Solo GP · Copenhagen · First checks
First checks for the Nordics — since before it was a market.
I wrote the region's startup data for years. Then I started writing the first checks — 50+ companies, from Lovable to Sanity to SafetyWing.
01 The proof
Numbers that used to live in a meta tag. Now they're on the page.
Figures per Fund III reporting (TechCrunch, Dec 2025) and Neil's own public disclosures.
02 Portfolio
First money in — every name a real link.
A curated slice of the book. No invented logo wall; each company links to its own site.
AI app builder — build software by chatting.
First check 2023 · now $6.6BThe content operating system — a headless CMS built for teams and AI.
Pre-seed 2018 · $85M Series CGlobal health & travel insurance for remote workers and nomads.
Pre-seed 2018 · $35M Series BB2B go-to-market attribution and revenue analytics.
Pre-seed 2019 · $55M Series BHybrid gaming — interactive entertainment across devices.
Pre-seed 2018 · $60M Series AAll-in-one, cloud practice-management software for veterinary clinics.
Pre-seed 2019 · $23M Series BThe operating system for fertility clinics.
Seed 2022 · $15M Series AAI analytics on governed metrics — insight without dashboards.
Pre-seed 2022 · Seed $4.3MThe employee app for frontline and hourly teams.
Seed 2022 · MoonfireSix exits
AI UI/UX design tool — prototype from prompts and screenshots.
Acquired by Miro · 2024Multiplayer screen-sharing for technical teams.
Acquired by DatadogKubernetes developer platform.
Acquired by Harness · 2025Secure video consultations for professionals.
Acquired by DailyCollaborative, interactive video sessions.
Acquired by Miro · 2025The discovery & review site for new consumer brands.
Acquired by ShopMy · 2025…and 40+ more first checks across the Nordics — AI, robotics and deep tech.
03 How I invest
A spine, not a shout.
Day-zero conviction, plainly stated. I play the extremes and skip the crowded middle.
Tier 1, or nothing
It's more important to back Tier 1 founders than to back Tier 2 founders. European early-stage is crowded in quantity, not quality.
Zero-billion-dollar markets
I back founders when the market doesn't believe them yet. The biggest outcomes come from exceptional people, not from sizing today's markets.
Clarity into momentum
I look for the clarity and speed to turn ambiguity into momentum — founders building the thing they want to exist.
First check, day zero
One decision-maker. I move fast, write the first institutional check, and stay hands-on from day zero.
“Capping the fund wasn't a constraint. It was the strategy.”
Neil S W Murray — more alignment than AUM04 Track record
Lovable — a first check in 2023. Since: an Accel-led $200M Series A, then a $330M Series B at a $6.6B valuation — the fastest-growing software company ever to come out of Europe.
The bet that pays for the fund is rarely the obvious one at day zero. It's the founder.
More than half of the founders I've backed are now LPs in the fund — alongside founders from Wolt, Kahoot!, Pleo and Sanity; operators from Meta, Google and Miro; and institutions incl. Allocator One, Pacenotes, Tiny.vc, Futuristic.vc and Christoph Janz (Point Nine). Fund II was backed by Niklas Zennström's Atomico.
05 The Nordic Web
Before the fund, there was the data.
The region's definitive startup-data brand, 2014–2018 — the switchboard the ecosystem ran on.
I moved to Copenhagen in 2013 not knowing a single person. The Nordics were quietly producing world-class companies that got miscredited or ignored abroad — so in 2014 I started The Nordic Web to document what was actually happening: every round, every exit, the annual Nordic Funding Analysis.
It became the ecosystem's switchboard. Founders and investors kept asking me who was raising. I was playing the role of an angel without writing a check — so in November 2017 I started doing that.
“I hate writing. I did it because I was passionate about the ecosystem — not because I wanted to run a blog or a media company.”
The fund is what happens when you stop reporting the checks and start writing them. The instinct is the same one it always was: pay closer attention to the Nordics than anyone else.
The archive — 2014–2018
A single indexable “State of the Nordics” data page is planned — reclaiming the brand's search authority.
06 About Neil
Neil S W Murray · Copenhagen
The Brit who mapped the Nordic startup ecosystem before he funded it — and built inside it, too.
London digital products → Copenhagen, 2013, knowing no one → The Nordic Web, 2014, the region's definitive startup-data brand → first check, November 2017. Along the way I co-founded and ran a company of my own — Playmaker (YC W21), 2019–2022 — so I've sat on both sides of the table.
Eight years on: 50+ first checks, Lovable, Sanity and SafetyWing among them, six exits (to Miro, Datadog, Harness, ShopMy and Daily), and a $6M Fund III closed in December 2025 — capped despite more than $20M of interest. A solo operator who reads his own DMs and works with founders at day zero.
07 Questions
What does The Nordic Web Ventures invest in?
Fund III backs AI-native companies, robotics and deep tech across the Nordics — plus selective consumer where founders show real design leadership. First institutional check, day zero.
What stage and check size?
Around $200K as the first institutional check. I play the extremes — sub-$1M syndicates or $3M+ international rounds — and skip the crowded traditional pre-seed middle. Fund III is $6M, targeting 30–35 companies.
Which companies have you backed?
50+ first checks including Lovable (now $6.6B), Sanity, SafetyWing, Dreamdata, PortalOne, Digitail, Wawa Fertility, Steep and All Gravy — with six exits: Uizard and Butter (to Miro), CoScreen (Datadog), Rig.dev (Harness), Thingtesting (ShopMy) and Confrere (Daily).
How do I pitch?
I read every message myself. Send a direct LinkedIn message with one clear ask, what you're building, and why now. No warm intro required.