byFounders

byFounders VC Research

Investment Thesis

byFounders is described as "the community-powered VC of the New Nordics," a Copenhagen-based early-stage venture fund that invests in globally ambitious, impact-aware founders. The fund positions itself as founder-friendly, with a philosophy rooted in transparency, partnership, and positive impact on the world. Their core thesis is that superior financial returns come from investing in companies contributing to a better tomorrow—balancing pure financial returns with responsible, impact-aware investing.

The fund explicitly targets "globally ambitious & impact-aware founders" and welcomes founders who demonstrate commitment to running their business responsibly (integrating ESG considerations into operations/decision-making) and prefer backing startups with positive social or environmental impact.

Stage Focus

byFounders is explicitly an early-stage investor with a sweet spot in pre-seed and seed. They state "we like to be the company's first investor" and emphasize "the earlier we get in the more useful we are."

Stage distribution:

• Pre-Seed: Primary focus
• Seed: Primary focus
• Series A: Selective follow-ons

They make approximately 8-15 new investments per year, maintaining a disciplined, founder-focused approach to deal sourcing and evaluation.

Check Size

Based on their FAQ and website: "On average, our ticket size ranges between EUR 500K to 4 million."

• Pre-seed: €500K-€2M
• Seed: €1M-€4M
• Series A follow-ons: Varies

Lead Tendency

byFounders explicitly leads rounds. They state "Yes" to the question "Do you lead rounds?" and provide check size information with clear ownership targets. Given their emphasis on being the first institutional investor and their platform-driven approach with operational support, they are definitively lead investors.

Recent Activity

Recent investments (2025):

• May 2025: Loki Robotics (autonomous cleaning robots)
• April 2025: Skye Energy (energy automation for industries)
• February 2025: Arsenale (AI-driven biomanufacturing platform)
• February 2025: Focalx (AI-powered vehicle inspections)

The fund has maintained active deployment from their portfolio and continues sourcing new opportunities. Portfolio insights show they've been investing consistently from pre-seed through Series A stages across their focus verticals.

Geographic Focus

Primary: Nordic and Baltic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Baltics region) Secondary: Global investments for "extraordinary teams" - they explicitly invest outside Nordic/Baltic geography for exceptional founders

Offices: Copenhagen (HQ), Stockholm

Sector Focus

byFounders maintains broad vertical coverage across their portfolio:

Primary sectors:

• B2B SaaS (vertical and horizontal)
• Dev & Design Tools (including AI/ML tooling)
• Energy & Climate (strong focus, theme-driven)
• Fintech
• Cybersecurity
• Deep Tech (robotics, biotech, materials)
• Healthcare/Health Tech
• Cloud Infrastructure
• Gaming
• Industry 4.0 & IoT
• Techbio & Bio (growing area)
• Hospitality & Vertical SaaS

No explicit exclusions stated, but portfolio skews toward technology-driven solutions addressing large-scale problems.

Team & Decision Process

Founding Partners:

• Eric Lagier: Founding Partner (ex-Skype, Tradeshift; founded Memolane acquired by HP)
• Tommy Andersen: Founding Partner (serial founder/exit specialist; co-founder Danish tech industry association)

Partners:

• Martin Krag: Partner (ex-poker player, VC, startup operator in Denmark/Seoul/Beijing)
• Sara Rywe: Partner (ex-McKinsey, Danske Bank; MBA INSEAD/Wharton; founded Sweden's largest young entrepreneur network)
• Magnus Hambleton: Partner (ex-Natural Cycles; built deep learning models for fertility prediction; Boston Consulting Group)

Investors:

• Casper Bjarnason: Investor (ex-Januar portfolio company; experience in crypto infrastructure)
• Daniel Stenson: Investor (ex-GetAccept, DN Capital, Accenture; engineering background)
• Deina Kellezi: Investor
• Ugne Musneckyte: Investor (ex-Morgan Stanley; economics degree; keen on vertical B2B plays)

Supporting:

• Jacob Busck Andersen: VP Finance & Fund Operations
• Line Ettrich: Data & Impact Lead (ex-founder of Veriply FinTech)
• Cecilie Hoff: Communications & Events Lead
• Frans Nilsson: Finance & Fund Ops Associate

Collective Support: 40+ accomplished Nordic and Baltic founders and operators providing operational expertise and network access to portfolio companies.

Decision Process: Partnership-based with clear thesis-driven investing. Investment team sources, evaluates opportunities, and decision process typically takes 2-4 weeks.

Portfolio Highlights

Notable portfolio companies:

• SafetyWing: Global social safety net (Seed)
• Corti: Medical diagnostic AI (Seed)
• Greenely: Household energy consumption reduction (Seed)
• Supernormal: AI notetaker (Seed)
• Lucinity: Financial crime compliance AI (Series A)
• Lovable: AI software engineer (Seed)
• Loki Robotics: Autonomous cleaning robots (Deep Tech)
• Pixieray: Human vision tech (Series A)
• Contractbook: Contract management automation (Seed)
• Creative Force: Content production optimization (Series A)

The portfolio emphasizes founders building products to solve significant challenges with positive impact.

Founder Preferences

byFounders explicitly targets:

• "Globally ambitious & impact-aware founders"
• Founders demonstrating commitment to responsible business practices (ESG integration)
• Technical founders building products addressing large-scale problems
• Teams showing "grit and persistence" as key indicators of success
• Founders with bold ambitions and clear vision to tackle massive market opportunities

They use their "8T Framework" for evaluation (not disclosed in full, but referenced across materials).

Fund Status

Activelydeploying from Fund III. The fund has established significant deployment from recent years and continues sourcing new investments. No indication of between-funds status; they remain actively engaged with portfolio and new investments.

Warm Introductions

They maintain an open-door policy: "Warm introductions are always welcome" and "We nurture an open-door policy, meaning cold intros are always welcome." This suggests they welcome both warm and cold outreach.

Investment Committee & Decision Timeline

Typical investment decision time: 2-4 weeks No fixed investment committee structure disclosed, but partnership-based decision model with involvement from relevant partners based on thesis and sector expertise.

Board Involvement

Given the operational support philosophy ("1/2 Startup, 1/2 VC") and partnership model, board seats or active involvement in portfolio companies is typical.