Hiro Capital

Investment decisions are led by the firm's three founding partners: Luke Alvarez, Cherry Freeman, and Ian Livingstone. Alvarez and Freeman serve as Managing Partners overseeing the firm's strategy, while Livingstone, the co-creator of the Tomb Raider franchise and former Eidos executive, provides sector-specific underwriting and portfolio guidance. This tightly-held decision-making structure means every investment is evaluated by operators who have founded, scaled, or led game studios.

Hiro relies heavily on its partners' deep personal networks within the global gaming industry, built over decades of operating roles. Ian Livingstone's reputation as a founding figure in British video games, alongside Alvarez and Freeman's entrepreneurial track records, gives the firm early access to studio founders and game-tech teams before formal fundraising processes begin. The firm also leverages its status as one of the few dedicated, operator-led gaming funds in Europe to attract inbound founder interest.

Hiro Capital invests primarily through direct equity and venture debt into early-growth and expansion-stage companies. The firm does not operate as a fund-of-funds. Its August 2024 co-investment vehicle provides additional capital to back portfolio companies alongside its main fund, but the model remains rooted in building a concentrated portfolio of direct investments rather than allocating to third-party fund managers.

Hiro targets seed through Series B rounds, with a focus on early-growth and expansion-stage companies that have achieved some commercial traction. The firm looks for game studios with a launched title or strong pre-release metrics, as well as game-tech and interactive media companies with early revenue. This stage focus reflects the partners' belief that operator input is most valuable during the transition from initial launch to scale.

Hiro Capital is structured as an institutional venture capital and private equity firm, not a family office. The firm raised its debut fund from external limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and family offices, and operates under standard fund management structures. The founding partners have their own capital at risk alongside institutional LPs, creating fee and carry alignment typical of independent VC firms.

Hiro Capital maintains an office in Luxembourg to facilitate fundraising from European Union institutional investors under Luxembourg's well-established alternative investment fund regulatory framework. This structure allows the firm to access continental European pension funds, insurers, and sovereign investors that prefer or require a Luxembourg-domiciled vehicle. It also positions Hiro to manage pan-European capital flows efficiently while its core investment team operates from London.

Hiro Capital invests exclusively at the intersection of video games, the metaverse, esports, and creator-focused digital platforms. The firm avoids traditional enterprise software, fintech, biotechnology, and deep-tech hardware unless the company directly serves the gaming and interactive media ecosystem. This sector purity is central to Hiro's value proposition — LPs gain pure-play exposure to gaming and digital play, managed by operators who have spent their careers in those sectors.