Investor Profile: London Venture Partners — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

London Venture Partners (LVP) is a London-based venture capital seed fund that does one thing: games. Founded in 2010, it invests exclusively across the games ecosystem — interactive entertainment, studios, content, technology, platforms and services — and describes itself as a fund of operating experts rather than financiers. Its team members were among the earliest investors in companies that have created over $13 billion in value.

Investment thesis

LVP's pitch is focus. Because it only ever invests in games, the partners argue they speak the founders' language, share the same references, and understand the sector's challenges at a depth generalist funds cannot match. The firm invests in people first: founders with the potential to build the best in the world, teams with exceptional creative games-development skills, or entrepreneurs with revolutionary ideas for games technology and services — each coalescing around a unique vision. Support is deliberately hands-on, drawing on the partners' own history building companies from garage beginnings to multi-billion-dollar exits.

Sectors and stage

The firm makes global investments across the full games ecosystem: studios, content, gaming technology, platforms and services. It invests at angel, pre-seed, seed and growth stages, explicitly favouring early rounds where its operating experience adds the most value. In 2019 LVP raised a reported $80 million third fund to back a new generation of games startups. The firm has not publicly disclosed a standard cheque size, so founders should expect an early-stage ticket sized to the round.

Notable portfolio

LVP's defining claim is its seed track record: it was among the earliest investors in Supercell, Unity, Playfish and NaturalMotion — a lineage that underpins its entire brand. The portfolio named on the firm's own site and announcements also includes Futureplay, Singularity 6, Bossa Studios, Space Ape Games, Double Loop Games (an $8 million Series A), Sanlo (a $3.5 million round for the fintech platform scaling mobile games), Bunch, Third Time Entertainment (a $3.5 million seed round), Jam & Tea Studios, Vela Games and Hatch.

Partners

Key partners include co-founder and general partner David Gardner, formerly of Electronic Arts and Atari, alongside Paul Heydon and Jon Bellamy — all games-industry operators with exits behind them, which is precisely the operating expertise the firm's thesis leans on.

How to apply for funding from London Venture Partners

LVP publishes its contact details on its official website, londonvp.com, and Innovate UK's investor listing carries the firm's contact email as well. Founders should come ready to be judged on LVP's stated pillars: ambition of the vision, team quality, product process, and a clear financial path to scale. The firm prides itself on knowing "a good idea when it sees one" — but associate Harry Hamer has publicly advised founders that aiming too low is one of the most common reasons pitches fail with LVP.