Announcing our investment into Curiosity
We're proud to back Curiosity on their journey to pioneer responsible AI in Europe through a firm built on strong ethical principles, the power of community and equitable venture 🚀
In an era where innovation is as much about technological prowess as it is about ethical foresight and communal growth, we’re proud to announce our investment in Curiosity 🥳
Curiosity focuses on backing European entrepreneurs pioneering responsible AI aligned with European values and regulations. Moreover, their 'Equitable Venture' model aligns with our conviction in community-centric growth, reinforcing our commitment to nurturing ecosystems where success is shared and value is co-created.
Through this strategic alliance, we at eu.vc are excited to support and participate in a future where AI is embedded in everything, and ventures are built on the foundations of equity and collective empowerment ✊
TL;DR
Dutch-based Curiosity stands out as a pioneering venture capital firm with a distinctive community-driven approach that you rarely meet in the market:
Specialized investment focus: targeting 20-25 cutting-edge B2B software companies applying AI to create business and societal value in four key social-economic themes: Trusted Society, Sustainable living, Future of Work, Future of commerce
Strategic Footprint: Their investments are located in three thriving tech hubs of Northern Europe: the Benelux, Nordics, and Baltics where the team has a strong established network.
Strong Track Record: The experienced team combines investment and operational expertise, with a track record of more than 60 software companies, including international successes like SendCloud, Ovoko, Virtuagym, Nosto, Minut EasyDmarc, SecurityMatters, and Polarsteps. True to form, Curiosity’s co-investors count great firms like Atomico, Seedcamp, Peak Capital, Bonsai Partners, and many more as well as angels from firms like Remote.com, Zoom, Mollie and Salesforce.
Fund Traction: The team has already raised €26m of their €30 million fund target from 75 LPs, Curiosity has judiciously invested €8 million in 10 burgeoning enterprises across six countries, including for example Strise.ai. The results are telling: their portfolio companies have garnered €16 million in follow-on funding from esteemed firms, resulting in an impressive net IRR of 31% in a mere 1.5 years since the fund's inception.
Community model: Large established community of expert advisors and portfolio founders who are co-owners in the fund and have a strong incentive to support the fund and its portfolio.
Team overview
The investment team at Curiosity brings a constellation of expertise across technology, strategy, product and growth, with each member adding a unique sheen to the firm’s expertise.
Herman Kienhuis, the Managing Partner, brings a solid foundation as operator in digital product management, having led product development at The Netherlands’ largest online publisher, combined with an extensive background in venture capital, having built and led both SanomaVentures and KPN Ventures and angel syndicate River Venture Partners. Herman started his career at McKinsey & Company and holds a master in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from INSEAD which speaks to his strategic and analytical prowess.
Maurice Beckand Verwee, also a Managing Partner, is the entrepreneurial force having founded online publishing platform Udoc and Crosspring investments, demonstrating his commitment to nurturing startups. He has built up a long term track record as an international angel investor, for example in Litebit, EasyDmarc, NAQ cyber and Ovoko, and in the last few years also jointly with Herman at River Venture Partners and is an active fund investor in several (Eastern) European VC funds. .
Lisa Brouwer, Investment Manager, brings operational experience as a Venture Builder with a strong focus on Growth and Go To Market strategy. With a proven track record cultivated at BCG Digital Ventures, she has successfully launched and scaled ventures, including Heycar UK, Pebble and Kenz'up. Notably, her additional roles as an investor at No Such Ventures and contributor to the fund of fund team at PGGM underscore her diverse expertise as both an operator and an investor.
Loic Struyvelt, an Investment Associate, carries a diverse portfolio of experiences ranging from a visiting analyst position at FORTINO Capital to startup analysis at YES!Delft incubator. His consulting stint at Shared Robotics & AI Services and his educational credentials in engineering and technology management from TU Delft infuse a deep technical understanding into his investment strategies.
Elliot Schouten, the Investment Analyst, offers a strategic edge with his role at DataSnipper and his audit experience at KPMG. His academic achievements with an Executive MSc in Accounting from Nyenrode Business School and MSc in Management from Bradford University ensure a strong foundation in financial analysis and strategic decision-making.
Community of expert advisors
The Curiosity team is supported by a large group of expert advisors all incentivised through co-ownership in the fund, just as all portfolio founders, inspired by the ‘Equitable Venture’ model spearheaded by Kindred Capital from the UK. In doing so, the team taps into the collective brainpower of its community of advisors and portfolio founders who are all co-owners in the fund. Let’s look closer at this 🕵️
Firstly, the advisor roster include tech founders like Daniel Gebler of Picnic and Jan Kees de Jager, serial SaaS entrepreneur and former CFO of KPN, along with industry experts such as Aik Deveneijns, founder & CEO of LevelUp Ventures, and Peter van der Putten, Director at Pega Labs, contribute their wealth of experience to steer Curiosity's companies towards success.
Further notable figures like Ulla Kruhse-Lehtonen, CEO and co-founder of data science consultancy DAIN Studios, Christina Caljé, an angel investor and former CEO at Autheos and director at Goldman Sachs, and Jussi Kallasvuo, partner at Antler and co-founder of Evervest have also joined in backing Curiosity. Each brings a unique perspective and specialised knowledge, from Cybersecurity to Fintech and Proptech and from data science to recruiting and sales, to enrich the Curiosity ecosystem.
And unusually but interestingly, the Curiosity team have had the guts to play with the carry model so that it allies with Curiosity's equitable stance. The team allocates 60% to GPs and key investment team members, 18% to portfolio founders, and 12% to fund advisors. And a meaningful 10% share goes to a non-profit foundation promoting entrepreneurship among underrepresented groups, embodying the fund's commitment to social responsibility and community contribution. For a firm focused on ethics and community, we think this is an interesting model that might very-well prove set the fund apart in a very competitive market.
Investment thesis & Investment Strategy:
The investment strategy of Curiosity is informed by the undeniable surge in AI's market potential - but was, importantly, defined before November ‘22 😉. Let’s get some numbers on this: Goldman Sachs projects a staggering $7 trillion in AI-driven value creation and a substantial increase in global GDP over the next decade, demonstrating the scale of opportunity AI presents. The European AI software market, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.4%, is forecasted to reach $191 billion by 2026 according to IDC. The use of Large Language Model (LLM) APIs has seen an explosive increase of 1310% in 2022, as noted by Databricks. With ChatGPT marking a tipping point and Bill Gates recognizing GPT's AI as a revolutionary breakthrough, 2023 is set to be a pivotal year for AI and the future of work. And it seems safe to bet that 2024 will continue to surprise even the most excited AI followers.
Curiosity's Belief in AI as the Next Platform Shift
Curiosity's investment thesis is anchored in the conviction that AI is the next significant shift in technology platforms. This belief is bolstered by advancements in data processing, machine learning, generative AI models, AI infrastructure, and cross-industry collaborations. Bringing a distinctive take to their investing, the team pays close attention to the ethical dimension and the growing need for responsible AI regulation, aligning with large-scale user adoption—evidenced by ChatGPT reaching 100 million monthly active users in just two months. At eu.vc, as content creators, we’re witnessing the impact of GenAi every single day and we’re definitely putting a good chunk of our money in this space going forward.
Capitalising on AI's Potential
Curiosity is poised to capitalise on this immense potential by targeting B2B software companies that employ AI, particularly those based in key challenger regions in Northern Europe. Investments are curated through an extensive network of investors, advisors, and local founders, building on top of an established edge in accessing best-in-class founders.
Focus Areas for Societal Impact
The fund is focusing its investments on four major socio-economic themes, where AI can add substantial value globally. Let’s look at each and some examples where we’re seeing the advancements in AI having a big potential.
🛡 Trusted Society:
Cybersecurity: AI algorithms can proactively identify and neutralize cyber threats by analyzing patterns and anomalies in network traffic, potentially stopping attacks before they occur. Advanced AI can also simulate cyber-attacks to strengthen defense systems.
Privacy: AI-driven tools can monitor data usage across platforms, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR. They can also detect unauthorized access to personal data, and automate data anonymization processes.
Legal Tech: AI can process vast legal documents rapidly, identifying relevant case laws and precedents. It can also predict litigation outcomes based on historical data, helping law firms and their clients make more informed decisions.
♻️ Sustainable Living:
PropTech: AI can enhance energy efficiency in buildings through smart automation systems that control lighting, heating, and cooling based on occupancy and weather conditions. AI in real estate can also predict market trends and property valuation.
Energy: AI algorithms can optimize the balance between energy supply and demand, especially in renewable energy sectors like solar and wind, where output is more variable. It can also aid in predictive maintenance of energy infrastructure.
Climate Tech: AI can analyze large sets of environmental data to monitor climate change indicators like sea level rise and carbon emissions. It can also aid in developing climate models to predict future scenarios and inform policy decisions.
💼 Future of Work:
Enterprise Software: AI can automate repetitive tasks, provide insightful business analytics, and enhance customer relationship management systems with personalized communication tools.
HRtech: AI can revolutionize the recruitment process by analyzing resumes and job descriptions to match candidates with suitable roles. It can also track employee performance and suggest tailored training and career development opportunities.
Edtech: AI can offer personalized learning experiences based on the learner's pace and style. It can also provide automated grading and feedback, and facilitate immersive learning through technologies like AI-powered simulations and virtual reality.
🛒 Future of Commerce:
FinTech: AI in finance can automate trading, manage risk, and provide personalized investment advice. It can also enhance fraud detection systems by analyzing transaction patterns and flagging anomalies.
Marketing & Sales Automation: AI can personalize customer experiences through targeted advertising and content recommendation. It can analyze customer data to predict buying behavior and optimize marketing strategies accordingly.
Logistics: AI can improve supply chain efficiency through predictive analytics for demand forecasting, route optimization for delivery, and automated warehouse management systems.
In each of these areas, AI not only offers improvements in efficiency and cost-effectiveness but also opens up new possibilities for innovation and service delivery.
Ethics: A Core Investment Criterion
Curiosity backs founders dedicated to building responsible AI systems. These systems are characterised by being human-centred and operationally ethical, ensuring inclusivity, privacy, transparency, security, and human control. The ethos is not merely ethical; it's strategic. Responsible AI systems align with existing and forthcoming regulations like the EU AI Act, ensuring less regulatory uncertainty, higher product quality, faster adoption, and reduced risk of reputational damage. Whether you think the EU AI Act is a good or bad step in this revolution, partnering with a player that understands its well seems a prudent choice.
Delivering on the Promise of Responsible AI
The firm operationalizes its commitment to responsible AI from pre- to post-investment. A bespoke Responsible AI-checklist, developed in cooperation with Considerati, is used during the assessment phase, alongside a thorough ESG survey during due diligence—following a methodology informed by Ravit Dotan, an AI Ethics specialist. Post-investment, Curiosity supports AI ethics policy implementation, operationalizing AI regulation compliance, and conducts annual ESG survey reviews. This comprehensive approach assures that investments are not only profitable but also contribute positively to society and adhere to the highest ethical standards, something which may well turn out to be as good for returns as for morals.
Track Record
Curiosity's investment team has a demonstrated history of lucrative engagements across the Baltics, Nordics, and Benelux regions, showcasing their keen ability to identify and nurture high-growth potential startups.
At SanomaVentures, under the stewardship of Herman, the corporate venture arm of the Sanoma Group, the team focused on seed investments in the Netherlands and Finland, with an impressive average money multiplier of 6.2x. With 21 investments averaging €500K each, their portfolio included standout companies such as Sendcloud and Virtuagym, which have raised significant follow-on funding, achieving a 77x and 17x increase, respectively.
Crosspring & River Venture Partners, angel investment portfolios also managed by Maurice and Herman, have seen similar success with a money multiplier of 5.3x. Their strategy encompassed seed investments across vital tech sectors including AI, SaaS, Fintech, and Cyber. With 41 investments averaging €75K, they've supported rising stars like EasyDMARC, Litebit), Ovoko (raised series A), Polarsteps (raised series A from INKEF), Meetingpackage (raised series A from Scale Capital), and Revue (acquired by Twitter).
KPN Ventures, another venture capital fund led by Herman, focused on growth investments across Europe and Israel, particularly in AI, Cyber, Digital Health, and IoT. Despite being a relatively young portfolio, they've already seen a 2.1x money multiplier. This fund made 17 sizable investments, averaging €1.7M, with significant companies like SecurityMatters (acquired by Forescout), Cybersprint (acquired by Darktrace), ZecOps (acquired by JAMF), Cloudify (acquired by DELL) and Minut (raised Series B from Almaz Capital).
The team's collective experience spans not only successful investments but also strategic advisory roles. They have been integral board members or advisors to companies that have achieved significant milestones. For instance, Sendcloud raised €170m, marking a substantial upsurge, while Security Matters was acquired by Forescout, and Cybersprint was snapped up by Darktrace, both securing impressive returns for investors.
The portfolio showcases a diverse array of successful exits and substantial follow-on funding rounds, reflecting the team’s robust capability in building value and realizing successful investment outcomes. Companies such as Virtuagym, Nosto, and Minut have multiplied their subsequent fundraising by significant factors, indicating the team's prowess in propelling portfolio companies to achieve exponential growth.
This track record underscores the team's ability to deliver robust returns, positioning Curiosity well to become a formidable player in European venture , with the expertise to continue driving impactful investments in what’s likely the most important category for the foreseeable future.
Building a Robust & Value Add LP Base
In a very tough market, Curiosity have raised a substantial €26 million for their first fund from 50 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), 25 tech entrepreneurs, and public funding through the Dutch government's RVO Seed Capital initiative.
Their LP base counts tech founders such as Luc and Olaf Gimbrere (founders of Betabit), Valentijn Bras (founder of Scoupy), Kenny Rokven (co-founder of Litebit), and Sandro Etalle (founder of SecurityMatters). Other notable investors are Kalo Bagijn (Binck Bank, BrandNewDay), Jan Kees de Jager (Easygenerator, former CFO KPN), Maarten Wolleswinkel (founder of Oaklins NL) and Dennis de Breij (founder of M&A law firm DeBreij). This diverse LP base not only highlights the confidence and commitment of a broad spectrum of investors, from individual tech entrepreneurs who have transitioned from portfolio founders to investors, to savvy HNWIs, indicating a strong belief in Curiosity's direction and governance. It also highlights the community approach of the team and their ability to ‘rally the troops’ - something we admire in any team here at eu.vc✊
This ecosystem of investors and experts reflects Curiosity's commitment to a community-driven investment approach. The blend of public funding, private investment, and industry expertise fosters a strong LP base that can be leveraged in the current fund and relied upon for future fund generations.
Portfolio deep-dive
Curiosity has strategically positioned its investments in nine AI-first software companies, each at the forefront of their respective fields and collectively embodying the transformative power of artificial intelligence.
Diverse AI Applications Across Industries
Strise - Pioneering in the 'Future of Commerce' category, Strise is revolutionising KYC and KYB intelligence systems for banks and fintechs. Based in Oslo, Norway, and recently advancing to a Series A in 2023, led by Atomico, Strise stands as a testament to Curiosity's vision for the fintech sector's future.
Dreamdata - Located in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dreamdata operates within the 'Future of Commerce', providing B2B revenue analytics and attribution modelling. Their recent progression to a Series A round signals a robust growth trajectory.
Freesi - With a focus on the 'Sustainable Living', Freesi offers innovative indoor air quality monitoring and optimization solutions. From Helsinki, Finland, the company secured growth funding in 2023, marking a significant step in their quest to create healthy buildings and improve the work environment for millions of people..
Alpha3D - In the 'Future of Commerce' and AR/VR space, Alpha3D, hailing from Tallinn, Estonia, is creating AI-driven 3D models, optimising workflows, and showcasing the depth of Curiosity's investment in emerging technologies.
Epicbrief - Based in Helsinki, Finland, within the 'Future of Work' segment, Epicbrief provides sales call summarization and workflow automation, enhancing enterprise efficiency at the pre-seed stage.
Deeploy - From Utrecht, Netherlands, Deeploy is categorised under 'Trusted Society' and MLOps, focusing on explainable AI deployment software. Curiosity led the pre-seed round in 2022, underscoring Curiosity's commitment to ethical AI development. In 2023, impact investor Shaping Impact Group and Spanish investor Bonsai Partners joined as co-investors.
Neople - Operating as a staffing agency for AI-assistants, Neople is part of the 'Future of Work' from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Their investment in pre-seed in 2023, alongside Peak Capital, demonstrates Curiosity's foresight in the evolving AI-assisted workforce dynamics.
Orquesta - Another 'Future of Work' and MLOps innovator, Orquesta manages the LLM lifecycle, with Amsterdam, Netherlands as its base. Their pre-seed investment stage, with Adriaan Mol joining as co-investor, aligns with Curiosity's strategy to support foundational enterprise software solutions.
Luna - Specialising in lead generation software for salespeople, Luna adds to the 'Future of Work' enterprise software segment from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Their seed-stage investment, alongside lead investor Capital T, reflects the potential Curiosity sees in sales and marketing AI tools.
Collaborative Investment Synergy
These companies are not just part of Curiosity's portfolio; they represent strategic bets on sectors poised for AI-induced revolutions. Their geographical spread across key European innovation hubs and their varied stages of funding—from seed to growth rounds—demonstrate a well-diversified approach aligned with Curiosity's investment ethos.
The co-investors accompanying Curiosity in these ventures, such as Atomico, Seedcamp, Peak Capital, Bonsai Partners, Skyfall, Maki.vc, Capital T, Signals.vc and Crowberry Capital, to name a few as well as angels from firms like Remote.com, Zoom, Mollie and Salesforce, indicate a strong collaborative synergy and reinforce the confidence in these selected ventures' potential to reshape their industries.
We're determined to create a community for investors tapping into the vast potential of Europe. LP investments underpin our approach, offering access to European tech at scale. We double down on the winners by co-investing and following-on into successful startups. 🚀🌟
As a member of the community you get:
🌟 Curated investment opportunities, including access-constrained deals.
🤝 Privileged connections with inspiring people in the industry, building strong networks and relationships across Europe.
🔍 Proprietary insights into cutting-edge tech and emerging markets.
📖 Access to best practices, skill development, and valuable insights to enhance your investment expertise.
💸 Exposure and access to the asset class we all love - Venture Capital.
And the best part? You get all of this for FREE, as long as you remain an active and engaged member.