byFounders, a Copenhagen, Denmark and San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm, launched its initial fund of €100m.
The largest investor was the Danish Growth Fund. Other backers included Isomer Capital, Draper Esprit, Digital Garage, Danske Bank, a number of prominent family businesses from the Nordics, and a 50-strong and growing Collective of founders who created some of the region’s most renowned companies including Skype, Zendesk, Kahoot, Unity, Tradeshift, Sitecore and Vivino.
Among others, these include:
– Niklas Zennström, co-founder of Skype
– Morten Primdahl, co-founder of Zendesk
– Heini Zachariassen, founder of Vivino
– Mikkel Hippe Brun, co-founder of Tradeshift
– Peter Holten Mühlmann, founder of Trustpilot
Founded by Eric Lagier and Tommy Andersen, byFounders plans to support the next generation of Nordic and Baltic tech startups to scale up and expand globally. The fund’s sweet spot is seed and occasionally Series A rounds.
The portfolio companies benefit from access to deep industry and operational knowledge as well as an extensive global network and a gateway into Silicon Valley. Whether it is scaling, introductions, referrals, recruiting, global expansion or raising further funding rounds, byFounders’ portfolio companies find the advice they need in the Collective.
Portfolio companies include Corti , Peergrade, SimpleFeast, Cobalt, Spiio, SafetyWing, DrugStars, Omnio, Qurasense, Tame and Uizard.
The firm plans to make a further 30 investments over the next three years.
FinSMEs
03/04/2019