Karma Ventures

Karma Ventures Research

Investment Thesis

Karma Ventures is a Tallinn, Estonia-based venture capital firm backing deep-tech software startups across Europe at the late seed and Series A stages. Founded in 2016 by Tommi Uhari, Margus Uudam, and Kristjan Laanemaa, the firm frames investing as "an ongoing practice in partnership and deliberate choice-making," aiming not to predict the future but to help ensure a future exists that "contains more good than the past." The firm looks for companies with genuinely innovative, defensible technology that already has initial commercial traction rather than pure pre-product bets. Karma's stated investment principles include creating multiple options before deciding rather than defaulting to conventional paths, prioritizing clarity and deliberate thinking over speed, and building compounding value through consistent, patient decisions over time. The firm publishes an explicit set of values guiding its process: Ideas over Self (backing founders who elevate their concept above personal ambition), Substance over Style, Time over Money (investing partner time before and after the check), Truth over Opinion, Precision over Speed, and Good over Evil (weighing broader societal impact).

Sector Focus

Karma invests broadly across deep-tech software, with a portfolio that skews toward:

• AI/ML and applied AI (Infermedica clinical AI triage, DRUID conversational/agentic AI, BforeAI predictive cyber defense, Mindgard AI security)
• Cybersecurity (CybExer cyber ranges, Patchstack vulnerability intelligence, Mindgard, BforeAI)
• Enterprise infrastructure and developer tools (WunderGraph GraphQL federation, Swarmia engineering intelligence, LEIL distributed storage)
• Fintech and core banking infrastructure (Tuum, Lucinity financial-crime AI)
• IoT and connectivity (Wirepas mesh networking, Commsignia V2X)
• Climate/energy tech (HydroGrid hydropower software)
• Vertical marketplaces and consumer-adjacent platforms (CGTrader 3D model marketplace, Sonarworks audio calibration, MINÚT property monitoring, Xolo solopreneur tooling, Jobbatical relocation, Frank recruitment marketplace, Starship autonomous delivery robots)

Stage Focus

Karma is explicit about its stage focus: late seed and Series A. It positions itself as often the first institutional lead at that stage for European deep-tech founders, with reserved capital for follow-on participation in later rounds of standout portfolio companies (e.g., continued participation in DRUID's Series B and Series C rounds).

Check Size

The firm's own site states initial checks of up to €5M per company, with follow-on capacity preserved for later rounds. Observed round sizes the firm has led or co-led range from roughly $5M-$8.5M at Series A (CybExer ~€5M, HydroGrid $8.5M, WunderGraph $7.5M) up to smaller participations alongside larger syndicates at Series A/B/C (Mindgard $30M Series A, DRUID $31M Series C).

Lead Tendency

Karma frequently leads or co-leads at the Series A stage for companies it originates (WunderGraph, CybExer, HydroGrid), and also participates as a syndicate member in larger, later rounds for existing portfolio companies as they scale (Mindgard, DRUID). Overall lead tendency: both, skewing toward leading its own initial checks and following on into later, larger syndicates.

Recent Activity

Karma is actively deploying out of Karma Ventures II, a €100M fund closed in November 2021 to back European deep-tech at seed and Series A. Recent disclosed activity:

• August 2026: Participated in Mindgard's $30M Series A (AI security), led by Album VC.
• September 2025: Continued participation in DRUID AI's $31M Series C (agentic/conversational AI), led by Cipio Partners.
• March 2025: Led WunderGraph's $7.5M Series A (open-source GraphQL federation), with strategic participation from eBay. Public trackers show roughly 28 companies invested to date, with 3 new investments in the trailing 12 months as of August 2026 — consistent with a fund in the middle of its deployment period rather than between funds or slowing down.

Portfolio Highlights

Active portfolio spans cybersecurity (Patchstack, Mindgard, CybExer, BforeAI), AI (Infermedica, DRUID, Lucinity, Pactum), infrastructure/dev tools (WunderGraph, Swarmia, LEIL, Commsignia, Wirepas), fintech (Tuum), climate/energy (HydroGrid), and consumer-adjacent marketplaces (CGTrader, Sonarworks, MINÚT, Xolo, Jobbatical, Frank, Starship). Notable exits include AppGiver (acquired by SAP), Plumber (acquired by Splunk, 2020), SpectX (acquired by Dynatrace), TrademarkNow (acquired by Corsearch), Mendeley (acquired by Elsevier), MyHeritage (acquired by Francisco Partners), and Pryte (acquired by Meta) — reflecting Karma's long history investing in Baltic and broader European deep-tech since the founders' earlier work with Ambient Sound Investments (the Skype founders' investment vehicle).

Team

• Tommi Uhari, Founding Partner — Co-founded and exited a mobile roaming startup; held executive roles at STMicroelectronics and ST-Ericsson; led wireless and software platform teams at Nokia.
• Margus Uudam, Founding Partner — 16 years in venture capital; former CEO of public companies; managed venture investments for the Skype founders; helped shape Estonia's economic strategy at the Ministry of Finance.
• Kristjan Laanemaa, Founding Partner — Venture capital, finance, and corporate advisory background; roles at Ambient Sound Investments, SLProductions, and LHV Bank; multiple board and advisory positions across the European tech sector.
• Ska Sijia Du, Principal — A decade of experience across Europe and Asia in deep tech, finance, and international development; previously at DTCP, Target Global, the World Bank, and the United Nations.
• Linda Võeras, Venture Partner — Deep-tech executive search and global team-building experience at SH Gillamor Stephens (London); former creative editor.
• Marianne Kikas, Office Manager — Prior roles at Bolt, Kuehne+Nagel, and Redgate Capital.
• Riin Vähk, Finance Manager — Over 20 years in financial analysis, reporting, and modeling; previously at Metro Capital and PwC.

The firm also draws on a bench of technical advisors tied to the Skype/Estonian tech ecosystem, including Ahti Heinla (Skype founding engineer, founder of Starship Technologies), Jaan Tallinn (Skype founding engineer, Future of Life Institute, investor in Anthropic/Oura/SpaceX/DeepMind), Till Quack (ex-Mapillary VP Product, ex-Apple, founder of Kooaba), Jani Huoponen (Google/Stadia product manager, ex-YouTube), and Sergei Anikin (former Pipedrive CTO, ex-Microsoft principal engineering manager).

Decision Process

Karma operates as a small founding-partner-led partnership (three founding partners plus a principal and venture partner), consistent with a partnership decision process rather than a solo-GP or large-committee model. The firm emphasizes "sharpening thinking without dulling responsibility" — working alongside founders as a thought partner while leaving ownership of decisions with the founding team.

Founder Preferences

Karma's stated values point to a preference for founders with technical depth and genuine, defensible technology ("Substance over Style"), who can already demonstrate initial commercial traction, and who are motivated by mission over ego ("Ideas over Self"). The firm's own leadership pedigree (deep operating and technical backgrounds at Nokia, STMicroelectronics, and the Skype ecosystem) suggests a natural affinity for technical founding teams building genuinely hard infrastructure, AI, cybersecurity, and hardware-adjacent software rather than thin consumer or growth-marketing-led plays.

Geographic Focus

Karma is explicitly focused on Europe's deep-tech ecosystem, headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, with particular strength and origination in the Nordic-Baltic region — which founding partner Kristjan Laanemaa has noted has the highest density of unicorns per capita in Europe. Karma Ventures II's second fund was backed in part by the Baltic Innovation Fund 2, a joint initiative of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the European Investment Fund, reinforcing the firm's regional anchor while it invests across wider Europe (portfolio companies span Estonia, Austria, Germany, Romania, and the UK).