EQT Ventures / EQT Growth Research
Investment Thesis
EQT Ventures / EQT Growth is the early-stage and growth-stage venture strategy of EQT, the Stockholm-headquartered global investment organization (€270B total AUM across Private Capital and Real Assets as of December 2025). The venture strategy partners with founders building what it calls "Generation-Defining Companies" (GDCs) — ambitious teams aiming to shape the next decade. The team is staffed heavily with ex-founders and operators, and positions itself as an early-stage lead investor, operational advisor, and high-conviction capital provider, leaning on the broader EQT platform (300+ portfolio companies, 1,900+ employees, offices in 25+ countries) for follow-on support, talent, GTM, and corporate-development introductions.
Sector Focus
The strategy is a generalist, technology-first investor rather than a single-vertical fund. Portfolio evidence shows concentration in: enterprise software and SaaS (Frontify, Codacy, Knoetic, Superlist), fintech and payments (Payrails, Willa, Juni, Cleo, Rosaly, Volt.io, Single.Earth), AI and applied AI (Sana Labs, Parloa, Odyssey, Argil), developer tools and cloud infrastructure (Fly.io, Codacy), robotics and automation (1X Technologies), mobility and autonomous freight (Einride), aerospace (The Exploration Company), crypto/Web3 (Moralis), climate and carbon tech (HackCapital, ViridiCO2), consumer hardware (Nothing), and gaming (Hiber).
Stage Focus
EQT Ventures invests from seed through growth, and EQT Growth extends the strategy into later-stage rounds (investments of €50M–€250M per the EQT Growth fund page). Combined, the platform covers Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, and growth/pre-IPO rounds, with EQT Ventures I–III as the early-stage vehicles and EQT Growth as the later-stage complement.
Check Size
EQT Ventures' stated investment range is €2M–€50M per company. EQT Growth writes larger growth checks of €50M–€250M. Combined, the platform can write a first check as small as ~€2M and follow on into the hundreds of millions at growth stage.
Lead Tendency
EQT Ventures describes itself explicitly as an "early-stage lead investor." It has led or co-led numerous rounds in its portfolio (e.g., 1X Technologies Series B, Willa Series A) though it also participates alongside other leads in later syndicated rounds (e.g., Odyssey's $310M Series B led by Natural Capital, Fly.io's $25M Series D co-led by Dell Technologies Capital and Intel Capital).
Recent Activity
The venture strategy has been active through 2026: it participated in Fly.io's $25M Series D (July 2026) and Odyssey's $310M Series B (June 2026, at a $1.45B valuation). In July 2025, EQT promoted Carolina Brochado to Partner, Head of EQT Growth US and Head of EQT Ventures, opening a new New York outpost to ramp up US investing. In mid-2026, EQT formed a new venture-capital vehicle to house some existing stakes currently held in EQT Ventures I as that fund matures. In December 2025, portfolio company 1X Technologies struck a strategic partnership with EQT to roll out up to 10,000 humanoid robots across EQT's 300+ portfolio companies between 2026 and 2030.
Portfolio Highlights
Across EQT Ventures I–III, the strategy has backed over 140 founding teams with roughly €1.1B invested. Notable companies include Sana Labs (AI knowledge platform, exited 2025), 1X Technologies (humanoid robotics), Payrails (payments infrastructure), Parloa (conversational AI for contact centers), The Exploration Company (reusable orbital vehicles), Einride (autonomous electric freight, went public via SPAC in 2026), Odyssey (AI world models), Fly.io (cloud infrastructure for AI agents), Frontify (brand management SaaS), Codacy (automated code review), and Cleo (consumer fintech/AI).
Team
- Carolina Brochado — Partner, Head of EQT Growth US and Head of EQT Ventures
- Ted Persson — Partner
- Tom Mendoza — Partner
- Sandra Malmberg — Partner
- Kaushik Subramanian — Partner
- Rania Belkahia — Partner
- Gustav von Sydow — Partner
- Victor Englesson — Partner, Head of Early Stage Technology
- Sofie Grant — Operating Partner & Head of Communications, EQT Ventures & EQT Growth
- Alexander Fred-Ojala — Head of AI at EQT Ventures
- Laurabeth Harvey — Operating Partner, GTM
- Polly Barnes — Operating Partner, Talent
- Marnix van der Ploeg — Operating Partner, Amsterdam
- Pierrick Cudonnec — Director
- Sai Sriramagiri — Director
- Conrad Schoo, Hampus Särnbratt, Gustav Skarman — Analysts
- Nitya Hinduja — Associate
Decision Process
EQT Ventures operates as a partnership of investing partners (Brochado, Persson, Mendoza, Malmberg, Subramanian, Belkahia, von Sydow, Englesson) supported by dedicated Operating Partners across GTM, talent, and AI, plus directors and analysts per deal — consistent with a partnership decision process rather than a solo-GP structure.
Founder Preferences
The team is explicit that it looks for founders building "Generation-Defining Companies" — large, ambitious visions rather than incremental products. Being staffed by ex-founders and operators, the team emphasizes empathy for the founder journey and positions its value-add around operational support (GTM, talent, AI, corporate development) rather than passive capital.
Geographic Focus
EQT Ventures is domiciled in Luxembourg with investment advisors located in Stockholm, Paris, London, New York, Berlin, and Amsterdam. The stated focus is European companies (over 140 founding teams backed to date), with EQT Growth's New York outpost (opened under Brochado in 2025) signaling an expanding US growth-stage push.