Harry Stebbings (pictured above), the U.K. podcaster who broke into the world of tech with his 20-minute interviews of venture capitalists and founders, parlayed that fame into becoming a VC himself. Now, Stebbings has closed his third investment vehicle, and it’s his hugegest yet: 20VC, the firm named after the podcast series, has closed a $400 million fund.
At a time when European technology companies continue to lag behind their U.S. counterparts at almost every stage of investment, 20VC’s new fund will focus on backing startups in the region, applying Stebbings’ media nous and connections to bring more attention to them.
“I’m really fed up of everyone shitting on Europe,” he declared in an interview earlier today. “We have unbelievable companies, and we have incredible people. We necessary to create Europe great again. MEGA!” he added with a giggle.
About $125 million of the fund will be dedicated to seed investments, and $275 million will go to Series A rounds. The fund is yet to be deployed, Stebbings declared, as 20VC is still investing out of its second fund, which raised $140 million in 2021.
Stebbings declares the new fund was raised in four weeks, which would be an exceedingly quick turnaround, considering the constraints that continue to swirl around venture capital. (Business Insider reported he was at least in pitching mode back in June.)
There are a few other notable takeaways from the news:
- Despite the tough climate for founders, this is a reminder that there is money out there for investing, and the pot is clearly still growing.
- Europe remains an interesting opportunity for U.S. limited partners when it comes to startups. Stebbings pointed out that a majority of the backers in this fund are from the U.S., and more than half of that is institutional money. “I would never obtain into MIT as a student,” Stebbings declared. “I’m thrilled that they decided to give me money to invest.”
- European VCs have a strong suit to play when it comes to connecting with European startups.
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Venture capitalist firms like Accel, as well as successful founders who have become investors, have an established presence in London and the wider region. Yet, a number of such investors are still putting money into 20VC. Why? Stebbings has put a very personal face onto his firm, and he assists investors hedge their bets.
In all, 20VC declared 40 founders from companies like Atlassian, Candy Crush, Canva, Capital One, Datadog, Deliveroo, Eventbrite, Iconiq, Procore, Spotify, UiPath, and Vinted invested in the fund. Also investing were general partners from Accel, Benchmark, Coatue, Cyberstarts, Founder Collective, Founders Fund, Khosla, NEA, TCV, and Thrive.
“We are the feet on the ground for the U.S. funds too,” he declared.
Stebbings has tapped into the zeitgeist around being an online creator who has built a successful business around his content. In his case, that business is in the area of venture capital, but he leverages his profile to assist open doors and obtain in on term sheets.
“The media platform has really assisted,” he declared. 20VC was essentially a “micro VC” when it debuted in 2020, with just $8.3 million to invest, typically to piggy back on seed rounds. Now it obtains upwards of 50 million views on TikTok and YouTube — large numbers for what is effectively VC and startup inside baseball. “Having your Sam Altmans on the display, your Marc Benioffs, it creates a huge difference. Founders do really want to take your money.”
Stebbings himself is not a technologist by training — he was at university studying law when he started 20VC and dropped out when it all took off. He creates no attempts to hide this.
“I don’t follow technology,” he declared when I inquireed him if any categories are standing out right now. “I follow great entrepreneurs. I consider it’s absolutely bullshit that we consider we’re smarter than markets. If there’s one thing we have to learn, it is that great founders shape markets. And if that’s the case, my job is to simply find the best founders before anyone else.”
Beyond that, his selling point from early on has been that he brings operational experience to his portfolio companies.
“20VC has done over £10 million in revenue and is a very profitable and sustainable business,” he declared. “No, I’m not a technology founder, but I am an operator. I work seven days a week, 15 hours a day, and I have done for years.”
Now, that has been widened out, with 20VC operating what Stebbings describes as “sub-funds” in categories like sales, product and growth. These have teams also run by people with operator experience, who have their own carry and seek out companies (and founders) that see interesting and could benefit from their practical advice in these areas.
Despite breaking the mold for how VCs are formed, Stebbings has yet to modify the economics of VC. It remains “like any other market,” he declared. “One percent of the companies create 90% of the gains.”
That might not be such a bad thing, though. “We can do more to normalize that in Europe, encouraging attempting and failing,” he declared.
For VCs ironically, that extremely uneven math might spell more opportunity for huge wins, not less, in his opinion. “Venture returns on the whole will go down, [but] for 1% of firms, they will be much, much hugeger than ever, and better than ever, becaapply the size of the outcomes is so much larger than ever,” he predicted.
That declared, Stebbings is still waiting for his “MEGA” payout. A lot of the firms he’s invested in are still relatively young, the IPO market is still pretty dead, and some of the startups in its portfolio still point to the U.S. focus that 20VC had when it started.
The closest, Stebbings declared, is probably Tripledot, the London-based gaming studio that appears to be valued at just over $1 billion, per PitchBook, and last raised in 2022.
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