Ugly Duckling Ventures

www.uglyduckling.ventures

Early-stage (seed & pre-seed) B2B subscription startups across diverse industries with strong commercial traction, existing recurring revenue, low churn, and significant market impact potential. They focus exclusively on Nordic founders.

Check Size

Not specified

Stages

Pre Seed, Seed

Focus Areas

Enterprise Saas, Ai Ml, Cybersecurity

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Investment Thesis

Ugly Duckling Ventures operates as a founder-centric, operationally active VC firm focused on early-stage B2B SaaS companies with proven commercial traction. The firm is built on the conviction that experienced founders turned investors can provide unique value through hands-on involvement and mentorship. They combine capital deployment with strategic guidance, drawing on deep B2B SaaS expertise to accelerate growth trajectories.

What Sets Them Apart

Active operational approach: 'We are operational by nature and want to get in the grind as we excel at getting early-stage ventures ready for scale'
GP-only access: 'Our portfolio founders are never handed off to junior account managers but are directly linked to our experienced partners'
Founder-respectful engagement: Described as 'non-conventional VC' that carries 'a founder persona far more than they carry an investor persona'
Efficient capital structure: 'Smaller initial tickets - big follow ups' with majority of fund reserved for follow-on investments
Proven founder track record: All three partners are successful founders/operators with exits (Nodes, Mono Solutions, Challenge Copenhagen)
Deep Nordic network: 'We have been active in the Danish startup community for more than a decade. Many of our investors are actively helping our portfolio startups'