We're a Copenhagen-based VC fund that specialises in providing seed funding for outstanding Danish startups.
If you think VC is all about money, you’re wrong. We’re here on the mandate of our LPs to back founders that are able to form grand companies that solve some of the most important problems of our time and approx 70% of our portfolio converts to series A, which is well above the European standard among venture funds.
We also participate in follow-up funding rounds syndicated with new international VCs. We have existed since 2004 and have raised close to €500M across 4 funds and 1 growth fund.. We raised €140M for our latest fund and have already made our first 11 investments with more to come.
We take pride in helping our portfolio companies all the way to exit. We back exceptional Denmark-based founders all the way to exit. More than 70% of our companies convert from seed to Series A, making us one of the best-performing funds in Europe. We’ve made 60 investments, 10 exits and 5 IPOs over the past two decades and have just raised €140M for our next round. Come and grow with us.
OUR STAGE: Seed - 12-18 months before Series A or early A-rounds
OUR TICKET SIZE: €2-4M initial investment
Is this the next category winner?
It’s the first and most fundamental question we ask when considering any investment - and it’s why 70% of our investments convert to Series A.
We gravitate towards solutions that ride the wave of underlying macro trends with transparency and/or user generated content.
Our portfolio contains both consumer and Deep tech but the majority of our investments are within Fintech and SaaS. Actually, we’re the largest Fintech investor in Denmark.
So what we really love...
- Team: Team is the numero uno driving force behind any startup success. For us, the perfect founding team are die hard executors with a bold and ambitious vision. We seek a strong mutual chemistry as - in our experience - it’s the foundation for a great long-term partnership.
- Early Customer Love: Being a late seed investor implies a true love for initial traction. While initial traction isn’t a guarantee of future success, it says something about your execution power and the initial product-market fit, both of which are important markers for us. Traction isn’t a uniform thing, but to give an example, we typically wouldn’t invest in a SaaS business before it reaches 50 KEUR MRR.
- Scalable Business: We invest in tech startups with the potential to reshape an industry, category, or vertical within 8-10 years. When investing, we understand that you’re not there yet but we still look for early signs of strong scalability - i.e. profitable repeatability.
- Timing: Timing (and also a bit of luck) are often key ingredients for success. We need to understand why the market needs your solution now? We love solutions that are built on strong forward-looking macro trends such as transparency, user-generated content, or you tell us.
- Deep Insights: There’s no ‘one’ way of building a category winner, but they are all rooted in tackling a unique and big problem. This often starts by having experienced the problem first-hand, or through substantial industry experience. We love founders who are extremely nerdy with the problems they solve. They have first-hand experience on the pain of their customers and know where the gain is.
What typically makes us fall out of love...
- Business-to-government (B2G) - selling to the public sector
- A solution that solves low-priority problems - i.e. must be in top three for customer
- Solving overly time-bound problems - i.e. the problem becomes less relevant over time
- Inexperience combined with over confidence
- Homogenous founder team - though, we have invested in several solo founders 🤔
- Not aware of what success demands in terms of organisation, product and commercial expertise
- Messed up cap table - Let's fix this together
With you all the way
Since 2004, we’ve made 60 core investments and doubled down on breakout companies like Dixa, Endomondo, Fullrate, Lunar, Templafy, Trustpilot, VEO and Vivino. To date, the companies that we’ve invested in have gone on to raise more than $2.6BN.
When we invest, we invest far more than just capital.
We know how to stay the course
In almost 20 years of investing, we’ve lived through more than a few economic crises. We’ve invested in almost every type of industry and been on almost every type of venture journey. It’s this collective body of experience that is the essence of our value to you as a founder. We know which steps to take, which corners to cut, and when not to panic.
- A partner all the way to exit. We’re *not* spray and pray. We only ever invest in a few companies per fund and we have the time and money to help you to the finish line.
- Deep knowledge and a long-term commitment. We and our network of SEED Friends & Family have all been on the growth journey multiple times. We truly understand your business, share your vision, and will be by your side through the ups and downs. We collaborate with our founders on setting a strong board and management team. Someone you can confide in - both on what works and, even more importantly, what does not work.
- Close to founders. Proximity matters because it helps us build closer relationships with our founders. Plus it gives us the time and opportunity to have physical meetings when needed - some conversations are just easier face2face.
- The founder to CEO journey. We help the team grow from seed stage founder-centric team to a Series A mature management team (initial growth stage).
- Shape company for Series A. We re-engineer the process of raising a Series A and work methodically with GTM, metrics, unit economics, and a fundable team. We use our strong local network to help our companies find initial traction and make key hires.
- Raise next funding round. We have a strong network of international venture funds and we have worked with several of them for years. Furthermore, we have set aside a substantial amount of the fund for follow-on capital to provide you with a solid commitment going into the A round and beyond.
- Proven track record. Approx 70% of SEED Capital’s portfolio companies convert to series A, which is well above the European standard among venture funds, and a testament to our strategy of only investing in 3-5 new companies per year allowing an experienced team and capital to actually work with and support founders throughout their full journey.
- Join our #SEEDfamily. At times, the founder journey can be lonely. At other times, it can make you the happiest person on earth. With us, you’re not alone - you’ll be in great and mighty company.