BlackWood Ventures

Become an investor in our early-stage venture capital fund that employs a systematic approach to investing in the most promising European startups alongside our growing network of leading angel investors.

We invest in the best with the best

BlackWood co-invests alongside the leading angel investors within each country, ensuring a mitigated risk profile for our limited partners.

Senior Investment Team

Bastian Larsen

Investment Committee

Mr. Larsen is the Chief Executive Officer of BlackWood and sits on the firm's investment committee.

He previously worked for BlackRock in London, Geneva, and New York, where he co-led global product strategy for the firm's $10bn M&A hedge fund. Mr Larsen has been recognized by Forbes in 2023, being selected as 30u30.

Mr. Larsen has an MBA from the University of Oxford, a BSc from Copenhagen Business School, and was selected as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2023 - Finance.

Simon Stampe

Investment Committee

Mr. Stampe is a Founding Partner of BlackWood and sits on the firm's investment committee.

He is the founder of Bloomingville, which he successfully exited to a US-based PE firm in 2014.

Prior to this, he held positions as Vice President and CEO for several large companies including IC Compays, Levi Strauss & Co., and ID Design.

Claus Stenbæk

Investment Committee

Mr. Stenbæk is an advisor to BlackWood and sits on the firm's investment committee.

He is the founder of Keyhaven Capital, a $2bn private equity company based in London. Previously, he was an Executive Director at Danske Bank private equity.

Mr. Stenbæk has an MBA from IE Business School and a BSc from CBS.

Abbas Kazmi

Investment Committee

Mr. Kazmi sits on BlackWood’s investment committee.

He is a multi-award-winning serial entrepreneur and investor who has been recognized by the likes of Forbes 30Under30, Maserati 100, and many others. He co-founded the Oxford Accelerator and VC fund Collegiate Capital and previously worked at BlackRock. He advises the UK and UAE governments on Web3.0. policy and has been in the space since 2014.

Mr. Kazmi has a MA and a BA from the University of Oxford and is a VC Fellow at LBS’ Newton Venture Program.

BlackWood Lab

The BlackWood lab forms part of our in-house research team. The team is comprised of our investment committee members as well as leading academics from Harvard, and HEC Paris.

Dr. Rodolphe Durand

Blackwood Lab

Dr. Thomas Graeber

Blackwood Lab

The lab meets regularly to discuss the latest research on topics ranging from cognitive biases to business negotiations and behavioral insights for investment decisions. The lab publishes white papers on a monthly basis, which are available for our clients and partners.

We focus on high-growth areas

Fintech

Fintech offers important room for innovation and the market maintains strong growth.

In fact, the global fintech market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.2% over the next five years, while40 European fintech unicorns were created last year in Europe.

1

Web 3.0

The global Web 3.0 market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 43.7% over the next 8 years, with European founders shaping the future of the internet.

Web 3.0 is one of the fastest-growing spaces that merits close attention with increasing interest in and adoption of blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, the metaverse, and more.

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Cleantech

”The next 1,000 unicorns will be sustainable, scalable innovators within climate tech” - Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock.

We firmly believe that cleantech startups will benefit from several trends linked to the net-zero transition, policy changes, and increased corporate investment.

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Why an early stage fund?

Increased inflation, interest rates, and geopolitical risks are creating greater dispersion, which provides a timely opportunity to get in at attractive valuations.

WHAT'S OUR APPROACH?

At the early stages, there are more unknowns than knowns. The smart way to invest is therefore to leverage data and network dynamics to create a well-diversified portfolio of smaller investments — then chase your winners.

WHAT AREAS DO WE FOCUS ON?

We invest in technology startups with the highest growth potential over the next 10 years. We, therefore, focus on fintech, deeptech, and cleantech areas and prefer founders who want to disrupt the status quo and change the world.
Become an investor

Become an investor in BlackWood Ventures. Start by requesting additional materials below.

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