Inception Fund

About Inception Fund

Inception Fund is a Stockholm-headquartered venture capital firm specialising in inception-stage and pre-seed equity investments into Nordic and New Nordic technical founders building global software, artificial intelligence and deep-technology companies. The fund was structured in 2025 and announced its first close in early 2026 at SEK 227 million (approximately €21 million), described as an oversubscribed micro-VC vehicle. The firm operates as an independent founder-led specialist asset manager and is led by managing partners Oliver Molander and Erik Lindblad, with Caroline Cronstedt and Peter Sarlin (the founder of Helsinki-based AI specialist Silo AI, subsequently acquired by AMD) joining as founding partners and cornerstone limited partners respectively. The cornerstone limited partner is Saminvest AB, the Swedish state-owned fund-of-funds, supplemented by individual entrepreneur limited partners including Taavet Hinrikus (Wise co-founder), founders of Lovable, Legora and Aris Machina, and a broader syndicate of operator limited partners and family offices from Sweden, Finland and Estonia.

Investment thesis

Inception Fund pursues a hyper-early-stage venture strategy focused on the inception and pre-seed equity rounds of technical-founder-led companies across artificial intelligence, deep technology and business-to-business software. The firm explicitly targets what it describes as the top 0.1 percent of European and New Nordic technical founders, with a sourcing footprint covering Sweden, Finland, Estonia and adjacent Baltic and Nordic geographies. Ticket size is structured at €100,000 to €500,000 per inception round, with a parallel discretionary opportunity vehicle providing capacity to follow-on into seed and Series A stages alongside lead investors. The limited partner base combines Saminvest, New Nordic operator-founders and select Nordic family offices, creating a value-add network strongly weighted toward technical credibility rather than purely financial capital. Sector focus spans AI infrastructure, foundation-model applications, vertical AI for regulated industries, B2B SaaS, data infrastructure, deep-tech and dual-use technology. Value creation rests on hands-on technical mentorship from operator limited partners and partners, introductions to international seed-stage venture capital firms, and Nordic founder peer-network curation.

Recent activity

Active portfolio investments include Tzafon in AI and deep technology, Vesence in AI and SaaS, Marly AI in AI and vertical software, Vantel in AI and B2B software, Scape in AI and deep technology, Ethira in AI and vertical software, Tandem Health in healthtech AI, PhysicsX in deep technology and simulation AI (active via founder angel-syndicate predecessor), ICEYE in synthetic-aperture-radar Earth-observation (active via founder angel-syndicate predecessor) and Validio in AI and data-quality infrastructure. The most notable exit involving the founding team angel-syndicate predecessor portfolio is Silo AI in AI infrastructure and foundation-model services (2024 acquired by a chip platform strategic), one of the largest European AI exits to date. Given the formal Inception Fund vehicle 2025 to 2026 vintage, dedicated fund-level exits remain ahead. Detailed buyer names and multiple data available on Pro at €29/month.