James Wise
17 Apr 2026Allbirds Does AI, Snap Layoffs, SovAI’s £500M, Jensen Not A Loser, UK Stablecoins
James Wise Launches UK Sovereign AI Fund
James Wise, chair of UK Sovereign AI, officially launches the government's £500 million AI fund, explaining its independent investment committee, matched commercial terms, GPU compute allocation, and founder support levers. He fields quick-fire questions on whether £500 million is meaningful, the state of UK compute, frontier labs including DeepMind and ElevenLabs, and whether anyone can best Anthropic and OpenAI.
19 Jan 2026Europe’s Newest Unicorn, Hiro Capital Deep Dive, Thinking Machines Drama, Listen Labs does $100M
James Wise on Revolut's Win and the UK Sovereign AI Unit
Balderton partner James Wise returns after US trips to react to Nick Clegg joining Hiro Capital and to the FT front-page story on Balderton's roughly $9B Revolut stake, calling it rare positive front-page coverage for European tech. He then explains his new role as inaugural chair of the UK government's Sovereign AI Unit, helping set up its structure, team, and strategy; the interview continues past the end of this part.
James Wise: Chairing the UK's Sovereign AI Unit
James Wise, inaugural chair of the UK's Sovereign AI Unit, explains the unit was set up under the AI Opportunities Action Plan (the Matt Clifford work for government) to help the best commercial AI companies anchor in Britain and keep the UK resilient across the AI stack "from electron to token." It will operate like a fund — investing hundreds of millions directly into cap tables on commercial terms, offering compute and data access, and using advanced market commitments where government pre-commits to buy from companies hitting targets. He says he's hiring a managing partner and hopes the unit returns money to the taxpayer and leaves 5-10 leading AI companies with a strong UK base.
Why 'Sovereignty' Is Everywhere in Tech Right Now
Wise says he doesn't want to overplay sovereignty — it isn't nationalism or "drawing up drawbridges," but about growing the global AI pie with Britain keeping a slice. He attributes the surge in sovereignty talk to governments recognising the resources AI requires (energy, data) and its disruptive economic impact that will force legal and regulatory change. He notes tech founders historically ignored government, but the community now engages, citing White House CEO roundtables and technologist appointments in the UK.
AI Job Fears, Sadiq Khan & UK Early Adoption
Responding to Sadiq Khan's FT warning that AI could cause mass unemployment in London, Wise argues the real risk is blocking access to AI tools — that's how you'd actually cause job losses. He cites polling (Focal Data) showing Brits are among the world's earliest adopters of new technology per capita, from e-commerce and neobanking to AI products, and says the priority is access plus clear guidance. He adds that government should capture and champion internal AI successes — like a doctor or teacher using it productively — rather than fuel alarmism.
Balderton's Record Year & 2026 Hiring Plans
Wise reports 2025 was Balderton's best year in its 25-year history by distributions returned to investors, with strong portfolio momentum and announcements from Fuse, Quantum Systems, GoCardless, Dream Games and Revolut. He stresses the firm stays "paranoid" to keep winning the best European founders. He plugs open roles — investment professionals for the sovereign AI unit team and a hire covering the DACH region — and teases "a couple of big announcements" in the next month.
16 Jan 2026Listen Labs $100M, Europe’s New Unicorn, Sinking Machines, Dom Hallas
James Wise on Balderton & Clegg's Hiro Move
Following sponsor reads and studio tech gremlins, James Wise — partner at Balderton and chair of the UK's Sovereign AI Unit — rejoins the show. He describes recent US trips for investments, board meetings and exits, then gives early thoughts on Nick Clegg joining Hiro Capital's reported ~$500M growth push targeting Europe's 'valley of death', crediting Clegg's Meta tenure and the fund's gaming and metaverse credentials. The conversation is cut off as the transcript ends.
Revolut's FT front-page win & the Balderton anniversary plate
James Wise wraps a discussion on new capital entering European venture, noting the flywheel effect where successes beget successes and even great funds have many failures. He celebrates Revolut making the front page of the Financial Times, arguing positive coverage of European tech successes is rare and overdue. The hosts show off the Balderton 25th-anniversary ceramic plate and recall James missing out on one at the anniversary party.
James Wise: chairing the UK Government's Sovereign AI Unit
James Wise describes his new role as inaugural chair of the UK Government's Sovereign AI Unit, set up under the AI Opportunities Action Plan to accelerate AI success in Britain. The unit will invest hundreds of millions of pounds directly into companies' cap tables on commercial terms, provide access to compute and data, and make advanced market commitments so startups can show private investors a government order when fundraising. He is hiring a managing partner and investing partners, hoping for taxpayer returns and five to ten more leading AI companies anchored in the UK.
Sovereignty, tech-government relations & the AI alarmism debate
Asked why 'sovereignty' dominates tech conversation, Wise insists it is not nationalism — the goal is to grow the global AI pie while Britain keeps a slice. He argues governments now recognise the resources and disruption AI involves, and that technologists must engage with nation states, citing White House round tables and UK appointments. On Sadiq Khan's mass-unemployment warning, he points to Brits' record as early adopters of e-commerce, neobanking and AI, says blocking the tools would be the real job-killer, and notes government lacks a 'single pane of glass' to surface its own internal AI successes.
Balderton's record year, 'paranoid' mindset & open roles
Wise reports 2025 was Balderton's best year for distributions in its 25-year history, citing wins like Fuse's $70 million Series B alongside GoCardless, Dream Games and Revolut announcements — while insisting the firm stays 'paranoid as hell' about competing for top founders. He plugs hiring for investment professionals on the Sovereign AI Unit and a DACH-focused role at Balderton, teasing announcements to come. The hosts say goodbye, joking about getting embargoes broken on ETN first.
18 Oct 2025Jack and Jill raise $20m, Oura hits $11bn, UK IPO Market, IPO push for Nscale, Waymo announce London
James Wise on European venture, bubbles & UK IPOs
Balderton partner James Wise calls this the most exciting period in his 15 years of European venture, noting Balderton will return more capital this year than ever in its 25-year history. He says London — the largest ride-hailing market in the Western world — can easily support both Waymo and Wave, and describes the widening range of sectors he's seeing, from drones and nuclear fusion to space logistics and green energy. On markets, he argues a financial bubble is inevitable but AI is not a technological dead end, warns about the top 10 US companies nearing 25% of global equity value, and pushes back on Chamath's "British IPOs are dead" tweet — blaming UK pension funds' collapsed equity allocations (from ~40% in 2000 to ~5-10%) for starving the market of capital.
17 Oct 2025etn. Episode 2
James Wise on European Venture, Bubbles & UK IPOs
Teed up by a Goldman Sachs paper shared on LinkedIn arguing we're not in a bubble yet, Balderton partner James Wise calls this the strongest period in his 15 years in European venture, with Balderton set to return more capital to investors than ever this year. He argues London is big enough for both Waymo and Wave, describes European tech broadening into drones, fusion and space logistics, and explains why a financial bubble is inevitable even though AI is not a technological dead end. He defends the UK IPO market against Chamath's jabs, highlights LSE reforms and Crowdcube secondaries, and argues pension funds' collapsed equity allocation — around 5% versus 40% in 2000 — is the core problem, before plugging his 2027 book 'In Defense of Ambition'.