Seedcamp has always been about people and the magic that happens when you bring the right people together. 2024 will be our 17th year in the service of Europe’s most exceptional entrepreneurs. We think it’s a perfect time to reflect on how our network, from the Seedcamp Expert Collective to the Talent Network, drives an unfair advantage for Europe’s most impactful software companies.
Many things have changed about technology in Europe since we started out in 2007. European startups now receive over 20% of global funding, up from 8% in 2003, and can stay private for much longer in an ecosystem flush with global capital looking for private opportunities.
At Seedcamp, we are dedicated to keeping the main thing the main thing and doubling down on what we have always done best. As our portfolio enterprise value eclipses $100 billion in enterprise value and our total number of investments reaches 500, we continue to commit to the best founders in Europe and Israel at the earliest stage, drive an unfair advantage through the power of our network and support them to multi-billion dollar outcomes.
Seedcamp works as its own microeconomy, also known as the Seedcamp Nation. Our purpose is to build the best platform in the world for founders to connect with the talent, expertise and capital they need to grow their businesses. Over the years we have seen the depth of this network drive hiring – 59 portfolio alumni now work in C-Suite, VP and ‘Head of’ roles at other portfolio companies – and foster founder-to-founder serendipity as portfolio companies become each others’ design partners and early customers. Some companies get on so well that they join forces. For example, UiPath (NYSE:PATH) acquired Re:Infer in 2022.
The Network
Supporting founders is our number one priority, and the team are 24/7 confidantes, cheerleaders and occasionally providers of a friendly boot. But we don’t always know the right answer, and we also act as conduits to world-leading functional and sectoral leaders in our network. The Seedcamp Expert Collective (SxC) is home to highly skilled operators who have taken businesses from $0m to $100m ARR from our own portfolio, like UiPath, Revolut, Pleo and Wise, and other category-defining businesses like Stripe, Cloudflare, Uber, Deliveroo and NextDoor. Founders work with our experts ad-hoc on issues from pricing strategy to product-led-growth to culture building, and in many cases, connect on an ongoing basis as the company evolves. Similarly, our Talent Network of hundreds of vetted candidates across sectors, functions and seniority levels is often a handy shortcut for companies looking for A players at the start of their journey.
From founder meet-ups across Europe, to New York get-togethers for teams who move to the US, events and spending time together in person has been part of Seedcamp’s DNA. While Skeedcamp, Founder Summits and roundtables remain core to our success, other elements have evolved as the needs of founders have changed. In 2007 we were an accelerator, which revolved around Demo Days and Investment Forums. Today, our products are designed not only to support a business at its inception, but to add value around the clock on the journey from early-stage company, to product-market fit, to punchy follow-on fundraises.
We know how to bring together the right mix of people and the conversations that start at our events often result in a partnership sales agreement, LinkedIn marketing collaboration or even a Seedcamp micro-community. For example, Seedcamp founders with an open source go-to-market strategy share a channel for tips on documentation, Discord engagement, remote culture-setting and lots more. Equally, founders from different spheres might share connections in the form of investor references or buyer introductions. While it doesn’t make sense for all businesses to work together, the network effects of the Seedcamp Nation are compounding dramatically as we deploy Fund VI.
The Relationships
The Seedcamp Nation fosters relationships that span companies and decades and when we talk about network, it’s about more than the volume or prestige of people that we know. It’s the depth and quality of those partnerships, highlighted by some of the founding teams we have backed on multiple journeys. To name a few, we are excited to be part of Stan and Gabriel’s new journey with Dust after their first business, Totems, was acquired by Stripe, to invest in Emi and Ezra after Brainient exited to Teads.tv and partner with Gary and Jamie as founders of Fluidstack and subsequently, Treecard. As Europe’s Seed Fund, we have been a central component of the European flywheel – in fintech alone, we have committed to 8 new businesses founded by the growing mafias of Revolut, Wise and WeFox.
Similarly, when founders move onto different pastures after their founding journey, we are always pleased to continue working together as they become our LPs, co-investors and members of the Expert Collective. And when our members of the Seedcamp Nation choose to move on and do brilliant things on both sides of the cap table, we love to continue working with them as Partners at funds like Point Nine, Tiny or Kima and founders of start-ups like Outverse and Ben.
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We believe that 2024 is the most exciting time there has ever been to invest in European technology. Entrepreneurship is top of the list for the brightest minds and startup failure is a chevron worn with pride in a way that hasn’t always been true. Experienced management teams have emerged from the previous decade’s success and are driving scaleups to new levels of ambition. We can’t wait to support the next decade of exceptional founders. In the meantime, stay tuned for episode 2 where we look back at some of the themes that shape our portfolio.