BackingMinds Research
Investment Thesis
BackingMinds is a Stockholm-based venture capital firm founded in 2016 by Susanne Najafi and Sara Wimmercranz, both former entrepreneurs. The firm's core thesis is that the venture capital industry systematically overlooks strong founders who sit outside traditional, homogeneous investor networks, and that this creates a structural opportunity: backing "high-performing founders outside the networks of traditional venture capital" outperforms chasing the same over-networked, overvalued deals everyone else sees. BackingMinds frames itself as more than a check-writer, emphasizing hands-on involvement, operator expertise, and access to networks alongside capital.
The firm publishes diversity-linked portfolio metrics that double as an investment edge argument rather than just an ESG statement: roughly 70% of portfolio companies are founded outside Sweden's capital cities, 35% include at least one founder with a migrant background, and 60% of founding teams include at least one female founder.
Sector Focus
BackingMinds describes itself as industry-agnostic within early-stage tech, and the portfolio bears that out with real concentration in climate/cleantech (CemVision, NitroVolt, Snerpa Power, Helios Innovations), supply chain and logistics (TrusTrace, TransferGalaxy, Skrym), enterprise software and security (Serviceform, Uniqkey), edtech (Lingio), fintech infrastructure (Bricknode), digital health (Boneprox), food tech (Mylla), proptech (Combify), and maritime AI (Cetasol).
Stage Focus
Early-stage: pre-seed and seed. BackingMinds typically writes first checks and often co-leads or leads seed rounds alongside other early-stage funds and strategics (e.g., co-leading Cetasol's seed with Shift4Good, and CemVision's seed alongside Polar Structure and Zacua Ventures).
Check Size
Reported ticket sizes run €500K–€3M, with a stated sweet spot around €1.5M. Actual round sizes the firm has participated in range from roughly €1M (Techarena) up to €10M (CemVision's seed round, where BackingMinds was one of several co-investors).
Lead Tendency
Mixed — BackingMinds both leads solo (Helios Innovations) and co-leads alongside other funds (Cetasol with Shift4Good; CemVision with Polar Structure and Zacua Ventures).
Recent Activity
BackingMinds is actively deploying from its second fund (Fund II, ~€50M, announced November 2022). Recent activity includes:
- October 2025: Invested SEK 14.2M (~€1.28M) in Helios Innovations, an industrial wastewater/PFAS treatment startup.
- September 2025: Co-led a €2.3M seed round in Cetasol (AI-driven maritime decision support) alongside Shift4Good.
- June 2025: Invested €1.1M in Techarena, a pan-European entrepreneurship/startup community platform, for international expansion.
- January 2026: Airinum founder Alexander Hjertström joined BackingMinds as an investor (Principal).
Portfolio Highlights
Current portfolio (23+ companies) spans CemVision (green cement, €10M seed round in 2024), TrusTrace (fashion supply chain traceability), TransferGalaxy (mobile money transfer/banking), Bricknode (fintech infrastructure — operational assets acquired by Huddlestock Fintech in April 2023), Lingio (EdTech language learning, born from a refugee-integration project), Uniqkey (access/password management), Serviceform, Skrym, NitroVolt, Snerpa Power, Hybird, Cetasol, TechArena, Helios Innovations, Tavion, Mylla, Campcation, Combify, Boneprox, and Denjo. Prior exited/legacy holdings include Equilab and Virkesbörsen.
Team
- Susanne Najafi — Founding Partner. Serial entrepreneur; named Female Investor of the Year 2026.
- Sara Wimmercranz — Founding Partner; co-founded BackingMinds in 2016 with Najafi.
- Lisen Oliw — Investment Partner.
- Alexander Hjertström — Principal/Investor (joined January 2026); previously founder and CEO of Airinum.
- Niclas Wijkström — CFO.
- Olivia Ingemarsson — Executive Assistant.
- Petter Edfeldt — Advisor.
Decision Process
Partnership-led investment decisions, consistent with a small founding-partner-plus-investment-partner team structure typical of a €50M fund.
Founder Preferences
BackingMinds explicitly targets "entrepreneurs that established investors normally miss" — founders outside major-city networks, founders with migrant backgrounds, and female-founder teams are structurally overrepresented in the portfolio relative to the broader Nordic VC market. The firm positions itself as backing operators and technical founders building real, defensible technology (cleantech, supply-chain software, fintech infrastructure) rather than pure consumer plays.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Sweden and the wider Nordic region, headquartered at Strandvägen 7A, Stockholm. Portfolio companies have also included Denmark-based Uniqkey, indicating some willingness to invest across the broader Nordics rather than Sweden alone.