-degree year at NYU Stern in 1994–1995. The through-line is building things, selling them, then funding others to do the same — founder-to-investor is the cleanest read on his arc. He writes actively on Medium at pietrobezza.medium.com, covering PLG, SaaS, AI infrastructure, and VC; he's spoken at SaaStock 2022, SaasTrai London 2024, and appeared on the Category Thinkers podcast discussing 'Minimal Viable Category Design'. In 2020 he also did a Product Management training with Silicon Valley Product Group — a VC who sharpens his PM lens on purpose.

Company

Connect Ventures' most recent disclosed portfolio activity is its participation in the Series A round of Music.AI in 2026. Before that, portfolio company Candy was acquired by Futureverse in April 2025, and Timeular was acquired by TimeTac in June 2025 — two exits in quick succession. The firm announced the initial close of its fourth fund in September 2023, targeting $80 million, anchored by a £20 million commitment from British Patient Capital. In June 2025 Connect Ventures hosted the Built By Few Product Summit in London, gathering founders and investors around the theme of building opinionated products with global appeal. The firm typically leads or co-leads rounds between $500k and $5 million, focusing on companies moving from pre-product to product-market fit.

Market

Connect Ventures sits in the crowded pan-European pre-seed and seed VC space, competing with other early-stage European generalists as well as larger platforms like a16z and Insight Partners that have expanded into earlier stages. The broader venture market in 2025–2026 is characterised by tighter financing conditions, concentration of capital in mega-funds, and a sharp investor focus on profitability and AI-driven businesses — conditions that put a premium on thesis-led, high-conviction seed investors rather than spray-and-pray generalists. Connect Ventures' declared focus on product-led companies across AI, FinTech, SaaS, and cyber is a deliberate positioning against that concentration dynamic.

Network

Pietro's most visible board relationships are at TrueLayer (open banking), Aikido Security (cyber), Plain (customer support tooling), Oyster (global employment), and Typeform — all Day 0 bets where he took a board seat. He was also a Day 0 investor in Citymapper and Dust, and has been publicly vocal on the Aikido seed round and TrueLayer's pay-by-bank category creation. No direct edges to named co-investors are surfaced in the available data, but the fourth fund's anchor from British Patient Capital is a notable institutional relationship.

TrueLayer (board)· Portfolio company — open banking, board seat
Aikido Security (board)· Portfolio company — cyber security, board seat
Plain (board)· Portfolio company — customer support tooling, board seat
Oyster (board)· Portfolio company — global employment platform, board seat
Typeform (board)· Portfolio company — form and data collection, board seat

How they likely show up

Long tenure at Connect Ventures (co-founded in 2012, still Managing Partner) → thinks in fund cycles and decade-long company arcs, not short-term sprints.
Day 0 investor with board seats across TrueLayer, Aikido, Plain, Oyster, and Typeform → prefers high-conviction, hands-on involvement over passive portfolio positions.
Active Medium writer covering PLG, SaaS, AI, and VC → comfortable publishing views publicly; likely engages well when you've read his takes and can push back specifically.
Sold two companies (Neo Network, Qustomer) before becoming a VC → brings operator instincts to the investor seat; probably impatient with founders who haven't stress-tested their assumptions.
Voluntarily did Silicon Valley Product Group PM training in 2020 after years in VC → signals deliberate self-investment in craft, not just pattern-matching from prior deals.
Spoke on 'Minimal Viable Category Design' and 'perpetual learnability' as public themes → likely frames conversations around foundational product philosophy, not just metrics.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific post from pietrobezza.medium.com before the meeting — he writes actively and will notice if you've actually read it versus skimmed a bio.
→ Ask about category creation rather than market size — his TrueLayer posts and Category Thinkers appearance show this is a genuine intellectual interest, not a talking point.
→ Connect to product discipline specifically: he invests in 'product founders' and took PM training himself — frame any product discussion in terms of opinionated design choices, not feature lists.
→ If the conversation touches on Aikido or TrueLayer, be specific — he's publicly promoted both and will have detailed views on the category dynamics, not just the company story.
→ Don't conflate early-stage European VC generically — he has a clear thesis (product-led, pre-seed to seed, £500k–$5M lead tickets) and will engage more if you're precise about where you fit in it.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the Built By Few Product Summit he hosted in June 2025 — an event specifically about building opinionated products with global appeal; it signals what he thinks founders get wrong at seed stage.
Reference his Category Thinkers podcast appearance on 'Minimal Viable Category Design' — it's a specific intellectual bet that category thinking should start earlier than most founders attempt it.
Mention the Aikido Security seed round and his public posts on bundled cyber security for SMEs — he led that deal and promoted it loudly, which means he has a genuine conviction story worth drawing out.

Discovery questions

You've backed TrueLayer from Day 0 through the pay-by-bank category being created — what does that teach you about when to push a portfolio company to name and own a category versus just ship?
The fourth fund closed with a £20 million anchor from British Patient Capital — how does having a government-backed LP shape what you can and can't do at the pre-seed stage?
You sold Neo Network and Qustomer before becoming an investor — when you're sitting across from a founder, what do you notice that someone who hasn't built and sold a company would miss?

Avoid

Don't pitch broad 'European VC ecosystem' framing — he has a sharp, specific thesis around product-led founders and will disengage if the conversation stays at altitude rather than getting into product and category specifics.

Make it yours