[ad_1]
A 24-year-old student who left south-west London and, as a teenager, started a popular podcast on technology investments, raised $ 140 million in new funds to support emerging businesses.
Harry Stebbings has secured the investment of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rothschild, with the support of Roth Capital Partners, as well as the founders and first sponsors of Spotify, Calm and Atlassian, for its 20 hp fund.
Several Stebbings investors have appeared on his podcast, The twenty-minute VC, who has released hundreds of episodes since he started at the age of 18 in 2015. He left law school the following year to focus on full-time podcasting, before moving on to investing in 2017, with 20 years.
“When we look at the next ten years, we see this bifurcation, with clash of media and companies,” Stebbings said, as it becomes increasingly competitive for venture capitalists to get into the hottest companies.
He pointed to Silicon Valley investor Andreessen Horowitz as another example of how VCs build their own content platforms, allowing them to avoid traditional media and create a profile that can attract entrepreneurs.
After securing an initial $ 8.3 million fund in April 2020, Stebbings has invested in emerging companies, including the audio social network Clubhouse and the virtual event service Hopin, which have achieved multimillion-dollar valuations. . Founder of Hopin Johnny Boufarhat it is also an inverter in 20VC.
A number of social media influencers are trying to use their online profiles to become investors, including youtubers Jake Paul and Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, and TikTok star Josh Richards.
But few have achieved as much capital as quickly as Stebbings, who grew up in Fulham, south-west London.
Her father is a stockbroker and her mother has multiple sclerosis; the podcast was initially released to help her pay medical fees as well as make connections to the technology industry.
“The podcast is the sign of my store,” Stebbings said. “It’s easier to create content than ever, but it’s harder to create a brand than ever. . . Distribution, in the end, is everything ”.
20VC is the latest example of the capital increase flowing into European technology. Last week, Balderton launched a $ 680 million growth fund, while Draper Esprit unveiled plans to raise $ 111 million more from investors.
Venture capital financing for European technology companies reached 38.9 billion euros last year, according to investment tracker Dealroom.co, but has already surpassed 2021 with 48.1 billion euros invested so far.
Stebbings admitted he was “slightly” concerned that the private technology market was “really heated,” but noted the trillions of dollars worth of valuations from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet as proof that the performance of a winning bets could be bigger than ever.
Stebbings’ sponsors include Shakil Khan, who previously invested in start-ups launched by young British entrepreneurs James Proud i Nick D’Aloisio.
“I’ve believed in Harry since his first episodes of The Twenty Minute VC, recorded in his mother’s kitchen six years ago,” said Khan, who is a co-founder of Prima Materia, a $ 1 billion investment company. euros, alongside Spotify CEO Daniel Ek.
20VC will operate two funds, with $ 33 million focused on early-stage investments and $ 107 million for bids on more established technology companies.
But Stebbing insists there is a “total delineation” between the podcast and its investments.
“We can never muddy the waters in terms of content quality. Just because you invest in your business doesn’t mean we’re introducing you to the podcast, he said.
[ad_2]
Source link
