Our principles
Our principles reflect our values and guide how we work with others.
Understand the problem
Be imaginative, act early
Lead by example
Be part of something bigger
Take the long view
Our story
While BGV officially launched in 2012, our story started in 2008 running ‘Social Innovation Camps’. An early version of what later became known as a ‘hack weekend’. We brought together people who were at the sharp end of social and environmental problems with some of the best tech talent in the UK seeking a more meaningful use of their skills.
At the end of every weekend the same question always came up: “How do I quit my job and turn this into a startup?”
At the same time we were learning about the (then tiny) phenomenon of accelerator programmes in the US. We put two and two together – the Social Innovation Camp community and what we learned about the accelerator model – and created Europe’s first ‘tech for good’ accelerator. We named it after the place we were based at the time – Bethnal Green.
Since those early days we’ve gone on to become one of the UK’s leading early-stage VCs. While we’ve evolved and grown as a company, our vision remains the same: to significantly improve hundreds of millions of lives through tech for good.
Named as one of the top 100 organisations to work for out of 13,000 nominations
Venture capital firm of the year
Ranked second globally for our diversity and inclusion efforts
