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Launch a Fund Easily in 2026
We are living in the easiest moment in history to launch a venture capital fund.
We are excited to announce VC Lab Cohort 22, the accelerator built for the new era of agentic venture capital. Over 1,000 venture funds have launched through VC Lab across 21 cohorts in more than 90 countries, and those launches keep teaching us the same lesson: the hard part of launching a fund isn’t about picking the investments. It’s about the entity paperwork, the compliance calendar, the back office, and the months of LP outreach standing between a manager and their first check.
Cohort 22 is the cohort where that work gets automated with AI. AI agents inside Decile Hub now handle what used to require a co-GP, a back office, and a six-figure setup budget: compliance, capital calls, K-1 prep, deal memos, LP discovery, and LP outreach. Whether you are launching solo, launching with a partner, or building a venture studio, the operational weight now sits on software instead of your shoulders. What’s left is the work only a fund manager can do: using human judgment, building genuine relationships, and leading with conviction only you possess to launch a fund.
VC Lab was created out of purpose and mission. We champion ethical investing through the Mensarius Oath, we back managers from every background, and we are committed to bringing more women into venture capital. Cohort 20 finished with at least half of its funds launched by a woman GP. Add a dynamic, AI-powered curriculum that adapts in real time to your background, progress, and fund strategy, and no two managers in Cohort 22 will walk the same path.
The Trends Defining 2026
Our Year End 2025 report, analyzing over 850 funds launched through VC Lab, shows a market rewriting who launches venture funds and how they run them. Three shifts stand out that are guiding Cohort 22.
First, people are entering venture capital from adjacent professions. In 2025, the split between managers with and without prior VC experience hit near-parity at 50/50. Founders, operators, scientists, and domain experts are launching funds because their networks and conviction give them access to deals traditional VCs cannot reach. With an agentic AI stack covering the operational side, a long venture resume is no longer the price of entry.
Second, solo GPs are now the majority. 65% of VC Lab funds launch solo, and that share keeps growing as AI removes the work that used to demand a partner. This is the direction venture capital is heading, and it will only accelerate. Teams still launch and win through VC Lab every cohort. But waiting for the perfect co-GP, once the single biggest reason managers delayed a launch, is no longer a blocker. One person with the right agents can run what used to take three.
Third, venture studios are on the rise, more than doubling to 7.3% of emerging funds in 2025. A studio is a team sport: builders creating companies from scratch, together. The fund attached to that studio used to require its own staff. Now one partner, backed by AI agents, can run the fund single-handedly while the rest of the team stays focused on building companies. It has never been easier to launch a venture studio fund.
All three trends communicate the same message: agentic AI has rebuilt the operational floor of venture capital, and these shifts will only compound from here. More managers from outside traditional VC, more solo GPs and more venture studios.
That’s why we’re calling Cohort 22 “The Easier Launch Era,” and it is why we built this cohort’s enhancements to answer each of these trends directly.
Cohort 22 Enhancements
Cohort 22 turns these trends into a launch path. Managers get a dynamic AI-powered curriculum, the complete AI VC stack, and agentic fund administration, then move from Start Fund to a Catalytic Investment to Decile Access. Here’s what’s new.
Dynamic, AI-Powered Curriculum
Every cohort before this one followed the same linear curriculum. But our new dynamic curriculum adapts to each manager’s background, progress, and fund strategy. A second-time founder launching a thesis-driven micro fund does not need the same lessons as a corporate executive entering venture capital for the first time.
The curriculum still covers the full launch sequence, from entity formation and fund documents to LP strategy, portfolio construction, ethics, and deployment, but the path through it is tailored to you.
Complete AI VC Stack
VC Lab has been building toward this for years. Cohort 22 managers get the full AI-powered VC technology stack inside Decile Hub from day one, the same tooling that lets a specialist manager operate with the sourcing, diligence, and reporting power of a large firm.
The stack includes:
- AI deal memos that turn a pitch deck into a full diligence report in minutes.
- An LP discovery engine searching the largest curated LP database by type, geography, and check size.
- Thesis refinement tools that pressure-test your positioning before you walk into an LP meeting.
- Portfolio monitoring dashboards that update in real time.
- Click to Close with AI, taking an LP from first interest to wired capital.
Established firms used to win on better information and bigger teams. Now any emerging manager with a clear thesis gets the same firepower from day one.
Agentic Fund Administration
Fund admin has always been the heaviest part of running a fund. Compliance filings, capital call notices, K-1 prep, LP reporting. These are the workflows that historically required a fund admin firm, a back-office hire, and tens of thousands of dollars a year before a manager wrote a single check.
Cohort 22 managers get access to Decile Group’s agentic fund administration system, a complete AI layer that automates compliance workflows, generates LP reports, processes capital calls, drafts K-1s, and flags issues before they become problems.
Start Fund
Start Fund is the fastest path from thesis to deployed fund. AI agents handle entity formation, compliance documentation, and operational infrastructure setup, compressing what used to take three to six months into a single day. Start Fund drove a 3x increase in sub-$2M fund launches in 2025.
For Cohort 22 managers, Start Fund is the on-ramp to the full launch path. You begin investing immediately while your AI cofounder builds the rest of the firm in parallel.
Catalytic Investment Program
The Catalytic Investment Program gives the strongest emerging managers credibility and visibility at the moment they need it most: the start of the raise. A first check and a public signal, right when LPs are deciding whether to believe in you.
A select number of top-performing Start Fund managers in Cohort 22 will receive up to $10,000 as a first check investment from Decile Group, plus dedicated marketing support including social promotion across our channels, fund marketing support, and featured placement in webinar events.
Decile Access
LP sourcing is the slowest part of any raise. Decile Access is the premier VC marketplace, serving as an LP discovery engine that searches by type, geography, and check size across the largest emerging-manager LP database available. We’re surfacing the right LPs to your fund.
This is where the Cohort 22 launch path comes together: launch your fund in a day with Start Fund, earn a catalytic Investment as your first check, then get on Decile Access to put your fund in front of the LPs most likely to commit. Each step feeds the next, and all inside one platform.
Why It’s Easier Than Ever
Strip everything away and a fund launch comes down to three inputs: a thesis worth backing, a network worth activating, and the infrastructure to execute. The first two have always been yours. The third used to cost a partner, a back office, and a year of your life. In Cohort 22, it’s all included.
The math has changed on every front. The setup that took six months now takes a day. The operations that took a team of three now take one person. The experience bar that kept domain experts out is gone, with half of new managers now launching without prior VC experience. And the LP universe is wider than ever: 77% of LP commitments in 2026 are under $150K, with micro LPs the fastest growing segment in venture.
The question is no longer whether you can launch a fund. It’s what you will do with one with Cohort 22.
Apply to Cohort 22
Join Cohort 22 and launch in the most favorable environment emerging managers have ever had.
Whether you’re a domain expert launching your first fund, a team with a shared thesis, a venture studio formalizing its fund, or an angel investor ready to launch a fund, Cohort 22 provides the AI infrastructure, peer community, and operational support to launch with less friction than has ever existed in this industry.
Timeline
- Early Application Deadline: July 20th, 2026
- Program Start: September 23rd, 2026
- Estimated Finish: February 3rd, 2027
How to Apply
Our streamlined application process is designed to identify managers with the conviction to launch and run a top-decile fund.
- Submit an application: Early applications receive priority consideration and immediate access to AI toolkit capabilities inside Decile Hub.
- Book an admissions call: Connect with our admissions team for a quick 15-minute conversation about your fund thesis and fundraising plan.
- Enroll: Secure your spot early to benefit from early onboarding, including office hours with the VC Lab team before the program start date.
- Embrace the Mensarius Oath: Commit to ethical investing and integrity.
We are seeking managers ready to own a fund end to end. Founders, operators, scientists, regional connectors, domain experts. People who know their space deeply and have the conviction to build the fund their network deserves.
We are here to help you launch in The Easier Launch Era.
Apply to Cohort 22
VC Lab has helped launch over 60% of new venture firms in recent years through a combination of training, tools, capital, and technology.
VC Lab has helped launch over 60% of new venture firms in recent years through a combination of training, tools, capital, and technology.