Hussein Kanji, Founder @Hoxton Ventures: Why AI Means London Can Compete with the US | E1248

Hussein Kanji of Hoxton Ventures argues AI puts Europe on par with the US for the first time in a non-niche tech field, while sharing hard lessons from Darktrace and Deliveroo exits.

• Hoxton’s fund one took 39 months to raise to $28M; Kanji now advises emerging managers to fundraise for 90 days and deploy whatever they get.
• Darktrace peaked at a 10x net fund return; Hoxton missed that peak by not selling, eventually distributing around £3.50/share instead of £6.
• Hoxton left ~$400M on the table at Darktrace’s Series C SPV: raised zero of a $10M allocation at $400M post, which was later privatized at $5.3B.
• Deliveroo returned ~34x on the first check; Hoxton sold at IPO lockup expiry at £3/share — stock later fell to £1, making them look prescient.
• Kanji’s current exit formula: sell one-third at IPO lockup expiry, one-third six months later, one-third six to twelve months after that.
• DeepMind in London and Meta AI in Paris signal Europe is for the first time competitive with the US in a horizontal tech field, not just fintech or gaming niches.
• Kanji argues fixing the London Stock Exchange is the wrong policy priority — UK pension funds already invest in US tech; the real problem is getting more companies capitalized to $200-300M revenue IPO bar.
• Trump-era FTC stance blocking sub-$500M M&A deals is net positive for seed funds via increased acquisition exit options.

2025-01-20 · Watch on YouTube