Giant Ventures

We're working with AI-powered plant pioneers Avalo, Inc to transform how we grow sugarcane. ➡️📰 For more on this partnership, and how our Ventures team are embedding innovation across CCEP through our work with cutting-edge start-ups like Avalo, visit: https://lnkd.in/dwVcHpUC

Exciting team news! Congratulations to Rob Hicks on his promotion to CFO. Rob joined as Giant's second ever team member, and has been instrumental to the growth of Giant over the last four years - scaling an exceptional finance department from scratch. He's built a high-performing finance function with Connor Whiting, producing world-class reporting for our LPs, with consistently high investor NPS. He's also worked hard to onboard new LPs, driving a smooth fundraising process and integrating them to our LP base without a hitch. We are very grateful to have Rob as part of our team. He consistently embodies all of Giant's values, and always supports people across the team. He is calm, steadfast, and conscientious and we are proud to work with him. Well done Rob!

"There is a bit of a Trump brain drain going on from those who, frankly, don't want to live in an administration which has those values... we are seeing a talent flow out of the US...from global superstars like Reid Hoffman...all the way down to young technical talent moving from the US to places like Canada or Europe" Some interview gold here from Tommy Stadlen, Founding Partner Giant Ventures, alongside Caroline Hepker - Also talked climate tech -- and defense -- where that 'Trump brain drain' may not apply... "The UK Ministry of Defence has proven time and time again, it isn't capable of working with startup technology. I think what we'll see is the best UK defense technology companies will have to go to the US... which is counter to everything that we're seeing in terms of European resilience" #Trump #tech #Europe #VC #defense #climate https://lnkd.in/d9pZ6Zua

March's edition of Building Giants is out! Building Giants is our newsletter where we hand-select six must-read articles, podcasts, videos or posts on building high performance companies. We hope they will help our founders (and now you!) to build a great company, without having to spend hours trawling the internet. In this edition: AI or Die - what Ravi Gupta says new era of AI means for your company (and fundraising), a brand new AI tool to search your network, how Brex hires well and how you can too, Bessemer Venture Partners' advice on to build vertical AI companies, what traits Sam Altman thinks creates winning founders, and lots more. Read & subscribe below!

"Climate change doesn't care who's in the White House" Tommy Stadlen, co-founder of Giant Ventures, joined Bloomberg Talks podcast, to talk about climate tech, the rise of defence tech, and why firms are rebranding climate tech. He told Tom Mackenzie and Caroline Hepker that it will be the companies that don't need a green premium that will continue to get funding. He also talks about how to apply rationality to invest in the very best companies - both investing mega trends like AI and Climate, but most importantly backing extraordinary entrepreneurs building fundamental better businesses. Listen to the full interview with Tommy, Caroline Hepker and Tom Mackenzie, in comments.

Congratulations to Agreena - named one of TIME Magazine’s World’s Top Greentech Companies 2025! In partnership with Statista, TIME considered the positive impact, financial strength, and innovation of more than 8,000 companies. The result is a list of the 250 leading companies in Greentech. Agreena's mission is to drive real climate impact where it matters most: in the fields, with the farmers, for the planet. Congratulations on the recognition for all the hard work and dedication Simon Haldrup, Julie Karl Skovgaard and the whole Agreena team.

McKinsey recently welcomed over 100 of Europe’s leading climate innovators and changemakers to our office for the Climate 100, which brings together climate leaders to drive collaboration between technology, finance, and corporate strategy. McKinsey's Jose Pimenta da Gama and Philipp Hillenbrand, alongside Cameron McLain and Tommy Stadlen of Giant Ventures, presented the event, and welcomed to the stage an incredible group of speakers and panelists: • Yet-Ming Chiang, co-founder of multiple climate unicorns and MIT professor, who shared his insights on being a climate optimist and the opportunities for innovation in the climate sector, even in challenging times. • Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered, who discussed the critical role of transparent and high-integrity carbon markets in financing net zero, emphasizing the commercial potential in climate finance. • Jeremy O'Brien, who spoke on the transformative potential of quantum computing, and shared how his company PsiQuantum are aiming to build a 1-million-cubit system by 2027 to advance CO2 abatement. • Rebecca Marmot, Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer at Unilever, who addressed the benefits of embedding sustainability into corporate operations. • Mattias Åström, founder of evroc, who shared his vision for building a European sovereign cloud powered by clean energy. • Leah Ellis (CEO of Sublime Systems), Hayden Wood (CEO of Beams), and Christopher Kemper (CEO of Palmetto), who delved into the challenges and solutions for decarbonizing real estate, from cement to solar. Thank you to all those who attended for your energy, insight, and positivity! #Climate100 #Sustainability #Tech

Today Giant portfolio company evroc announces $55M Series A funding to build a hyperscale cloud in Europe. The round, the largest Series A completed in the Nordics last year and one of the largest Series A rounds in all of Europe, was led by blisce/ and joined by Giant, EQT Ventures, and Norrsken VC. Just this week, a coalition from across Europe’s tech industry called for “radical action” from lawmakers to reduce the region’s reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure. The funding unlocks a major milestone for evcroc's mission to build Europe’s first sovereign hyperscale cloud, accelerating: - The launching an AI factory in Mougins, France - Securing land for a flagship AI data centre in Stockholm evroc is building the foundation for a European-grown, scalable cloud alternative - empowering digital sovereignty and AI infrastructure leadership. Congratulations Mattias Åström, Andreas Birnik, Andreas Jönsson, and the whole evroc team. Read the full article from Paul S. on TechCrunch, in comments.

Introducing: Building Giants - our monthly newsletter curating the must-read resources for high performance companies. We've been delivering a version of this newsletter to our Giant portfolio founders over the past few months as we realised that for most founders, the noise and endless advice on how to build a company can be overwhelming. Every month, we'll share just six of the best insights on building high performance companies. That's six must-read articles, podcasts, videos or posts: on areas like growth, product, leadership or founder mindset. We choose each piece because we hope they will help our founders (and now you!) to build a great company, without having to spend hours online. Sign up below 👇

💫 Last night, we welcomed our Founders at the University of Cambridge community to a special dinner at the gorgeous Zetter Townhouse in Clerkenwell. Hosted in partnership with Giant Ventures, the evening’s discussion centred around AI, featuring insights by Martina King, CEO of Featurespace - a University of Cambridge spinout on a mission to make the world a safer place to transact. In December 2024, Featurespace announced their £700m+ exit. Martina talked about product market fit, the importance of bringing the team along on the journey (and giving them shares!), the vision, customers, and excitement at the positive ripple effect an exit like Featurespace's can put back into the UK tech ecosystem. Bringing together a vibrant mix of entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders, we also heard from three emerging Founders making waves in the AI space. • Rebekka Mikkola at Trismik - Revolutionising the field of Large Language Model (LLM) testing. • Ushnish Sengupta at Sqwish - Building the efficiency layer for enterprise AI. • Daniel Fredrich at Pinepeak - Physics-driven technology to predict wildfire risk and behaviour across any terrain, anywhere in the world. Thank you to Giant Ventures and our incredible community for making the evening a brilliant one. Stay tuned for insights from the evening in the coming weeks. The Zetter #Founders #Community #AI #Innovation #Networking #UKTech