Giant Ventures launches new funds to invest $250M into purpose-driven technology companies in Europe and the US
Giant Ventures is today announcing the launch of two new fund totalling $250M to back purpose-driven technology founders
Giant builds and backs technology companies solving the world’s most pressing challenges. We invest in three themes - climate, health, and inclusive capitalism - across the UK, the US, and the Nordics. A new global headquarters, Giant House, recently opened its doors in London’s Notting Hill, with further team members in California, New York, Stockholm and Copenhagen.
A $100 million seed fund will back 25 early-stage companies, while a $150 million climate-focused growth fund fills a major Series B climate funding gap, providing scale-up capital to the world’s leading climate technology companies. We have already made 10 investments from the two fresh funds, at a time when venture capital funding has dried up globally.
Giant is on track to deploy more than $1 billion into sustainable technology this decade. Our prior fund has doubled in value since 2019, ranking in the top quartile of venture capital firms globally. Portfolio success stories include the $2 billion mental health app Calm, carbon removal platform Agreena - responsible for regenerative farming being adopted across two million hectares of land - as well as energy storage startup Field, which has raised $300M, and Europe’s leading virtual hospital ward company Doccla.
The firm has a consistent track record of partnering with experienced entrepreneurs, including the founders and board members of Expedia, Calm, Gorillas, Delivery Hero, Tradeshift, Casper, Bulb, and Knotel.
While 92% of European venture capitalists have never worked at a startup, Giant is led by a team of former founders and operators with deep networks in both the US and Europe. The firm was founded by Cameron McLain, an exited tech founder and leading angel investor formerly of Hummingbird Ventures, and Tommy Stadlen, co-founder of Swing (acquired by Microsoft) and best-selling sustainability author who worked for President Obama on climate policy. Team members include alumni of Revolut, Microsoft, Deliveroo, Babylon Health, and Y Combinator.
Advisory board members include former BP CEO Lord Browne, former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and 23andme founder Linda Avey.
Venture Partners include Bulb founder Hayden Wood, Ganni founder Nicolaj Reffstrup, former Jimmy Choo CEO Pierre Denis and Block Renovation founder and ex-Huffington Post COO Koda Wang.
Reflecting the entrepreneurial DNA of the team, Giant also builds companies in-house, as well as investing in founders. Early successes from the incubation program include green home renovation platform Beams, launched with Bulb founder Hayden Wood; US education fintech Meadow; battery storage marketplace Haven, launched with the founders of Casper; and Baton, a marketplace to buy and sell small businesses.
“Our vision is to create the world’s leading engine of purpose-driven innovation,” says Cameron McLain, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Giant. “We deliver top returns by partnering with the most ambitious founders using technology as a force for good.”
“We believe the biggest technology companies of the decade will be built by solving climate change and improving healthcare - two of the most urgent issues facing humanity,” says Tommy Stadlen, Co-Founder of Giant. “Giant backs companies that matter.”
In the harshest technology fundraising environment in 25 years, Giant has attracted capital from a broad alliance of leading institutional investors. They include BMW, Henkel, RIT Capital Partners, clients of Cambridge Associates, Stepstone, Denmark’s sovereign investment fund, and The Nature Conservancy. Individual backers include Sir Richard Branson, the founders of Booking.com, Unity, and SoFi, as well as current and former CEOs and board members of Rolls Royce, Goldman Sachs, Intel, bp, Johnson & Johnson, Standard Chartered, McKinsey and GSK.
These investors join Giant’s portfolio company founders, senior politicians, corporate CEOs and athletes at the firm’s summit for global leaders, Giant Ideas, hosted annually at Tate Modern. Speakers at the summit have ranged from DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman and Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharcyzk to NBA All-Star Russell Westbrook and Sir Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.
Read more:
TechCrunch article on Giant
Sifted article on Giant
The Times article on Giant
