“One of the main reasons we decided to partner with byFounders was the value of the Collective. During the process, they brought in Filip Lindvall (Co-founder and former CTO of Voi) and Tony Beltramelli (Co-founder of Uizard, Head of AI Product at Miro) to go deep on our technology, pressure test our thinking and help raise the bar for what we’re building."

"Beyond the capital, they also helped us bring in some of the best support as angel investors and advisors. Morten Primdahl (Co-founder and former CTO of Zendesk) is now actively sparring with us on product, engineering, and hiring. Christian Rasmussen, Co-founder and former CEO of Roger (now Corpay), also serves as an angel investor and advisor bringing first-hand experience from building one of the most successful companies on top of accounting ledgers.”

“It’s not just that byFounders is backing us. It’s the fact that, from day one, we’ve had genuinely world-class people in the room helping us build Sumary into a success. They truly show the value of being a fund built by founders for founders.” Pascar Sivam, CEO & Co-founder of Sumary (one of byFounders’ most recent investments)

The byFounders Collective: Our Secret Weapon, Reimagined for Fund III

With our third fund, we’re doubling down on what’s always made us different — community.

At byFounders, we’ve never just been a VC firm. We’re the community-powered VC of the New Nordics, built for founders, by founders. And at the heart of that community sits something truly special — the byFounders Collective.

The Collective has been our secret weapon since day one. It’s what made byFounders possible in the first place, and it’s what continues to define how we operate, invest, and support the next generation of Nordic and Baltic founders. As we launch Fund III, it felt like the right moment to tell the story of how it all began, and how the Collective has evolved into what it is today.

Back to the beginning - the seed of an idea

The story starts in the summer of 2016.

I was living in San Francisco, having just sold my company, Memolane, to HP. Like many founders at that stage, I was reflecting on what came next. I spent much of my time surrounded by other Nordic founders: Heini Zachariassen from Vivino, Janus Jagd from Cylindo, Torsten Kolind from YouNoodle, Lars Fløe from Sitecore, Mikkel Hippe from Tradeshift, Henrik Rosendahl from NeuVector, Morten Primdahl from Zendesk, David Helgason from Unity, and many others.

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We’d gather and talk about the challenges facing founders back home. The lack of choice. The lack of access. In those days, there were only a handful of venture firms in the region, and if one of them said “no,” your chances of building something globally were slim.

So we began to wonder: what if we built something different?

What if we could create a venture fund built for founders, by founders. One that didn’t just provide capital, but also operational guidance and real empathy, rooted in lived experience?

That was the beginning of byFounders. And what we now call the byFounders Collective started as a group of “rebel founders” who wanted to pay it forward and shape the next generation of New Nordic entrepreneurship.

“Having launched Zendesk, we did not manage to raise money from Nordic investors, there was little options and little venture risk taking.” - Morten Primdahl, CTO and co-founder Zendesk

The Collective that made byFounders possible

When we launched byFounders, the Collective wasn’t just a nice idea, it was the foundation of the firm itself.

Many of the founders I’d met in San Francisco and across the Nordics were among the first to step up and sign the pledge to join. They believed in the vision of a community-first venture model and put their name, experience, and credibility behind it.

Without their support, we couldn’t have raised our first €100M fund. They helped us show our LPs that byFounders wasn’t just another VC. It was a movement of founders determined to make the region stronger.

“For me, the Collective is about helping the next generation of founders get up to speed faster than we did. They’re already so much stronger than we were, but we can still help with perspective and direction. And honestly, there are few things as rewarding as giving back” - Heini Zachariassen

Looking back, those early days were powered by friendship, conviction, and a shared sense of purpose: to make the New Nordics a place where ambitious founders could thrive on their own terms.

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‍From founders to founders and operators

Fast forward to today, and the byFounders Collective looks very different in all the right ways.

In the early years, most Collective members were prominent founders. Now, as our ecosystem and our portfolio have matured, we’ve evolved to include exceptional operators as well: people with deep expertise in product, GTM, IP, scaling teams etc..

Founders are incredible generalists, but we realized that our companies also need specialists - people who’ve built systems, scaled revenue machines, and navigated hypergrowth from the inside.

So we upgraded the Collective to include both founders and operators. You could even argue we should rename it, but the spirit remains the same. It’s still founders helping founders; we’ve just expanded what that means.

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‍Inside the Collective: who they are and what they bring

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Today, the byFounders Collective includes some of the most accomplished and generous minds in the New Nordics.

People like Christian Brink Frederiksen, founder of Leapwork, who sits on the board of FocalX and helps the team build commercial excellence and go-to-market strength.

Or Heini Zachariassen, founder of Vivino, who brings his B2C and marketplace expertise to Smitten, an Icelandic dating app that’s redefining how young people connect.

Christian Lund, the founder of Templafy has been instrumental in helping Vibrant scale its operations and team.

And one of our long-time Collective members, Henrik Rosendahl, who’s been with us since day one. He once stepped in as interim CEO for a portfolio company and led it all the way to an exit. He’s now an advisor to Verda.

Then there’s Christian Hjorth, a three-time unicorn builder, who works hands-on with Creative Force, AIKO and Vibrant, guiding them from founder-led sales to a scalable sales motion.

And Mads Johnsen, former CPO of Calm, who’s been instrumental in supporting Fuzey as they build a category-defining product for small business owners.

Or Sune Alstrup, founder of Eyetribe (acquired by Oculus/Meta), best in class on IP strategy and now working closely with Without Energy, IXI, and Makina to help them build defensible deep tech companies.

Then there’s Morten Primdahl, co-founder and former CTO of Zendesk, whose technical and product guidance have been invaluable to Parahelp and Sumary.

Frida Siwe, CFO at Tandem Health (previously Klarna, Lifesum, and Norrsken), serves on the board of Francis and advises the team on product and scaling.

Peter Andersen brings his deep biotech expertise through his involvement with Jellatech and Arsenale Bioyards, helping both teams navigate commercialization and partnerships.

Lasse Espeholt, one of Europe’s leading AI researchers and builders, has been an active angel investor and close supporter across several of our early AI-native startups.

And Pernille Hippe Brun, whose founder coaching program has supported the majority of our portfolio, helping founders navigate growth, leadership, and resilience as they scale.

And we could keep going on. These aren’t distant advisors. They’re deeply embedded partners. People who pick up the phone, run workshops, and stay in weekly touch with founders.

What “support” looks like in practice: the byFounders magic

If you ask our portfolio founders what the biggest value of byFounders is, most will point to the Collective.

Being a founder is hard and often lonely. There are few people you can truly confide in.

That’s where the Collective comes in.

When a founder gets matched with a Collective member, they gain not just an advisor but a wing person, someone who’s been there, who can help them prioritize, challenge their thinking, and share the load.

As I often say: being a founder is a lonely journey, but no one in our portfolio ever has to walk it alone.

That’s the byFounders magic.

“Working with Henrik has been extremely valuable. He’s provided thoughtful board-level guidance and opened up his network in a meaningful way. For example, helping us land an outstanding Head of Sales. It’s been a real pleasure working with him, and he’s genuinely great to collaborate with” - Ruben (Verda) on Henrik Rosendahl

“It’s honestly kind of crazy that from day one we’ve had one of the most successful consumer marketplace founders in the world on our board. Heini’s perspective has already shaped how we think and build in ways we couldn’t have done alone.” - David (Smitten) on Heini Zachariassen

“Christian has been incredibly supportive, consistently going out of his way to help. He has a deep understanding of the founder journey, and his advice clearly comes from lived experience. As a sales advisor, he’s been exceptional. I’ve learned a great deal from him and continue to apply it regularly. Most importantly, he’s someone I trust completely: reliable, honest, and always in my corner.” - Isabella (Focal X) on Christian Brink Frederiksen

"Christian has been a huge part of pushing Creative Force forward, especially when it comes to sales leadership and professional chairmanship. His tenacity, ambition, and ability to challenge us in the right ways make a real difference” - Thomas Kragelund (Creative Force), on Christian Hjorth

What’s in it for the Collective members

For members of the Collective, it’s about more than giving back. It’s about belonging.

They get to contribute, yes, but they also get invited to an exclusive community, to learn from each other, exchange ideas, and find new collaborators.

We host regular community events: the byFounders Summit, Basecamp, and Voyage, along with gatherings around TechBBQ, Slush, and other key moments in the Nordic startup calendar. These are where friendships form, new ventures are born, and our founders and Collective members meet as equals.

Many Collective members are also active angel investors. We happily share feedback on startups they are looking at.

They have the opportunity to co-invest alongside us, join boards, or take advisory roles where it’s a mutual fit, and often rewarded with equity from the startups they support.

They also get early access to our deal flow and can invest directly in byFounders without management fees or carry. It’s a partnership in every sense of the word.

“For me, the Collective is a way to meet and support founders I genuinely believe in. byFounders opened the door for me to work closely with Creative Force, Aiko, and Vibrant as an active board member, helping them scale beyond founder-led sales. The wider byFounders network is the added layer. A trusted group of founders and operators who challenge and support me, and make me better at what I do.” - Christian Hjorth

“What attracted me to the byFounders Collective was its commitment to impact-awareness and the opportunity to take on meaningful advisory roles. Working with Francis as a board member has been especially rewarding, as I can contribute directly to the product in an area I care deeply about - the financial stack. But above all, it’s the learning that keeps me energised: being surrounded by exceptional founders and operators, and having access to a network that truly comes alive at the world-class events byFounders hosts.” - Frida Siwe

“Coming from years in monetization and GTM at Templafy and Uber, I wanted to use my experience in pricing and packaging to support the next wave of founders. Since joining the Collective in 2023, I’ve worked hands-on with Fuzey, Contractbook, Cello, Ento, and more. Now that I’m a founder myself, the ability to tap into a trusted community of exceptional founders and operators has become truly invaluable.” - Palle Broe

‍Choosing who joins: fit, energy, and purpose

In the early days, we were naturally drawn to well-known founders with strong brand names. But over time, we’ve realized that what matters most is fit and commitment - the willingness to roll up your sleeves and make a tangible difference.

Today, we select Collective members not for fame, but for their energy, generosity, and genuine desire to pay it forward. It’s not a passive network; it’s an active community. Membership isn’t a badge, it’s a responsibility.

The revamp. Our new chapter for Fund III

Launching Fund III has been an opportunity to reflect and renew.

We’ve strengthened the Collective by welcoming new voices from frontier tech — robotics, deep tech, techbio as well as brought in some of the premier technical and commercial founders from recent New Nordic success stories.

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“I joined the byFounders Collective to connect with founders and operators who are solving tricky problems with ambition and clarity. The community, shared learnings, and early opportunities to collaborate make it a unique network to be part of.” - Francois Tornier

“I’ve always admired byFounders and the Collective for the unique community they’ve built. A place where top founders and operators actually show up for each other. I finally found the time to join, and I’m excited to learn from peers, find new collaborators, dive into great events like their Summit and Basecamp, and be closer to early deal flow and co-investing opportunities.” - Mads Fosselius

“It's been energizing to be connected to the wider Nordic startup ecosystem through a community like what byFounders has created. On top of being able to share my learnings from the previous startup ride I'm also getting a ton of value from talking with other founders and operators when doing it again from scratch now at Zero.” - Tuomo Riekki

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We’ve also said goodbye to a few Collective founders and we thank them for the efforts they put into our community.

What’s exciting about this next chapter is how much more focused and activated the Collective has become. A smaller, more dedicated circle of people truly committed to supporting founders, every step of the way.

Our biggest challenge today is diversity. When we first launched Fund I, we had no women in the group. Over time, we improved that balance—but many of those talented women have since gone on to become VCs, and the pool of candidates remains small. Still, this is an area where we’re committed to getting better. We actively encourage exceptional female founders and operators who are interested in joining us to step forward.

The Collective and the broader community

At byFounders, community has always been at the heart of everything we do. You can think of it as a set of concentric circles. At the center is our team. The people driving our mission every day. Surrounding us are the founders we’ve backed, building the companies that shape the future of the New Nordics. Encircling them is the byFounders Collective - a group of seasoned founders and operators who give their time, experience, and network to help those at the center succeed. And beyond that lies the wider community that connects us all: the broader ecosystem of community partners (shoutout to AWS, Mazanti, HSBC Innovation Banking, Danske Bank Growth, OpenAI, Cloudflare & Google Cloud), LPs, all previous collective members and portfolio alumni.

The Collective serves as the vital link between these circles. They amplify our reach, deepening our impact, and ensuring that every founder we back has access to those who’ve walked the path before them. Because at the end of the day, byFounders isn’t just a venture firm. It’s a community-powered movement for the New Nordics.

Paying it forward, again

Nearly a decade after those first dinners in San Francisco, the spirit that sparked byFounders is still what drives us: paying it forward.

The byFounders Collective was born from founders who had been helped along the way and wanted to do the same for others. That hasn’t changed. Today, it’s still a living network of people who show up and share their time, their lessons, and their hard-won experience to help the next generation of founders succeed.

As we enter this next chapter with Fund III, our goal is simple: keep building a stronger, more connected New Nordic ecosystem where generosity scales as fast as ambition. Because in the end, you can go fast alone. But further together.

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-Eric Lagier, Founding Partner byFounders

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