Creandum backs the companies of tomorrow before it's obvious — exceptional founding teams with big vision and ambition, clear product innovation, and early indicators of product-market fit, at Seed and Series A across Europe. One of its core beliefs is to 'back amazing individuals' who 'don't take ‘no’ for an answer,' and it 'always back[s] innovation, regardless of sector.' The firm prizes beautiful products and user love above almost all else, and is willing to move with conviction before certainty.
A real, often personally-understood problem in a market where incumbents have stopped innovating; founders with authentic insight into the pain.
“Visibly tackles the skills and training gap for skilled blue-collar workers, a problem Kane knew all too well from his own family business.” — Backing Visibly
“Visibly's insight is to build for the customer and user experience in a market where the incumbents simply don't care.” — Hanel Baveja
“Online investing had been around for a while, there had been very little innovation in the market.” — Johan Brenner
“It was counterintuitive to combine analogue (invoices) and digital (ecommerce) but it clearly worked.” — Johan Brenner
Clear product innovation and a genuinely beautiful, superior product experience — Creandum believes in the power of beautiful products.
“We believe in the power of beautiful products.” — 20 years of Creandum
“The experience they offered was vastly superior to anything else in the market.” — Johan Brenner
“We looked for exceptional founding teams with big vision and ambition, clear product innovation and early indicators of product-market fit.” — Peter Specht
“What's especially exciting about Lovable is how it lets people make beautiful products.” — Fredrik Cassel
A large market opportunity and a founder with big, global vision and ambition; a market that is too small disqualifies a company.
“We see thousands of startups and make investment decisions based on a set of signals - the founding team's track record, early signs of product-market-fit, the market opportunity they are targeting, their grit and determination.” — Introducing the Euro Seed 50
“Daniel's vision, to change the music industry forever by building a product that was better than piracy, and his global ambitions truly changed the European outlook on what is possible.” — Creandum Team
“Boardy sits at the intersection of 2 massive opportunities - voice AI and networking.” — Simon Schmincke
“Lovable has the potential to become one of Europe's most important AI companies.” — Fredrik Cassel
Early indicators of product-market fit and genuine user love; concrete early metrics (ARR, paying customers, daily usage) and highly engaged customers.
“Just take a quick look online to see how much user love there is for Lovable.” — Backing Lovable: Move Fast and Make Things
“As I write this, they reached $17 million in ARR, 30,000 paying customers, and 25,000 new apps being built on the platform daily, within just three months of launch.” — Fredrik Cassel
“They had thousands of highly engaged customers and, crucially, a German banking license.” — Johan Brenner
“We looked for exceptional founding teams with big vision and ambition, clear product innovation and early indicators of product-market fit.” — Peter Specht
Exceptional founding teams — amazing individuals with big vision, deep technical expertise, grit and determination, who relentlessly pursue their dreams. The team is the single most important factor.
“One of our core beliefs is to back amazing individuals.” — 20 years of Creandum
“They are one of the smartest and hardest working teams that we have come across with deep technical expertise and a truly AI-native mindset.” — Fredrik Cassel
“People who don't take 'no' for an answer and who relentlessly pursue their dreams.” — Creandum Team
“The founding team's track record, early signs of product-market-fit, the market opportunity they are targeting, their grit and determination.” — Peter Specht
Evidence the model works in practice and that merchants/customers genuinely benefit; a board/operating story built on a few key metrics that matter.
“It was counterintuitive to combine analogue (invoices) and digital (ecommerce) but it clearly worked.” — Reflections on Klarna: The Paper Invoice
“Merchants loved it.” — Johan Brenner
“[János Mátyásfalvi] recommends keeping it simple and focusing on the 5-6 key metrics that matter most.” — Creandum Team
A wedge against incumbents who have stopped innovating, plus a real moat (regulatory license, paradigm shift, or interface nobody else has rethought).
“Visibly's insight is to build for the customer and user experience in a market where the incumbents simply don't care.” — Backing Visibly
“LinkedIn has become the main place where professionals meet globally. Yet this interface is stuck in the 2010s and ripe for disruption.” — Simon Schmincke
“They had thousands of highly engaged customers and, crucially, a German banking license.” — Johan Brenner
A clear inflection — a technology paradigm shift or behavioral change that makes the company possible and urgent right now.
“We are on the verge of a paradigm shift where the barriers to building software-based products disappear. Now, anyone can become an entrepreneur, launch a product and build a business in minutes.” — Backing Lovable: Move Fast and Make Things
“We are on the verge of conversational singularity - where speaking with AI is as good, if not better than speaking with a human.” — Simon Schmincke
“Recent advances mean voice AI systems can understand context, nuance, emotion, and intent.” — Simon Schmincke
A clear, world-class narrative; the deck should structure decisions, not decorate. When founder and timing are exceptional, Creandum may move before a deck even exists.
“Your board deck should help structure the meeting, document the status of the company and foster discussions and decisions the management wants the board to make.” — The Essential Board Deck Template
“Their pitch was world-class.” — Johan Brenner
“We were convinced we had to invest without seeing a pitch deck or even speaking to a human!” — Simon Schmincke
“They are one of the smartest and hardest working teams that we have come across with deep technical expertise and a truly AI-native mindset.”
“We see thousands of startups and make investment decisions based on a set of signals - the founding team's track record, early signs of product-market-fit, the market opportunity they are targeting, their grit and determination.”
“The experience they offered was vastly superior to anything else in the market.”
“We were convinced we had to invest without seeing a pitch deck or even speaking to a human!”
“Innovation is really what makes us human, and entrepreneurship is the most powerful tool and force for innovation and change we know of today.”