Hummingbird Ventures

Quick read

Hummingbird Ventures is a global generalist seed VC founded in 2010, headquartered in London with roots in Belgium. It's quietly produced multiple funds with greater than 10x net returns by backing outlier founders at the earliest stage — often as the first institutional cheque. Portfolio wins include Deliveroo, Kraken, Peak Games, and BillionToOne.

Key facts

Founded

2010

Founders

Barend Van den Brande

Employees

31

Sectors

generalist, consumer, fintech, biotech, ai

Website

www.hummingbird.vc/

Investment thesis

Hummingbird backs outlier founders at the seed stage globally — often as the first institutional investor — prioritising founders with non-linear backgrounds over pedigree or sector pattern-matching. Around 80% of the investment decision focuses on the founder; the firm invests across fintech, biotech, consumer, and deep tech with no geographic constraint.

Recent activity

• Mar 2026fundraise
  Hummingbird Ventures raised a new investment fund, per Startup Intros tracking. startupintros.com
• Mar 2026press
  Team attended Perturb 2026 conference in Vienna (18–19 March), actively meeting founders. uk.linkedin.com
• Feb 2026investment
  Participated in $220M Series A round in OLIX. startupintros.com
• 2026leadership
  Launched Analyst Program with a paid, full-time cohort starting July 2026 in London; firm hires globally and sponsors visas. hummingbird.vc
• 2025press
  Barend Van den Brande and Managing Partner Firat Ileri both named to the Midas List Europe. forbes.com
• 2025press
  Featured in a widely-shared profile by The Generalist detailing the firm's founder-selection philosophy and track record of 3+ funds above 10x net returns. generalist.com

Notable investments

• OLIXSeries AFeb 2026startupintros.com
• LovableEarly stage2024crunchbase.com
• EtchedEarly stageJun 2024tracxn.com
• Pristyn CareSeries E2024tracxn.com
• BillionToOneEarly stagePriorcrunchbase.com
• KrakenEarly stagePriorcrunchbase.com
• DeliverooEarly stagePrioruk.linkedin.com
• Peak GamesEarly stagePrioruk.linkedin.com

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

• Barend Van den Brande · Founder & General Partner
• Firat Ileri · Managing Partner
• Dominik Vacikar · Team Member
• Akshay Mehra · Investor
  LinkedIn
• Pamir Gelenbe · Partner

Sources

• Hummingbird VC — Official Site
• Hummingbird VC — Team
• Hummingbird VC — Analyst Program
• The Best Venture Firm You've Never Heard Of — The Generalist
• Barend Van den Brande — Forbes Midas List Europe
• Hummingbird Ventures — Crunchbase
• Hummingbird Ventures — Tracxn
• Hummingbird Ventures — Startup Intros
• Firat Ileri — VC Sheet

Other VCs in United Kingdom

• Balderton Capital · Early-stage VC, London·
• Atomico · Multi-stage VC, London·
• Molten Ventures · Multi-stage VC, London·
• Octopus Ventures · Early-stage VC, London·
• Hoxton Ventures · Seed VC, London·
• Episode 1 Ventures · Seed VC, London

Explore VCs by sector

• Generalist in United Kingdom
• Consumer in United Kingdom

Globally

• Generalist worldwide
• Consumer worldwide

Frequently asked