Hummingbird: Venture Firm You've Never Heard Of
Hummingbird Ventures has built an astonishing track record – all while staying out of the limelight. Its secret to success? A meticulous approach to identifying outlier founders.
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If you only have a few minutes to spare, here’s what investors, operators, and founders should know about Hummingbird Ventures.
Quiet excellence . Hummingbird is not a brand name firm, even in its native Europe. Despite its low profile, it has produced exceptional returns since its start in 2010. Its first three vintages have all produced returns greater than 10x on a net basis. Critically, these are not just paper gains – Hummingbird has also distributed real capital.
All that matters . Ask managing partners Barend Van den Brande and Firat Ileri for the strategy behind their success, and they will quickly point to one variable: the founder. While other factors matter, Hummingbird’s team believes that the right entrepreneur is 80% of the equation.
Difficulty and divergence . Lots of venture shops consider founders important in their rationale. No one assesses them quite like Hummingbird. The firm adheres to a meticulous psychological approach that looks for unusual signals. For example, Hummingbird looks for neurodivergent founders who have endured real trauma.