Just weeks after 20VC announced its third investment vehicle, TechCrunch has learned from multiple sources that the relatively new London-based VC firm is acquiring a new general partner. Julian Codorniu will leave Felix Capital, where he has served as founding advisor since 2015 and partner since 2021, and join 20VC to focus on early-stage investments.
Harry Stebbings launched 20VC in 2020 as an extension of his eponymous podcast series Venture Capital. The podcast was built as 20-minute episodes with interviews with founders, investors, and executives. And 20VC, which has a founding capital of $8.3 million, was originally conceived as a “micro VC.” Stebbings would make a small investment with a large group of backers, providing capital as well as growth skills and advice.
But just as recent interviews with Stebbings have grown to well over 20 minutes, so has 20VC. In 2021, it closed a $140 million fund. And two months ago, 20VC secured $400 million in its third fund. Approximately $125 million of this funding will be earmarked for seed investment and $275 million for the Series A round.
Raising $400 million in the current technology environment is an accomplishment, considering there have been very few acquisitions in Europe these days and even fewer IPOs. It also proves that Stebbings has built a successful media platform that can be leveraged into network effect-positive technology investments.
Over the past few months, 20VC has been growing its team to leverage the funds raised. In addition to Kieran Hill, who joined as a seed partner in 2021, two others, Paul Bonnet (general partner) and Alexandre Dewes (partner), have joined this year to focus on investments beyond Series A. They first left DST Global and Eurazeo, respectively. For 20VC.
Julian Codorniu is the newest addition to the team. He will be 20VC's third general partner and will focus on seed investments. This will be a change of pace for him, as Felix Capital typically leads funding rounds at later stages.
As part of Felix Capital, Codorniou participated in funding rounds for Pigment, Agave, Omada, TechWolf, Prediko and Agave. Prediko and Agave is a gaming company whose Series A was just announced yesterday. He will retain his seat on the board of directors and remain a limited partner of Felix Capital. He is also a business angel and has invested his personal funds in Bloom & Wild, Xentral, Homesome, Olio, Peanut, Nabla, Curio, Bits, and Sunday.
As an angel investor, he also had access to Stebbings, who invested in Tripledot Studios, BeReal, and Linktree.
Before his career in VC, Codorniou worked at Microsoft and then spent 11 years at Facebook (now Meta). Specifically, he oversaw Workplace, Facebook's communications platform for business customers.