We are constantly inspired by relentless founders tackling big problems globally — intellectually curious about searching for massive opportunities driven by emerging technologies. That's why we decided to professionalize our investing side hustle via 10K Ventures: investing our own capital and time to back founders, funds, and businesses.
Invested alongside Tiger Global, a16z, Softbank, Alter Global, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, local VCs, angels, and more. 20+ early-stage startups directly backed. 6 soonicorns. 1 nine-figure exit. View our full portfolio on Crunchbase →
We started 10K Ventures with a simple (hypo)thesis: some of the next €Bn companies will be built in large, fragmented, under-innovated industries — especially across emerging economies. We're actively looking for the founders building them.
Here's what resonates deeply with us:
We back founders with undeniable founder–market fit. People who see something in the problem others miss. They can clearly define the playbook required to win and demonstrate the ability to design and execute it. Either have a track record or deep commitment to mastering that playbook. Can recruit top talent, attract the right capital partners, build critical BD relationships, and sell the vision.
We invest in existing markets with proven, recurring, economically meaningful pain. The problem must be urgent, frequent, expensive, and mandatory. The category works, but the current solution is broken or at subscale. The opportunity must conservatively support €1Bn+ ARR in value capture.
Our sweet spot: low PMF risk (demand real and proven); high execution risk (winning requires exceptional execution). We love innovative and scalable technologies with the potential to offer sizable value creation — superior value propositions that shake up the industry or create paradigm-shifting models that outperform the status quo. The trifecta: undercut on price, outperform on quality, outdeliver on speed and convenience.
Every playbook must have a real, defensible flywheel: network effects, data advantages, operational scale, or distribution dominance. Capital, tech, and brand act as consolidation levers into large, fragmented, under-innovated industries. The roadmap must be ambitious yet credible, with a clear path to €100M+ ARR within ~5 years.
We're especially drawn to vertically integrated tech-enabled operators, AI-enabled buy-and-build and rollup strategies, AI-native service firms in commoditized markets, disciplined serial acquirers, and distribution-dominant platforms.
Large. Fragmented. Under-innovated. Bn/Tn€ TAM. No entrenched dominant player. We size bottom-up, starting from the problem, the value created, and the realistic path to capture. Fragmentation is a key feature: many buyers or sellers de-risk acquisition and enable consolidation via capital, tech, and brand.
Pre-seed, Seed. Ideally sub-€10M post. We invest globally, with strong conviction in Europe and the Global South. Sector-agnostic, but discipline-first. We avoid fragility, hype, or linear growth disguised as scale. No project-based or non-recurring revenue without a path to predictability. No concentrated buyers, low switching costs, heavy R&D with long pre-revenue burn, token-subsidized growth, or markets locked by incumbents or regulatory timing.
We pass on demand-creation bets, fragile unit economics, human-linear scaling, unrealistic dominance assumptions, and models driven more by narrative than structural, defensible compounding.
At the core, we believe outsized outcomes happen when these 4 align:
B2B services ripe for automation through AI and robotics
Tackling the housing and building crisis
Improve quality, lower cost, unlock access to healthcare & longevity
Any sector with structural fragmentation and a credible consolidation path
If you're building and this way of thinking resonates — we'd love to connect.