- Harry Stebbings is raising a new 20VC fund for early-stage startups, plus Series A and B.
- Stebbings started with an $8.3 million fund in 2020 and had raised $140 million by 2021.
- The fund will hire Paul Bonnet from DST Global and operate as verticalized industry teams.
Harry Stebbings, the founder of the 20VC podcast, is raising a new fund that could be around $400 million, Business Insider has learned.
It's been a meteoric rise for the British podcaster turned VC Stebbings, who began with an $8.3 million fund in 2020 before raising a major $140 million vehicle in 2021.
Now, the investor, who originally worked at London-based Stride.vc, is set to raise a new investment vehicle of around $400 million split to invest between early-stage and later-stage startups, six sources familiar with the fund told Business Insider.
The split is unclear, but the ratio is believed to be around three to one, with $150 million dedicated to early-stage deals, one New York-based source indicated.
Figures could yet change and the fund size is not yet confirmed.
20VC and Harry Stebbings did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
20VC will also hire Paul Bonnet, formerly of DST Global, to source and lead many of the newly raised funds' investments, five sources familiar with the fund told BI. Bonnet announced on LinkedIn last month that he was leaving Russia-born Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner's tech fund to work on something new.
Bonnet did not respond to a request for comment.
He joins existing 20VC investors such as former journalist Kieran Hill, who leads on seed stage deals for the fund and was previously a partner at London VC fund Ascension.
One source told BI that the new fund will operate as verticalized teams targeting specific industries with different brands. For example, a 20VC fintech fund would be managed and run by domain specialists. The fund already has 20Sales and 20Growth, as specific vehicles.
20VC's portfolio includes companies like Hopin, once Europe's fastest to become a unicorn; Sorare, an NFT-based fantasy sports business backed by SoftBank; and BeReal, formerly viral social media app BeReal, recently acquired by Voodoo Games.
Stebbings is renowned for having a massive network cultivated through his podcast series, which has burgeoned his reputation and helped him get an allocation in hot deals. Traditionally, 20VC has done follow-on capital, but whether this new fund will lead funding rounds is unclear.
LP investors in 20VC include major funds such as endowments from MIT and Harvard, Sequoia Heritage, and RIT Capital Partners. One London-based source indicated that 20VC had once again been raised from high-profile US LPs for its new fund.
In 2022, 20VC acquired media agency Good Future Media, which previously helped scale the social media followings of fellow tech podcast All In.
