Giant Ventures is a purpose-driven technology firm backing climate and technology startups.
Portfolio
4
companies
CuspAI
CuspAI develops an artificial intelligence platform to accelerate the discovery of new materials.
StudentFinance
StudentFinance provides education financing and career mobility solutions for professional upskilling.
Papaya Technologies
Papaya builds a software platform to source and manage electric fleets.
TrueCircle
TrueCircle provides artificial intelligence and computer vision systems for recycling facilities.
Cameron Mclain
Managing Partner of Giant Ventures
Cameron is co-founder and managing partner of Giant Ventures. He previously served as a principal at Hummingbird Ventures and founded HeyBeeHiveCo.
LinkedInTommy Stadlen
co-founder
The financing was co-led by New Enterprise Associates and Temasek with participation from a broad group of strategic investors.
"Next-generation AI compute, clean air and water and sustainable energy – these multi-billion-dollar global challenges share a common barrier: materials. CuspAI’s mission is to change that. In just a year, we’ve gone from concept to partnerships with world leaders in automotive, semiconductors, energy, and climate."
The seed round was led by Hoxton Ventures with participation from Basis Set Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
"The Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team is looking forward to collaborating with CuspAI in their use of AI, including our OpenDAC work, to accelerate the discovery of novel DAC sorbent materials. The world needs fast progress on affordable carbon capture, and we believe that CuspAI’s team is in an excellent position to apply AI-based materials discovery to this pressing problem."
The equity portion of the round was led by Iberis Capital, with debt financing from SmartLenders Asset Management.
"The demand for workforce upskilling has never been greater. We’re on a mission to plug this gap across Europe while empowering individuals to level-up their careers. Our platform is currently over-subscribed so, with the new funds, we’re looking forward to helping as many people as possible embark on training courses to upskill. We aim to expand our coverage to build the workforce for the future, in particular in areas such as technology, AI and climate change."
Giant Ventures led the seed financing round to help build a comprehensive electric vehicle ecosystem in Europe.
"Papaya is on a mission to electrify Europe's fleets. We are committed to empowering the electrification ecosystem by removing any barriers and connecting service providers and fleets in one single system, where anyone can plug in; creating market efficiencies instead of just company efficiencies."
Lowercarbon Capital led the pre-seed round, with participation from Passion Capital, Giant Ventures, and firstminute Capital.
"Most people do not understand the value of waste,"
The seed round was co-led by Giant Ventures and Armilar Venture Partners to support expansion into the UK and Europe.
"We are incredibly excited to have secured such high calibre investors and to have received the continued support of our existing investors, who all believe in our mission of removing barriers to education and empowering economic mobility. With StudentFinance, it takes an average of just four months for reskilled students to find more lucrative employment compared to the UK market average, where the majority of graduates only find employment up to 15 months on from completing their studies. The pandemic has only reinforced the need for solutions that enable people to access quality education to secure employment opportunities and we are making it a reality."
