Margarethe Böhme says Wave Ventures is Europe's largest next generation venture capital firm, and its third fund is about €10m, its biggest yet.
Wave Ventures began in 2016 at Slush in Helsinki as what Böhme calls the first dorm room fund in Europe, and its early bets included Safon and Inven.
Böhme says being young is an advantage because Wave must prove itself to every founder and cap table, measuring success by value added per dilution.
Europe's Gen Z venture fund bets youth wins AI-native founders
Wave Ventures is betting that a venture firm run by people under 25 is best placed to find and serve the first AI-native generation of founders. A rotational team keeps its investors peers of the builders they back, and youth forces the firm to earn its place on every cap table. Böhme sees the Nordics, with their habit of going global from day one, as the place to prove it.
Takeaways
An under-25 team understands AI-native founders. Böhme's pitch to limited partners was that a team entirely under 25 understands peers from the first AI-native generation. Backers include Nordic unicorn founders and family offices plus international operators, and the third fund grows Wave from €2m to €10m.
Rotation keeps the firm close to founders. Team members typically stay about two years, so leaders remain peers of the builders they back. Böhme notes that at 30 she probably won't know the best young builders. She sees her team's job as making Wave and Founders House lasting institutions.
Value added per dilution is the scorecard. Wave holds that its help must exceed the stake it takes. Böhme criticises European firms for slow due diligence and connection-based introductions that do not scale. She argues youth forces Wave to prove itself to every founder and cap table.
A dorm room fund built real deals. Wave started at Slush in Helsinki in 2016 as Europe's first dorm room fund. Its 2022 €2m fund backed Safon in a record Swedish pre-seed round and Inven, which raised Finland's largest Series A for under-30 founders.
Hire for agency and above your level. Böhme ranks agency first, pointing to team members who have built or exited companies and the latest hire, Arthur, an AI engineer. She advises young people to value proactivity over qualifications. She cold-called about 250 industry people after starting a company at 17.
Nordic founders build global from day one. Böhme says Stockholm builds global companies from the start, which the DACH region lacks because of its huge home market. Seb Johnson adds that UK fintechs other than Revolut stayed local for years. She calls Finland's defence and health tech talent overlooked.
Big European cities lack young-builder density. On a summer founder sales tour of Zurich, Munich, Paris, Berlin and London, Böhme found Paris, Berlin and London had no hubs connecting young builders, while JFloor and ETH stood out. Johnson argues bigger ecosystems need density more than Stockholm did.
Where Wave and the Nordics go next
Wave stays focused on the Nordics for now but does not rule out expansion.
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On this episode 2
Show 1
Founders House has opened in Stockholm and Helsinki to help Nordic countries work more closely together.
Böhme is doubtful about Norway because its legislation makes building hard, while she praises Danish companies and notes Estonia and Lithuania.
Many technical staff at US frontier labs are European, and Böhme wants pan-European teams that can outperform in the US.
Johnson says San Francisco's serendipity raises the ceiling of ambition and Europe needs more of it.