Balderton

Looking forward to speaking with my old friend ( and Cobee coinvestor) Oriol Juncosa in Barcelona on Tuesday at 4YFN as part of mobile world congress. Amazingly my first time at the event after 16 years…

A pivotal moment for fusion and energy security in Europe. Congratulations Proxima Fusion!

Last night, the founders in our Balderton Launched accelerator took to the stage to present what they’ve been building over the past six months. Balderton Launched is our free, six-month co-working programme for entrepreneurs at the start of their journey - creating an environment where founders can collaborate and build alongside a community of peers. Huge congratulations to all of the teams who pitched last night. We’re looking forward to see where you take it next! HITLOOP, Tulo, Klara AI, Steward, Tellis, 3 Degrees, Ledger Rocket, Hansel & Gretel, Strainer AI, Outpost Bio, Albo

A huge milestone for Wayve today. $1.5B in new funding. $8.6B valuation. And, most importantly, the shift from research leadership to scaled commercial deployment. Wayve has spent nearly a decade pioneering end-to-end embodied AI for autonomous driving, turning a bold research vision into a global autonomy platform. To understand how it all began and where it’s heading next, listen to James Wise in conversation with founder Alex Kendall on What’s Next, covering his early ambition for Wayve, the founding story, why building in the UK was an advantage, and what he sees coming over the next 10 years. https://lnkd.in/eyATx8JM

🚗 Huge congratulations to the entire Wayve team on raising $1.5B! We’ve been proud to support Alex Kendall and the team since the early days, supporting a bold vision for embodied AI. As Suranga Chandratillake has often said, what makes Wayve exceptional is not just the technical ambition, but the team’s ability to take breakthrough research out of the lab and deploy it in complex, real-world driving environments. From a small lab in Cambridge to a global leader in autonomous driving, Wayve represents European innovation at its very best. We’re excited to see their continued growth!

We were delighted to host a private event at Munich Security Conference last week, where Rana Yared moderated a discussion with Hillary Clinton, Former US Secretary of State, alongside Gianni Cuozzo (Exein), Francesco Sciortino (Proxima Fusion) and Florian Seibel (Quantum Systems). The conversation highlighted the important role that innovation and entrepreneurship can play in strengthening Europe’s security and resilience. Thank you to all who joined us.

🙌 Great to see continued growth from Quantum Systems as they expand from aerial platforms into the ground domain, bringing their modular, autonomous systems to defence and disaster response on land.

Gen Z is rewriting the rules of wealth, work and the internet. Here’s what that means for businesses. In Balderton’s State of Gen Z report, Laura McGinnis examined the structural shifts shaping this generation, drawing on conversations with Edelman’s Gen Z Lab, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and 50+ founders and young people across Europe and the US. 🔗 For a deeper dive into the data and the five emerging opportunity areas, check the link in the comments for the full report.

🚨 We're hiring! We're looking for an Early Stage Investment Associate to join our team here in London and help us partner with Europe's most ambitious founders. If you’re passionate about early-stage tech, driven by deep research and insights, and excited by the idea of sourcing and evaluating the next generation of breakthrough companies, we want to hear from you. Read more and apply 👉 https://lnkd.in/eEfdRGus

Last week, Greta Anderson spoke at the London Finovate Conference about the importance of responsible AI adoption in financial services. “There is massive diversity in the market in the state of acceptance of AI, and risk taking within fintechs. That means there is no one-size-fits-all solution, instead platforms need to adapt to different organisations.” She also noted that “the level of autonomy that AI is being given is a sliding scale,” reinforcing that responsible deployment requires strong governance frameworks. As AI adoption accelerates, institutions are moving at different speeds, shaped by their governance frameworks, risk appetite and organisational maturity. For fintechs, building trust, transparency and governance into their platforms from day one will be critical to long-term success. Thank you to Finovate and the fellow panellists for an engaging conversation on responsible AI in financial services.