Fifty Years is an entrepreneur-run early stage venture fund based in San Francisco, California focused on investing in technology companies. Fifty Years funds companies which are attempting to solve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on synthetic biology and food technology companies. Fifty Years VC focuses primarily on seed stage investments into companies with built products and some market validation.
The fund was founded by Seth Bannon and Ela Madej in 2016, and formed its name from a famous essay "Fifty Years Hence" written by Winston Churchill in 1932.
Notable companies Fifty Years VC has invested in include: Geltor, Memphis Meats, Starsky Robotics, Astranis, and Cofactor Genomics.
In July 2019, Fifty Years VC announced they raised $50 million for their second fund. The fund will be used to invest in companies employing technology to improve food supply, healthcare and other areas with global impacts.
Fifty Years VC produces and supports Impact.Tech, which is an event series for scientists, entrepreneurs and investors focused on solving problems through business.
Timeline
Funded Companies
People
Ela Madej
Partner & Founder
Katariina Helaniemi
Operations at Impact.tech
Richard Chen
Investor
Seth Bannon
Partner & Founder
Shuo Yang
Principal
Further reading
Chafing Against Regulation, Silicon Valley Pivots to Pandemic
Andrew Leonard
Web
April 15, 2020
Climate change isn't going anywhere, and investment could soon rise - Marketplace
Molly Wood
Web
June 9, 2020
Deep tech VCs on what they view as some of the most impactful young startups right now
Connie Loizos
Web
January 18, 2020
Fake-meat startups rake in cash amid food supply worries - BNN Bloomberg
Larissa Zimberoff
Web
May 1, 2020
Fifty Years — The new Silicon Valley VC that wants to save the world AND make money
Mike Butcher
Oct 3, 2016
Fifty Years Offers Unusual Funding to Its Startups Tackling Coronavirus
Tomio Geron
Web
March 26, 2020
Fifty Years Raises Second Fund Focused on Biotech Startups
Heather Mack
Web
July 1, 2019
Fifty Years' $50 million fund signals tech's turn toward impact | ImpactAlpha
David Bank
Web
July 2, 2019
Meet The Forbes Under 30 Founders Leading The Next Billion-Dollar Startups
Alexandra Wilson
Web
May 28, 2020
Silicon Valley is throwing money behind Covid-19 efforts, hoping for results
Shannon Liao, CNN Business
Web
May 27, 2020
Taking risks on 'impact tech' to make exponential progress toward the global goals (video) | ImpactAlpha
David Bank
Web
October 31, 2019
Tech mobilization around COVID starts to show results | ImpactAlpha
Dennis Price
Web
April 8, 2020
Tech Startups Ask Workers to Trade In Salary for Stock
Shelly Banjo
Web
April 17, 2020
Documentaries, videos and podcasts
Danny In The Valley - Fifty Years' Seth Bannon: "Passing the Mr. Burns test"
Jan 24, 2020
Danny In The Valley: Fifty Years' Seth Bannon: "When a bear chases you into a tree, how do you get down?" on Apple Podcasts
March 25, 2020
Seth Bannon, Founding Partner at Fifty Years on How Science Startups Build the Future | Ausha
May 6, 2020
Companies
News
References
Venture capital firm
CompanyCompany attributes
Venture capital
Nootropic
Plant-based meat
Cell-based meat
San Francisco
Seth Bannon
Ela MadejVenture Capital Firm attributes
Cofactor Genomics
Upside Foods
Athelas
Geltor
Avro Life Science
ExVivo Labs
Astranis
OpentronsCategories
Related Topics
Contributors
- 1
Alex Mieszczak
Executive assistant at Fifty Years. - 2
Aleksander Holm
Interested in understanding the world we live in. - 3
Kata Helaniemi
Life enthusiast intrigued about impact+tech. Supporting entrepreneurs using technology to solve the world's biggest problems. - 4
Dawson Sewell
Writing about startups. - 5
Jude Gomila
Founder and CEO of Golden, Entrepreneur. Investor in 200+ companies. Cantabrigian (Gonville and Caius). Interested in the Universe. - 6
Keeri Tramm
Accomplished manager, brand communicator, and burgeoning data analyst. - 7
Melanie Manipula
Helping organize knowledge. - 8
Jason D. Rowley
Former Data Acquisition Lead @ Golden (Recursion Inc.). Excited about open knowledge and pulling the future forward. - 9
Neelam Jhaveri
Techno Geek + Gamer + Fashionista + Sense of Humor = It's ME - 10
Tianchang He
Stanford EE MS, interested in machine learning, front-end and all things tech.
