Investment Profile

SEED Capital invests in ambitious and visionary start-up companies who produce innovative, highly technological, research-based or knowledge-based ideas.

SEED Capital is the largest early stage venture fund in Denmark. We invest in companies within IT, Cleantech and Life Science at the seed or even pre-seed stage from Denmark and southern Sweden. We invest in classic venture companies meaning companies that as a minimum will provide an opportunity for a 10x return on investment. The company should have a highly innovative solution and a scalable business model for entering an attractive market with a number of identified paths to exit.

Because of our strong partnership with the government funded innovation incubator DTU Symbion Innovation we are able to invest € 250-750.000 at the early stages of a company’s development, allowing them an opportunity to prove their technology and business.

Depending on capital need, SEED Capital can invest up to € 9 million in the following rounds – preferably in syndication with international investors. We take an active advisory role as an investor and will normally take the position of Chairman of the Board in the company until a skilled alternative is identified.

 

 

Investment Process

Our investment process is in seven steps, where each successful step grants access to the next. From this we narrow down 500 proposals to 15 investments.

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Business Proposal

The first step is to evaluate whether your proposal is (or could be) in accordance with our investment criteria. This is often done via mail or phone and primarily involves assessing whether the proposal:

  • Has sufficient financial potential
  • Is within SEED Capitals investment focus: IT, Life Science and Cleantech
  • Can be protected by patents or other barriers of entry
  • Is within our ethical guidelines

We always do our best to respond to your initial contact within 7 working days.

First Meeting

The first meeting is held with the purpose of learning more about your business proposal. Together, we will explore the potential for continuing the dialogue, what additional information is needed and which steps should be taken for this to be realized.

Internal Evaluation

Your proposal will be discussed internally to evaluate its potential and under which conditions it would be relevant for SEED Capital to participate. At this part of the evaluation, we sometimes contact our expert network to verify risks and opportunities. Involvement of external experts is only done with your acceptance.

Verification & Adjustment

At this point, we evaluate your proposal more intensively, i.e. the factors needed for the business to become successful. The process is focused on technology, markets, budgets, team and legal matters.

This part of the process is time-consuming, and it is expected that you participate in securing the needed information. Often we engage field experts to clarify how strong your value proposition is in the marketplace.

The process will lead to a common understanding of the company's initial strategy written down in a business plan. This includes specifying milestones for what the company is expected to accomplish as part of the investment.

Term sheet

SEED Capital will provide a brief proposal of the investment in a term sheet. This will include a description of:

  • The size of the expected investment
  • Financial and legal terms
  • Company ownership structure
  • Milestone payment tranches (technological, market-related, organizational)

Internal Presentation & Approval

Before final commitment to an investment the business plan and your team is usually presented to the relevant people in SEED Capital.

Based on the term sheet an investment recommendation is submitted to the SEED Capital partner team, who has the decisive word in all investments.

Completion of Agreement

If the partner team approves the recommendation, the final details of the agreement need to be settled and the documents need to be prepared and signed. To be as cost effective as possible, SEED Capital has an in-house lawyer who can draft all documents.

Inspiration

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When contacting us with an investment opportunity there are no specific requirements to either style or format. We don’t necessarily require that you have a complete and elaborate business plan, a complete team or the answer to every question regarding the future of your technology, market and customers.

Your company is still early in its process and that’s ok. We like to meet and help entrepreneurs and if you are ok with hearing our sincere opinion, we’ll be happy to hear how far along you are.

There are a number of topics that we would like for you to consider when preparing a presentation.

    Technology
  • At what stage is the technology needed for this product today?
  • What resources are required to make the product ready for market?
  • How innovative is this compared to current solutions?
  • Can the product efficiently be protected by patents or other means of protection?
    Market & competitive situation:
  • What problem does your product solve?
  • Who solves this problem today and how?
  • Who (or how many) would like to have this problem solved?
  • What advantages (money or time) comes with solving this problem?
    Business model & value chain:
  • How will you make money?
  • Who do you need to partner with?
    Team
  • Who are the people behind this organization?
  • What additional people/competencies are needed and how will you accommodate this?
    Funding and legal issues
  • What kind of funding do you need to reach which milestones?
  • Who owns the rights related to the product?
  • If the company is already established, who are the owners today and what activities have been initiated so far?
    Exit
  • How and when can we, as investors, expect return on our investment?

A business plan could be many things and can be phrased in many ways. In our context the business plan is the presentation that provides an overview of how far along you are in your process. There might be a more in depth document behind this that goes into more detail.

Here is an example of a presentation, which should guide you along building your first business plan.

An executive summary is 1-2 page summary of your business plan intended to be shared freely to potential investors or partners as the initial introduction. Is shouldn’t cover every part of your business, but give a concise overview of your company and its potential and secure the interest of whoever you are in contact with.

Here is an example of a general executive summary, which should get you started.

We made our own executive summary back in 2010. Have a look.

Team

The SEED Capital team has significant experience with establishing, financing and developing start-up companies.

News

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Recent Investments

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Where to
meet us
2012-02-27 Lars Andersen, Ulla Brockenhuus-Schack Mobile World Congress Barcelona, ES
2012-03-09 Jakob Ekkelund, Niels Vejrup Carlsen SXSW Texas, US
2012-03-19 Carsten Schou Bio-Europe Spring 2012 Amsterdam, NL
2012-03-28 Line Holten Fourth European Medical Technology Strategy Forum Frankfurt, D
2012-04-16 Jakob Steen Jensen, Tore Sylvester Jeppesen Cleantech Forum Munich, DE