Global Founders Capital

This global venture capital firm invests in talented entrepreneurs across various stages, focusing on innovative technologies and sustainable businesses with...

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

About

GFC is a globally oriented, stage agnostic venture fund that empowers gifted entrepreneurs.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Feb 10, 2026	Entire	$60.0M Seed	Felicis	Basis Set Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Garry Tan, Gergely Orosz, Harry Stebbings, Jerry Yang, M12 - Microsoft's Venture Fund, Madrona, Olivier Pomel, Picus Capital, Theo Browne, The Twenty Minute VC
Nov 1, 2025	Upway	$45.0M Series C	—	Felix Capital, Origins, Sequoia Capital, Henri Moissinac
Oct 1, 2025	FirstQFM	$1.0M Seed	—	Peak, Sarona Ventures
Sep 1, 2025	Inversion	$27.0M Seed	—	6th Man Ventures, Adjacent, Day One Ventures, DST Global, Embedded Ventures, Emergence Capital, Aniq Kassam, Felicis Ventures, Flex Capital, Friends & Family Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Iterative, Kohala Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Matrix, Otherwise Fund, Paradigm, Spark Capital, Summit Partners, SV Angel, Theory Forge Ventures, Tribe Capital, Y Combinator, Andrew Steinwold, Azeem Azhar, Balaji Srinivasan, Ben Tossell, Kulveer Taggar, Kyle Vogt, Mathilde Collin, Paul Graham, Paul Stahura, Siqi Chen, Thijn Lamers
Sep 1, 2025	Uplift AI	$500K Seed	—	Alt Capital, foobar.vc, Gradient Ventures, monashees, Saga, Sarona Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Arash Ferdowsi, Drew Houston, Eric Wu, Mathilde Collin, Sam Altman, Stanley Tang, Tim Griffin, William Hockey
Sep 1, 2025	Scalekit	$6.0M Seed	—	AI Fund, AngelList, Square Peg Capital
Sep 1, 2025	Enveda Biosciences	$150.0M Series D	—	Builders VC, Dimension Capital, DN Capital, FPV Fund, Hummingbird Ventures, Icebreaker.vc, Kinnevik, True Ventures, Chris Gibson, Henry Kravis, rajiv chegu
Sep 1, 2025	Defacto	$19.0M Venture Round	—	Motier Ventures, Didier Valet, Rodolphe Ardant, Thibaud Elziere, Victoria van Lennep
Sep 1, 2025	Knowlify	$500K Seed	—	Sarona Ventures, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Y Combinator, Felipe Navio, Kulveer Taggar
Aug 1, 2025	Kontigo	$20.0M Seed	—	Alumni Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Hummingbird Ventures, Nyca Partners, SciFi VC, Sequoia Capital, SID Venture Partners, Sierra Ventures, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, Balaji Srinivasan, Evan Cheng, Furqan Rydhan, Gokul Rajaram, Helen Liang, Hubert Thieblot, Matteo Franceschetti, Oliver Jung, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Sam Altman, Scot Wingo, Tom Blomfield
Jul 1, 2025	ZeroEntropy	$4.0M Seed	—	Day One Ventures, DST Global, Emergence Capital, Felicis Ventures, Flex Capital, Friends & Family Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Initialized Capital, Matrix, Otherwise Fund, Pioneer Fund, Runa Capital, Spark Capital, Summit Partners, SV Angel, Theory Forge Ventures, XFactor Ventures, Y Combinator, Aayush Phumbhra, Azeem Azhar, Ben Tossell, Chris Smoak, Klaus von Sayn-Wittgenstein, Krishna Mehra, Kulveer Taggar, Mathilde Collin, Paul Graham, Paul Stahura, Siqi Chen, Thijn Lamers
Jul 1, 2025	THEKER Robotics	$18.0M Seed	—	Concept Ventures, Sarona Ventures, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Y Combinator, Kaushik Subramanian, Kulveer Taggar, Mandeep Singh
Jul 1, 2025	Fiber Elements	$3.0M Seed	—	468 Capital, Atypical Ventures, HV Capital, Insight Partners, Insignia Ventures Partners, LEA Partners, lool ventures, Notion Capital, Streamlined Ventures, TLV Partners, Vera Equity, WestCap, Gokul Rajaram, Konstantin von Unger, Louis Beryl, Roland Berger
Jul 1, 2025	Cerebrium	$9.0M Seed	—	Sarona Ventures, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Y Combinator, Felipe Navio, Kulveer Taggar
Jun 1, 2025	Clara	$3.0M Seed	—	99 Startups, ALLVP, Alpha4 ventures, Canaan Partners, Coatue, FasterCapital, Latitud, monashees, Hans Tung, Picus Capital, Silence, Torch Capital, Xochi Ventures, Y Combinator, Anna Yuan, Ariel Lambrecht, David Vélez, Justin Mateen, Karim Atiyeh, Manolo Atala, Michael Levinthal, Mik Attisani, Nicky Goulimis, Oliver Jung, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Ricardo Weder, Sahin Boydas, Sergio Furio
Jun 1, 2025	Glean	$150.0M Series F	—	Kevin Hartz, Addition, Amplify Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Banana Capital, Battery Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, CapitalG, Cedar Capital Group, Coatue, Convective Capital, Coughdrop Capital, CRV, Daft Capital, Day One Ventures, DST Global, Emergence Capital, Felicis Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Flex Capital, Founders Fund, Friends & Family Capital, General Catalyst, Goat Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Greylock, Dave Munichiello, Infinite Niches, In-Q-Tel, Insight Partners, Invariantes Fund, IVP, Jetstream, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Matrix, MS&AD Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, QBE Ventures, Ride Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sand Hill Angels, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Singular, Snowflake Ventures, Spark Capital, Summit Partners, SV Angel, Telescope Partners, The Hit Forge, Theory Forge Ventures, Thirty Five Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Tribe Capital, Wellington Management, Y Combinator, YOBE Ventures, Andre Iguodala, Azeem Azhar, Ben Tossell, Bradley Horowitz, Brandon Philips, Jonathan Swanson, Joshua Reeves, Joshua Webster, Kulveer Taggar, Mathilde Collin, Paul Graham, Paul Stahura, Ryan Shea, Sahin Boydas, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Suhail Doshi, Thijn Lamers
Jun 1, 2025	Harmony (tryharmony.ai)	$2.0M Seed	—	Alt Capital, Browder Capital, Day One Ventures, DST Global, Emergence Capital, Felicis Ventures, Flex Capital, Founders Fund, Friends & Family Capital, FTX Ventures, Greenoaks Capital, Matrix, Meritech Capital Partners, Mischief Venture Capital, Otherwise Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Saga, Spark Capital, Summit Partners, SV Angel, TCV, The Hit Forge, Theory Forge Ventures, Y Combinator, Azeem Azhar, Ben Tossell, Christina Cacioppo, Dharmesh Shah, Dylan Field, Fidji Simo, Immad Akhund, Jason Lemkin, Jonathan Neman, Joshua Reeves, Julian Shapiro, Justin Mateen, Kulveer Taggar, Mathilde Collin, Max Mullen, Parker Conrad, Paul Graham, Paul Stahura, Scott Belsky, Sean Rad, Siqi Chen, Thijn Lamers
Jun 1, 2025	OpenTrade	$7.0M Seed	—	Circle Ventures, Embedded Capital, Lakestar, Mercury Fund, Notion Capital, Outrun Ventures, Robert Maier, Verena Pausder, Yang Zou
Jun 1, 2025	Aibidia	$28.0M Series B	—	2xN, Accel, DN Capital, Forerunner Ventures, FPV Fund, Icebreaker.vc, Menlo Ventures, OODA Ventures, Race Capital, Seedcamp, Adam Marchick, Bradley Horowitz, Charles Zedlewski, DJ Patil, Jacob Kerzner, Jeff Hammerbacher, Stewart Butterfield, Tom Williams
Jun 1, 2025	Paraform	$20.0M Series A	—	Kevin Hartz, A* Capital (A Star Capital), Andreessen Horowitz, Breakpoint Capital, DST Global, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Ironspring Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Liquid 2 Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Oyster Ventures, Roosh Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Soma Capital, The Venture Reality Fund, Wellington Management, Y Combinator, Brad Garlinghouse, Evan Moore, Karl Mehta, Kevin Lin, Mark Pincus, Ralph Gootee, Sahin Boydas, Thom Ruhe, Tracy Young, William Hockey
May 1, 2025	Airwallex	$150.0M Series F	—	Addition, DST Global, Greenoaks Capital, King Goh, R136 Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Square Peg Capital, Didier Valet, Stefan Jeschonnek
May 1, 2025	Granola	$43.0M Series B	—	20VC, 8VC, Accel, AirAngels, Alumni Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Vijaya Gadde, C2 Investment, Coinbase Ventures, Curated, Day One Ventures, DST Global, Emergence Capital, Felicis Ventures, Flex Capital, Friends & Family Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Haun Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, iNovia Capital, Khosla Ventures, LGF, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Logos Labs, Madrona Ventures, Matrix, NEO, Hans Tung, Notion Capital, Otherwise Fund, Paradigm, Pareto Holdings, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Summit Partners, SV Angel, Theory Forge Ventures, Thrive Capital, Tribe Capital, Tusk Venture Partners, Valar Ventures, Y Combinator, Akshay Kothari, Azeem Azhar, Ben Silbermann, Ben Tossell, Christian Reber, Dharmesh Shah, Elad Gil, Evan Williams, Georges Harik, James Hong, John Collison, Kulveer Taggar, Marc Benioff, Mario Götze, Mathilde Collin, Max Mullen, Nico Rosberg, Patrick Collison, Paul Graham, Paul Stahura, Ron Pragides, Ryan Sarver, Ryan Tedder, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Stewart Butterfield, Thijn Lamers, Guillermo Rauch
May 1, 2025	David	$75.0M Series A	—	Day One Ventures, DST Global, Emergence Capital, Felicis Ventures, Flex Capital, Friends & Family Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Matrix, Otherwise Fund, Spark Capital, Summit Partners, SV Angel, Theory Forge Ventures, Y Combinator, Azeem Azhar, Ben Tossell, Kulveer Taggar, Mathilde Collin, Paul Graham, Paul Stahura, Siqi Chen, Thijn Lamers
May 1, 2025	remberg	$17.0M Series A	—	Acton Capital Partners, Creandum, Earlybird Venture Capital, Icebreaker.vc, Andrus Purde, Kristjan Vilosius
May 1, 2025	Catena Labs	$18.0M Seed	—	Andreessen Horowitz, Framework Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures, Index Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Otherwise Fund, Sequoia Capital, Signia Venture Partners, Soma Capital, Susa Ventures, Andy Rubin, Balaji Srinivasan, Bradley Horowitz, Gokul Rajaram, Kevin Lin, Sam Palmisano

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Deep Dive

Global Founders Capital (GFC) is a globally oriented, stage-agnostic venture capital firm that invests in talented entrepreneurs across various stages, from pre-seed to IPO, with a focus on innovative technologies and sustainable businesses. Their mission is to empower gifted entrepreneurs by providing not only capital but also operational support through a comprehensive platform, helping startups scale globally. GFC invests across diverse sectors including internet, retail, financial software, media, communication, and information technology, backing category-defining ventures worldwide[1][2][4].

Founded in 2013 by Oliver Samwer and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, GFC has evolved into a major player in the venture capital ecosystem by supporting companies from their earliest stages through growth phases and public offerings. The firm has a strong track record of investing in high-profile companies such as Zalando, Delivery Hero, Revolut, trivago, Slack, Facebook, and Lazada, demonstrating its global reach and influence in the startup ecosystem[1][4][5].

Origin Story

Global Founders Capital was established in 2013 by Oliver Samwer, a prominent entrepreneur and investor known for his role in founding Rocket Internet. The firm was created to leverage the founders' experience and network to back promising startups globally, regardless of their stage. Over time, GFC expanded its focus from early-stage investments to supporting companies throughout their entire lifecycle, including growth and IPO stages. This evolution reflects a commitment to long-term partnership with entrepreneurs and a broadening of its investment scope to capture opportunities worldwide[1][2].

Core Differentiators

Stage-agnostic investment model: GFC invests in companies at any stage, from pre-seed to IPO, allowing flexibility and long-term engagement.
Global reach: The firm supports founders across all geographies, enabling access to diverse markets and ecosystems.
Operational platform: Beyond capital, GFC offers operational support to help startups scale efficiently.
Strong network and track record: Backing successful companies like Zalando, Delivery Hero, and Revolut highlights GFC’s ability to identify and nurture category-defining ventures.
Sector diversity: Investments span internet, retail, fintech, media, communication, and IT sectors, reflecting a broad technology focus[1][2][4][5].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Global Founders Capital rides the trend of globalization in venture capital, where startups and innovation are no longer confined to traditional tech hubs. The timing is crucial as digital transformation accelerates worldwide, creating opportunities for scalable technology companies across emerging and established markets. Market forces such as increasing internet penetration, fintech adoption, and e-commerce growth favor GFC’s investment approach. By supporting startups globally and across stages, GFC influences the broader ecosystem by enabling cross-border innovation and helping founders build category leaders that shape industries[1][2][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Global Founders Capital is likely to deepen its involvement in emerging technologies and sustainable business models, aligning with global trends toward digitalization and environmental responsibility. Their platform-based operational support will become increasingly valuable as startups face complex scaling challenges. GFC’s global and stage-agnostic model positions it well to capitalize on new market opportunities and continue influencing the venture capital landscape by backing the next generation of category-defining companies[4].

In summary, Global Founders Capital stands out as a versatile, globally minded venture capital firm that empowers entrepreneurs through capital, expertise, and a robust support platform, making it a pivotal player in the evolving global startup ecosystem.

Sources

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Stage-agnostic investment model: GFC invests in companies at any stage, from pre-seed to IPO, allowing flexibility and long-term engagement.
Global reach: The firm supports founders across all geographies, enabling access to diverse markets and ecosystems.
Operational platform: Beyond capital, GFC offers operational support to help startups scale efficiently.
Strong network and track record: Backing successful companies like Zalando, Delivery Hero, and Revolut highlights GFC’s ability to identify and nurture category-defining ventures.
Sector diversity: Investments span internet, retail, fintech, media, communication, and IT sectors, reflecting a broad technology focus[1][2][4][5].

Global Founders Capital

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