Questions and answers
What you're wondering before you get in touch.
We've tried to answer the way we would in a meeting.
Working together
- What do you do that a normal investor doesn't?
- We work inside the company, not around it. Our operators sit in the sales work, the hiring, the pricing and the finance ops alongside you, rather than following up at a board meeting once a quarter. We also charge no management fee.
- What don't you do?
- We don't run the company for you. We don't step in as CEO, we don't set an exit date for you, and we don't replace your team with consultants. If you want a passive owner who checks in four times a year, we're the wrong partner.
- Who on the team works with my company?
- You get a named partner who owns the relationship, plus the operators your situation calls for. Every company page says who the DV partner is, so you can see how it works in practice.
- Do you take a board seat?
- Usually yes, but that isn't where the work happens. The board is where we keep order. The operational work happens between the meetings.
- Can I use you without you investing?
- No. We only work with companies we own part of, so that we carry the same risk you do.
The investment
- What stage do you invest at?
- Seed and early Series A for scale-ups. Pre-seed and seed for deep tech, where we're often first money in.
- What ownership do you take?
- A significant minority stake. Enough that the work pays off for us, and little enough that you keep owning your company.
- Do you follow on?
- Case by case. We don't promise it up front, because a promise without backing is worth less than an honest answer later.
- When do you want to sell?
- We have no exit window. The capital is evergreen and there is no fund clock ticking against you. If you want to sell, we sell with you; if you want to keep building, we do that.
- Do you invest outside Sweden?
- We invest in Swedish companies, preferably outside the big city regions. International ambition we do assume, and we work with our companies into the Nordics, the UK, the EU and North America.
- What don't you invest in?
- Pharma. Beyond that we're sector-open as long as the criteria on each vertical page are met.
AI
- Does my company have to be an AI company?
- No. We invest in companies that solve a real problem, whether or not AI is the product. We do build AI into how the company works, because it makes the capital you've raised worth more.
- What does AI-first actually mean for my company?
- That admin, research and reporting are done by systems rather than by people you would otherwise have had to hire. The capital lasts longer and you sell less of the company to reach the same point.
- Do you replace people with AI in your companies?
- We build companies that handle more work with fewer people. It's part of what we sell and we don't think it's something to soften. What we commit to, and what we don't know, is on our AI page.
- Who owns the data and models we build together?
- Your company. What we learn methodologically we take with us, but your data, your customers and your models are yours.
The process
- What do you need from me to be able to say yes?
- No pitch deck template. Tell us what you do, who pays you today, how much, and what would happen if you had the right kind of help. We'll ask for the rest ourselves.
- What happens to my idea if you say no?
- Nothing. We do not build companies on ideas that reached us in a conversation, and we do not pass on what you told us. If we are working on something close to what you do, we say so in the meeting, before you tell us more.
- What happens if you say no?
- You get the reason. We answer concretely on why, and on what would have to be true for the answer to be different.
About us
- Who owns Disruptive Ventures?
- The founding team together with Unlox and Navigare AB. The capital is evergreen, which is why we can work without an exit window.
- Where are you based?
- Stockholm, San Francisco, Skellefteå, Umeå, London and Östersund. A team of sixteen with people in each of them, which is the whole point: we're where the companies are, not only where the capital usually sits.
- How do I get in touch?
- hello@disruptiveventures.se. Write in Swedish or English, and you don't need an introduction to reach us.