At a Glance
Fifty Years is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, CA founded in 2020. Fifty Years – We back the indispensable using technology to solve the world's biggest problems. The firm focuses on Pre-Seed, Seed investments across sectors including Biotech, Digital Health, Deeptech. The firm manages $200M in assets under management. Notable portfolio companies include Varda Space Industries, Pivot Bio, Twelve and Solugen. Operator-heavy team backing pre-product deep-tech moonshots in biotech, climate, and frontier technologies.
“Operator-heavy team backing pre-product deep-tech moonshots in biotech, climate, and frontier technologies.”
Fifty Years was founded in San Francisco by Seth Bannon and Ela Madej and was already profiled as a new Silicon Valley firm in October 2016, investing at pre-seed and seed into companies working on civilization-scale problems in climate, health, food systems and frontier science. The name comes from Winston Churchill's 1931 essay 'Fifty Years Hence,' and the mandate is explicitly long-horizon: back companies whose impact compounds over decades rather than exit cycles.
The firm's third and largest fund closed at $90 million in October 2021, when Fifty Years was six years old. Its limited partner base is distinctive, drawn heavily from dozens of operators who built billion-dollar companies rather than from traditional institutional allocators, which is consistent with the firm's operator-first positioning. Sizes for the first two funds have not been publicly disclosed. Capital goes almost entirely into pre-product deep tech, with portfolio positions including Solugen, Pivot Bio, Varda Space Industries and Twelve.
Fifty Years primarily invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages. This means they focus on companies that are at the earliest idea or prototype phase.
Fifty Years is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Many of their portfolio companies are also based in this region, though they invest across geographies.
Fifty Years focuses on investments in Biotech, Digital Health, Deeptech. Their portfolio reflects deep expertise and networks within these sectors.
Fifty Years's typical investment check size ranges from $250K to $2M. Actual amounts may vary based on the stage, sector, and specific opportunity.
Fifty Years manages approximately $200M in assets under management (AUM) across their funds.
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