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Nordic founders.

Backed by active GPs.

Hi, we are Andreas, Rune & Louise. 
Builders and business angels turned VCs.

We have a track record of building great companies and products, and get them ready for scale, fast. This experience combined with an active approach is our winning formula for the startups we back.

The Ducklings

Meet the ventures we're backing.

Eupry automated temperature compliance made for pharma

Eupry

Automated temperature compliance made for pharma

About UDV

At Ugly Duckling Ventures, we make capital, know-how, and real-world application available to Nordic ventures at the seed & pre-seed stage.


Founder respectful.

We are into building relationships, value transparency, and we pride ourselves on always shooting straight.

Active.

We are operational by nature and want to get in the grind as we excel at getting early-stage ventures ready for scale.

GPs only.

Our portfolio founders are never handed off to junior account managers but are directly linked to our experienced partners.

Network.

We have been active in the Danish startup community for more than a decade. Many of our investors are actively helping our portfolio startups. 

Moxso

Moxso is an advanced phishing simulation and training platform that unlocks human-layer security with AI and Automation.

Juristic

Award-winning legal tech built by lawyers. Juristic automates legal deliverables, tasks and processes with visualisation.

BeCause

BeCause is the AI-powered hub that makes sustainability data management flow simpler, faster and cheaper between stakeholders in tourism.

Kanda

Kanda is leveraging virtual reality, realistic 3D models, and a collaborative online platform to make education and corporate training easily accessible and fun.

Eupry

Eupry provides an automated temperature compliance solution to monitor and perform validation of temperature, Co2, humidity and differential pressure for regulated industries.

Unioo

Unioo is reshaping organizational management and volunteer engagement. Our vision is to revolutionize how associations and volunteer initiatives operate, embarking on a profound transformational journey.

 
Diplomasafe

Revolutionising Digital Credentialing! Diplomasafe is at the vanguard of digital education andprofessional advancement, offering a unique credentialing solution that enriches both academic and professional landscapes.

YOGO

YOGO is a SaaS booking platform making it easier for fitness and yoga studios to manage their bookings and easily accessible for their clients.

Leske

Importer and marketer supplying the Norwegian market with award winning, innovative and world leading beverages in the non-alcoholic category.

Veras

Veras is a circular vintage exchange concept that combines sustainable fashion and circular economy to stop clothing waste.

Lab08

Lab08 is a software agency helping start-ups scale through excellent products. With a focus on co-creating solutions in long-term partnerships, they apply an innovative framework to product development.

Food Family

Food Family is a dark kitchen that enables families to satisfy everyone’s cravings in one order. With no consumer-facing venue, Food Family works solely to meet the growing demand for online food delivery.

Testimonials

Kanda

Virtual Reality training platform for industrial company learning

Investment strategy

We invest in Nordic ventures at the pre-seed and seed stages. We see opportunities across sectors, but look for growing categories, and disruptive business models.

Strong founders.

We look for outstanding founder teams with complementary skill sets. Being a strong founder doesn't mean you excel at everything, but it does mean that you know your strengths and weaknesses. Where do you shine and where do you need help?

Smaller initial tickets - big follow ups.

Our structural setup allows us the flexibility to dip our toes via sensible initial investments in founders that are still finding their footing and then do significant follow-up investments when the time is right.

Natural born collaborators 

We love to collaborate with people who can contribute positively to the success of our startups. We firmly believe this is a strength, and are proud of the results we see among our portfolio founders and the teams they build.

Andreas Green Rasmussen

Partner

  • Business operations, international expansion, M&A, management

  • Founder at Challenge Copenhagen, acquired by Ironman in 2013

  • Actively angel investing since 2014

  • Founder & CEO at Nodes, a digital consultancy acquired by Japanese Monstarlab Inc. in 2017

  • EMEA CEO at digital consultancy, Monstarlab Inc. for 4 years following the acquisition

  • Co-founded Ugly Duckling Ventures in 2021

  • LinkedIn

"UDV is more than an investor, it’s a partnership. We feel lucky to work closely with these like-minded, empathetic guys who have such immense amount of experience and strong skill sets.

 

They’ve helped intro to investors and talent, letting us take our business to the next level. Also proven to offer the perfect balance of supporting- and challenging us which has been super valuable.”

Frederik Rubens Stensgaard, 
Co-founder & CEO

BeCause

Louise_Lachmann.png

Louise Lachmann

Partner

  • B2B SaaS, GTM & international scale 

  • CEO & Co-founder Mono Solutions, B2B SaaS company serving large enterprise customers with business critical software catering to 500.000 SMEs across Europe and North America. Acquired by Bauer Media Group in 2019

  • Chairman of The Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship

  • Board member at Eupry, Kanda & Juristic

  • Ambassadeur for Angella Invest

  • 7 direct investments as an angel investor

  • LinkedIn

"Finding an investor with integrity that we can trust has been key for Eupry’s success. UDV is a non-conventional VC - they add value through experience, candidness and passion! They are not afraid to get their hands dirty, and I really like that they are never more than a phone call or slack message away. They are not “VC drill sergeants” who may neglect your vision, your USPs, and obsess over every detail of your KPIs and balance sheet. Sure, those things rightfully do matter to them, but they care most about the core of the business, the product, the positioning, and ensuring the foundation and team is rock-solid for growth. They are hands-on working with the core of the business but not in an intrusive way, they give the founders the necessary respect and space to flourish. 

 

I believe this is what makes UDV unique. They possess a wealth of company building experience, from leadership, scale, to product, but they carry a founder persona far more than they carry an investor persona - for a start-up founder this removes a lot of unnecessary pressure from the get-go. UDV has been instrumental in connecting us with the right people and facilitating the successful completion of our SEED round."

Christian Herschend Jacobsen, 
Co-Founder & CEO

Eupry

BeCause

The first AI-powered hub making sustainability data management flow simpler, faster and cheaper than ever for travel

Rune Hven-Jensen

Partner

  • B2B SaaS and E-commerce product development - vison and business strategy

  • Founded Nodes office in London, UK in 2012. Nodes was acquired by Monstarlab Inc. in 2017

  • Actively angel investing since 2016

  • Senior & Director Product positions at B2B SaaS company Planday across three funding rounds and an exit to New Zealand–domiciled Xero in 2021

  • Co-founded Ugly Duckling Ventures in 2021

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
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