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Balderton Capital [2021]
Finance and Risk Capital
Impact for scaleups
42
UK companies backed
51%
Follow-on investments
19%
Investments outside of London
35
Growth-stage investments
Key sectors
Founded in 2000, Balderton Capital focuses on Series A and B investments into European and US technology companies. It has backed more than 230 companies. It typically invests between $1-$20m into “companies with the potential to disrupt huge industries, and the ambition to scale globally” and says that it takes a long-term approach.
The fund primarily invests in businesses based in the UK, US and Europe. It takes a broad sector focus on technology and the internet as a whole but does not invest in life sciences or cleantech. In the 18 months since January 2020, 22 new companies have joined the Balderton portfolio, and the firm has made over 45 follow-on investments.
Around 80% of their investments in UK companies between January 2014 to June 2021 were at growth stage. Notable scaleups in the firm’s portfolio include Graphcore, Zego, Revolut, Nested, Lyst and Tessian.
In 2021, the firm launched its first “fully-fledged” growth fund. The sector-agnostic Balderton Growth I will target approximately 15 companies at the early-growth stage and the firm expects to invest between $25m and $50m per company through both primary and secondary investments.
The firm has a “Build platform” to provide talent, marketing, finance and legal services to support companies as they scale, and to connect founders and their team to an active peer community. The firm provides guidance on talent acquisition and global expansion, as well as publishing guides on topics such as employee equity schemes and optimising board structures. Scaling portfolio companies have access to the firm’s executive council, which consists of leaders in the global technology industry.
