Harry Stebbings
Founder, Podcaster & Host
Harry Stebbings is a British venture capitalist and media founder who created The Twenty Minute VC podcast (2015) and launched 20VC, an early-stage venture firm that raised a $400 million fund in 2024 and uses its media network across sales, growth, and product as a deal-sourcing and portfolio-support engine. He invests at seed and Series A in technology startups, spanning AI, software, fintech, consumer internet, and games, primarily across Europe and North America, with backing for companies such as Poolside, Linear, Linktree, Sorare, and BeReal, and separately funds young European founders through Project Europe.
Get their honest, personalized take on your startup.
Sign in to pitch Harry →At a glance
- Full Name
- Harry Stebbings
- Title
- Founder, 20VC; Host, The Twenty Minute VC / 20VC
- Firm
- 20VC
- Firm Type
- Venture Capital
- Investment Stage
- Seed and Series A; early-stage technology startups
- Target Company Profile
- Ambitious technology startups, especially founders building large outcomes in Europe and North America; for AI companies, he emphasizes testing whether rapid revenue is durable rather than temporary “sugar-high” demand.
- Sector Focus
- Technology, AI, software, fintech, consumer internet, games, and companies where 20VC’s media, sales, product, and growth networks can help source, win, and support deals.
- Geographic Focus
- Europe and North America, with a strong emphasis on Europe.
- Location
- London, United Kingdom
Background
Harry Stebbings is a British venture capitalist and media founder best known for creating The Twenty Minute VC, the venture-capital podcast he started in 2015 as a teenager. He has said the show gave him access to leading founders and investors; The Guardian quoted him describing the benefit as meeting “the world’s most powerful founders” and building relationships with them.
Stebbings briefly studied law at King’s College London before dropping out early in his first term to work on the podcast full time. Earlier in his career he joined Atomico as an investor in 2016, and in 2018 co-founded Stride.VC with Fred Destin before later leaving that firm.
In 2020, Stebbings launched 20VC as a venture fund built around the network and distribution of his media platform. The firm raised $140 million in 2021 and then announced a $400 million third fund in October 2024, backed by investors including MIT and Josh Kushner. FT reported that 20VC had expanded into sub-funds focused on sales, growth, and product development to help source deals and support portfolio companies.
Stebbings remains both an investor and media operator. The 20VC site continues to publish frequent episodes across 20VC, 20Growth, 20Sales, 20Product, and The Memo, with a featured episode dated June 22, 2026.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- 20VC invests in early-stage technology startups, with the 2024 fund described as a $400 million early-stage fund. Public reporting says the fund is split between seed and Series A investing.
- Stebbings explicitly frames media as part of the firm’s edge: “We leverage media to be the best investor.”
- The firm’s model is to use the podcast and 20VC media network as sourcing, relationship-building, and brand-distribution infrastructure for venture investing.
- 20VC has operating sub-funds or specialist platforms around sales, growth, and product, designed to help source deals and advise portfolio companies.
- In AI, Stebbings has publicly focused on durability of revenue, asking whether fast growth is “sugar-high revenue” or “sustainable enduring value.”
- He has acknowledged that consumer tech is difficult because users can be fickle, and told FT that some of the most “brilliant” companies in the portfolio were “boring as hell.”
- Through Project Europe, Stebbings is also backing very young European founders, with a reported €10 million fund offering €200,000 investments to entrepreneurs aged 18–25.
Notable Investments
- Poolside — AI coding startup backed by 20VC; cited by FT as part of the portfolio.
- Linktree — Social profile-linking platform; cited by FT as a 20VC-backed company.
- Tripledot Studios — Mobile games developer; cited by FT as a 20VC-backed company.
- Hopin — Virtual events startup; FT reported Stebbings invested during the boom period when Hopin reached a valuation as high as $7.8 billion in 2021 before later selling most assets.
- Clubhouse — Social audio app; cited by FT as one of Stebbings’s consumer-tech investments.
- BeReal — Consumer social app; cited by FT as one of Stebbings’s consumer-tech investments.
- Sorare — Fantasy sports / digital collectibles company; listed in public 20VC portfolio reporting.
- Captions.ai — AI video creation/editing company; listed in public 20VC portfolio reporting.
- Linear — Product and issue-tracking software company; listed in public 20VC portfolio reporting.
- Merge — Unified API platform; listed in public 20VC portfolio reporting.
- Taxdoo — Tax-compliance software company; listed in public 20VC portfolio reporting.
- Pachama — Climate-tech company focused on forest carbon; listed in public 20VC portfolio reporting.
- NexHealth — Healthcare patient-experience and scheduling platform; listed in public 20VC portfolio reporting.
- Peec AI — AI search / GEO analytics company; public reporting lists 20VC among its backers.
- Trig — 20VC investment highlighted by Stebbings on LinkedIn, with sourcing and support involving 20Sales, 20Product, and 20Growth, and Marc Benioff participating as a co-investor.
Unlock the full research
Get how to approach them, recent activity, sources, contact links — plus pitch their AI twin for a candid read on your raise.
One-time. Stays unlocked for you.