Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen grew up across Africa, from Angola and Guinea-Bissau to Tanzania and Libya, after his family fled the Angolan Civil War as refugees. Those early experiences instilled in him a belief that education, technology, and social innovation can transform lives and continue to anchor his career and philanthropy activities to this day.

Today, Lars is a General Partner at Owl Ventures ($2.2B AUM), the world’s leading venture capital firm focused exclusively on education technology. He leads Owl’s expansion across Europe, Africa, and global markets, backing founders who harness AI and breakthrough technologies to make learning more accessible and impactful.

Before joining Owl, he co-founded 2xN, an early-stage fund at the frontier of deeptech and quantum innovation, with standout investments including Quantinuum (valued above $10 billion), Oxford Ionics (acquired by IonQ in a $1 billion deal), QSimulate and Sparrow Quantum, and – prior to that– was a General Partner at Balderton Capital in London during which time the firm led the Seed and Series A in Revolut. His investments also span education (Labster, uLesson, StudySmarter, Kukua), mobility (Yassir, Voi, Monta,NoTraffic), and mobile and frontier tech (Hiya, Monarch Money, Rahko, Pocket, Colossal, Celus, Octant Bio, Vivino, OpenSea, Blue Bottle Coffee).

Lars previously spent a decade in Silicon Valley, shaping some of tech’s most iconic growth stories. At Uber, he joined when it operated in fewer than 20 cities and, as Vice President, forged global alliances with Verizon and América Móvil that fueled its international expansion. Before Uber, as Head of Mobile at Dropbox, he was among the first 25 employees and helped the company reach its first 100 million users through partnerships with Samsung and other OEMs.

Despite his career in technology and venture capital, Africa has never left Lars’s journey. After his father’s passing, he returned to Angola to trace his family’s history, discovering that his sister had died of malaria as a child. That revelation transformed a personal loss into a mission. A technologist turned humanitarian innovator, Lars filed a patent for genetically modified mosquitoes that light up when carrying malaria and began funding malaria-research projects in Angola through partnerships with global nonprofits. In 2024, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for malaria research, following earlier campaigns such as climbing the Matterhorn and crossing the Sahara on motorbike.

A Danish-Portuguese national and former Royal Danish Guards, Lars holds an MBA from London Business School, where he served on the Board of Governors and as the Chairman of the Endowment Fund, an MSc from Oxford University (Keble College), and a BSc from King’s College London. Across every chapter, from refugee to technologist to investor, his purpose endures: advancing education, health, and innovation as catalysts for social change.

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