$40 Mic To $650 Million Fund: How Harry Stebbings Is Rewiring European Venture

Forbes

30-06-2025

"Venture is about finding, picking, winning and helping. And none of it matters if you can't win," says Harry Stebbings, who founded London-based firm 20VC. courtesy of Stebbings
I n a dimly lit podcast studio in London, Harry Stebbings–clad in his uniform of short shorts and running shoes–sits across Severin Hacker, cofounder of the $23 billion (market cap) language-learning app Duolingo. Stebbings, the host and the proud Brit, can't help but bring up the state of the European tech ecosystem. Hacker doesn't hesitate: 'I can guarantee Duolingo would not have been able to raise any money in Europe. We had zero revenue for the first five years. No European would have invested.'
That sentiment is exactly why Stebbings is in the room. At 28 years old, the podcaster-turned-venture-capitalist manages some $650 million through his firm, 20VC. It's rapidly become one of Europe's most active firms, drawing capital from powerhouses like Rothschild Capital and MIT, and boasting a portfolio that includes unicorns like $2 billion Mercor and $1.3 billion LinkTree. His ambition? To be Europe's top early stage investor. And make sure the next Duolingo doesn't have to go transatlantic to find cash.
"European governments do not understand that we are in a war for talent," Stebbings tells Forbes . "Europe has more than enough money. What it doesn't have is great regulatory frameworks or a great VC ecosystem."
London is home to heavyweights like Balderton Capital, an early backer of $45 billion fintech giant Revolut, and Atomico, which was among the first to invest in Sweden's Klarna. But when Klarna gears up for its IPO, it's the New York Stock Exchange that gets the nod. British semiconductor giant Arm made a similar move, opting for a $54.5 billion IPO on the Nasdaq. The disparity in private markets is just as stark: In 2024, venture capitalists poured $209 billion into the U.S, compared to just $51 billion in Europe. Whether it's public or private, says PitchBook analyst Navina Rajan, the U.S. is simply more bullish and Europe still far more conservative.
This lack of risk appetite in Europe is where Stebbings thinks 20VC can find its niche. He bypasses the usual waiting game for polished pitch decks and positive margins, backing founders based purely on ambition.
Now might be his moment. As U.S. markets grapple with political uncertainty—trade wars and real wars alike—cracks are starting to show. Markets are fluctuating, valuations are falling, IPOs are stalling. Andreessen Horowitz even closed its U.K. office just a year after opening it.
'The competition [in Europe] is so weak. If we are insanely aggressive and ambitious, we should be the best seed and Series A player,' Stebbings says. 'Don't get me wrong, we can play and win in the Valley, too, but do I want to bet my whole strategy on beating Mark Andreessen when he's going to drive founders to his house?'
S tebbings was 13 when he watched The Social Network and found his calling. He didn't see himself in Zuckerberg, but in Peter Thiel, the investor behind the scenes who made Facebook happen. A self-described 'friendless' teenager in suburban London, Stebbings fell in love with venture capital the way some kids get into comic books.
After graduating high school, he traded lecture halls for a $40 microphone and transformed his childhood bedroom into a makeshift studio. Instead of wasting money, and years, on a business degree, he'd start a podcast and learn on the job. Soon he was cold-emailing Silicon Valley royalty and interviewing them firsthand. His pitch was simple: "All I need is 20 minutes.'
The first guest on The Twenty Minute VC was Guy Kawasaki, Apple's former chief evangelist. Stebbings' outreach was unrelenting—53 emails before Marc Andreessen said yes. Within a few years, he had accumulated wisdom from almost every major VC. The podcast's popularity earned him a spot on the Forbes Under 30 Europe list in 2019, more than 100 million downloads and a direct line into the private capital elite.
The pivotal shift came when his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The show started tapping sponsors and generating some revenue about two years in, but it was time to make real money. Stebbings reached out to the powerful friends he made along the way (we're talking founders of companies like Spotify and Robinhood) via WhatsApp. $200,000 here and $250,000 there. Within three days, he raised his first fund of $8.3 million in 2020.
The podcast didn't go away. Instead, it became 20VC's most valuable asset. Clips regularly go viral, racking up as many as 8 million views on YouTube Shorts. On the audio front, the podcast saw 25 million downloads last month alone. Weekly episodes featuring guests like Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman, and founders from 20VC's own portfolio, now double as deal flow for the firm and baked-in exposure for the founders.
"What intrigued us was he had a very differentiated model, bringing part of that media business alongside 20VC," says Maggie Fanari, CEO of J. Rothschild Capital Management. "If you talk to Harry, you're going to end up talking about what the world will look like five years from now. That differentiation in his thinking is what will continue to make him very successful. He's top 5%."
Rothschild and MIT backed 20VC's $400 million third fund last year, marking the largest raise for an early stage European VC. The fund closed in just four months, and was a significant leap from its $140 million predecessor. The relationships were years in the making, but Fanari says Stebbings' track record–and especially his network–spoke for itself.
To attract top founders, 20VC offers more than money. It's created three internal subfunds—20Sales, 20Product and 20Growth—each staffed with eight experienced operators from tech giants like OpenAI, Spotify and LinkedIn. When a founder receives a term sheet from 20VC, they also get access to a group of expert mentors.
"It's particularly important if you're a European founder," says Richard Hollingsworth, founder of AI startup Fyxer, a 20VC portfolio company. "What you're getting is a local investor with an American mindset, and an American network."
With 20VC's check sizes capped at $15 million, Stebbings must move with exceptional speed. Case in point: When Hollingsworth flew to San Francisco to raise his seed round, Stebbings called him mid-trip, led a $10 million round, and even secured Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as a co-investor to sweeten the deal.
Stebbings is nothing if not consistent. Each day, he's up at 8:15, on back-to-back calls by 8:30, powerwalking through Hyde Park—20,000 steps logged before most people check their email. Office till 7 p.m, then more meetings on foot. Dinner's always the exact same: sashimi from Notting Hill Fish Shop, also his only meal of the day. From 9 p.m to 1 a.m, he works from home. Then it's a lit joint, a TikTok scroll worthy of an investigative reporter studying analytics and trends, and notes sent to his team at 2 a.m. His weekends? He'll run 26 miles on Saturdays, then walk 26 more alongside his mother on Sundays. Both days end at the podcast studio.
While the schedule has still kept the young man single, 20VC has now secured a stake in nearly every flashy, young European startup. AI software startup Lovable, which reached $17 million in revenue within three months; Slay, a Forbes Under 30 company creating consumer apps across gaming, and BeReal, the social media platform which recently exited for $500 million. He's claimed his share of U.S. startups too, from the $3 billion (valuation) startup Remote to AI job recruitment platform Mercor.
Many of the portfolio companies had little to no revenue when Stebbings first invested. Some have since pivoted entirely from their original ideas. His investment decisions hinge on the founder. One of his go-to questions: What was your first job? The ideal answer usually reveals early signs of entrepreneurship. If a founder isn't 'unhealthily obsessed' (quite like himself), he walks away.
Meanwhile, the competition is multi-billion-dollar funds. "The future of venture capital will be Chanel and Walmart," Stebbings says about his smaller check size. "Walmart is Sequoia, SoftBank … walls of money that are almost infinite in supply. Chanel has a very specific customer base and a very precise product."
20VC, he implies, will be the Chanel of venture capital.
N ow, in a bold expansion of his thesis, Stebbings has launched a venture called Project Europe with CEO Kitty Mayo. The initiative aims to spot European talent early on and keep them on home turf. The goal is to invest $200,000 into founders under the age of 25, each with ideas capable of becoming billion-dollar businesses.
Launching Project Europe was surprisingly quick. Yet again, Stebbings messaged friends across his extensive VC network via WhatsApp. This time, within weeks, he raised $10 million from nearly 200 European founders, including those behind Klarna, GitHub and Duolingo. Each of these investors will be paired with a mentee, the first of which has already been selected.
And despite it being the perfect vehicle for 20VC's deal flow in the long run, Stebbings swears that's not the point.
"This is about telling the world that great entrepreneurs do come from Europe," he says. "A kid in the suburbs of London started a podcast with a posh British accent and now manages three quarters of a billion dollars. I'm proof anyone can achieve their dreams with a lot of hard work and low IQ."