Kindling
M. Lindqvist
Authorised signatureThe cheque is signed
Thesis
Technical founders,before the product.
Five sectors, one kind of founder. What we look for in each, and the things we do not back however good the deck is.
- Sectors5
- One memo6 pages
- To a decision14 days
Thesis
Technical founders,before the product.
Five sectors, one kind of founder. What we look for in each, and the things we do not back however good the deck is.
- Sectors5
- One memo6 pages
- To a decision14 days
Thesis
Technical founders,before the product.
Five sectors, one kind of founder. What we look for in each, and the things we do not back however good the deck is.
- Sectors5
- One memo6 pages
- To a decision14 days
The thesis
We back technical founders before there is a product to show. One partner reads, one partner writes six pages, and you have an answer in fourteen days. No committee to charm, no warm introduction to find: the work is the pitch, and the first cheque is ours to write.
- 01$012345678901234567890123456789Min Fund IV
- 0201234567890123456789companies backed
- 0301234567890123456789 %first cheque in
- 0401234567890123456789exits
We invest alongside
Northline Capital, Harbour & Vane, Aldgate Seed, Ferrous Ventures, Quiet Mile, Tessel Partners, Longhand Fund, Orchard Row, Copperfield, Meridian Nine, Slate & Oar, Halcyon Seed
The thesis
We back technical founders before there is a product to show. One partner reads, one partner writes six pages, and you have an answer in fourteen days. No committee to charm, no warm introduction to find: the work is the pitch, and the first cheque is ours to write.
- 01$012345678901234567890123456789Min Fund IV
- 0201234567890123456789companies backed
- 0301234567890123456789 %first cheque in
- 0401234567890123456789exits
We invest alongside
Northline Capital, Harbour & Vane, Aldgate Seed, Ferrous Ventures, Quiet Mile, Tessel Partners, Longhand Fund, Orchard Row, Copperfield, Meridian Nine, Slate & Oar, Halcyon Seed
The thesis
We back technical founders before there is a product to show. One partner reads, one partner writes six pages, and you have an answer in fourteen days. No committee to charm, no warm introduction to find: the work is the pitch, and the first cheque is ours to write.
- 01$012345678901234567890123456789Min Fund IV
- 0201234567890123456789companies backed
- 0301234567890123456789 %first cheque in
- 0401234567890123456789exits
We invest alongside
Northline Capital, Harbour & Vane, Aldgate Seed, Ferrous Ventures, Quiet Mile, Tessel Partners, Longhand Fund, Orchard Row, Copperfield, Meridian Nine, Slate & Oar, Halcyon Seed
The sectors, in depth
Five places where a partner has built before.
A thesis is only useful if it tells you what we will say no to. Here is each sector, what we look for inside it, and who we have backed there so far.
01 / 0519 companies
Climate software
The grid, carbon and the paperwork between them.
Decarbonising is a planning problem before it is a hardware problem. We back the software that lets a utility, a developer or an auditor say yes faster.
What we look for
- 01A buyer who already has a budget line for the problem
- 02A founder who has sat on the customer's side of the table
- 03Numbers an auditor or a regulator can trace to a source
02 / 0517 companies
AI infrastructure
The layer under the model: compilers, evaluation, cost.
Models change every quarter; the tools that make them cheap and safe to run do not. We invest below the application, where a technical team has an unfair start.
What we look for
- 01A benchmark we can run ourselves in diligence
- 02A cost or latency gain of five times, not twenty per cent
- 03A team that has shipped a compiler, a runtime or a chip before
03 / 0514 companies
Robotics
Machines for factories of two hundred people.
The large plants were automated twenty years ago. The small ones were left out because programming cost more than the arm. That gap is closing.
What we look for
- 01A cell that a factory of two hundred people can pay back in a year
- 02Set-up measured in hours, by the people on the floor
- 03Hardware that ships with software margin
In the portfolio
04 / 0521 companies
Fintech rails
Treasury, ledgers and payments for companies that export.
We do not back another card. We back the plumbing a finance team needs when it sells in thirty currencies.
What we look for
- 01A licence path the founder can explain on one page
- 02Revenue per transaction, not per seat
- 03A finance lead who has closed the books the hard way
In the portfolio
05 / 0515 companies
Developer tools
Software that engineers choose and then expense.
A tool that saves an engineer an hour a day sells itself from the bottom up. We look for the ones that are loved before they are sold.
What we look for
- 01Engineers who installed it before anyone sold it to them
- 02A free tier that turns into a team plan without a sales call
- 03One painful hour a day removed, and measured
The honest part
What we do not back.
Saying no quickly is part of the fourteen days. If your company is on this list, we are the wrong first cheque, and we would rather tell you here than on a call.
- 01
Consumer social appsNone of us has built one, and it would show in the first meeting. - 02
Tokens and coinsWe buy equity in companies. Nothing else. - 03
Another card or neobankWe back the rails underneath, not the tenth brand on top. - 04
TherapeuticsWe fund the tools around the lab bench, never the molecule. - 05
Rounds above $8MPast a Series A, a larger fund will serve you better than we can. - 06
A company without a technical founderWe back the person who builds the first version.
The sectors, in depth
Five places where a partner has built before.
A thesis is only useful if it tells you what we will say no to. Here is each sector, what we look for inside it, and who we have backed there so far.
01 / 0519 companies
Climate software
The grid, carbon and the paperwork between them.
Decarbonising is a planning problem before it is a hardware problem. We back the software that lets a utility, a developer or an auditor say yes faster.
What we look for
- 01A buyer who already has a budget line for the problem
- 02A founder who has sat on the customer's side of the table
- 03Numbers an auditor or a regulator can trace to a source
02 / 0517 companies
AI infrastructure
The layer under the model: compilers, evaluation, cost.
Models change every quarter; the tools that make them cheap and safe to run do not. We invest below the application, where a technical team has an unfair start.
What we look for
- 01A benchmark we can run ourselves in diligence
- 02A cost or latency gain of five times, not twenty per cent
- 03A team that has shipped a compiler, a runtime or a chip before
03 / 0514 companies
Robotics
Machines for factories of two hundred people.
The large plants were automated twenty years ago. The small ones were left out because programming cost more than the arm. That gap is closing.
What we look for
- 01A cell that a factory of two hundred people can pay back in a year
- 02Set-up measured in hours, by the people on the floor
- 03Hardware that ships with software margin
In the portfolio
04 / 0521 companies
Fintech rails
Treasury, ledgers and payments for companies that export.
We do not back another card. We back the plumbing a finance team needs when it sells in thirty currencies.
What we look for
- 01A licence path the founder can explain on one page
- 02Revenue per transaction, not per seat
- 03A finance lead who has closed the books the hard way
In the portfolio
05 / 0515 companies
Developer tools
Software that engineers choose and then expense.
A tool that saves an engineer an hour a day sells itself from the bottom up. We look for the ones that are loved before they are sold.
What we look for
- 01Engineers who installed it before anyone sold it to them
- 02A free tier that turns into a team plan without a sales call
- 03One painful hour a day removed, and measured
The honest part
What we do not back.
Saying no quickly is part of the fourteen days. If your company is on this list, we are the wrong first cheque, and we would rather tell you here than on a call.
- 01
Consumer social appsNone of us has built one, and it would show in the first meeting. - 02
Tokens and coinsWe buy equity in companies. Nothing else. - 03
Another card or neobankWe back the rails underneath, not the tenth brand on top. - 04
TherapeuticsWe fund the tools around the lab bench, never the molecule. - 05
Rounds above $8MPast a Series A, a larger fund will serve you better than we can. - 06
A company without a technical founderWe back the person who builds the first version.
The sectors, in depth
Five places where a partner has built before.
A thesis is only useful if it tells you what we will say no to. Here is each sector, what we look for inside it, and who we have backed there so far.
01 / 0519 companies
Climate software
The grid, carbon and the paperwork between them.
Decarbonising is a planning problem before it is a hardware problem. We back the software that lets a utility, a developer or an auditor say yes faster.
What we look for
- 01A buyer who already has a budget line for the problem
- 02A founder who has sat on the customer's side of the table
- 03Numbers an auditor or a regulator can trace to a source
02 / 0517 companies
AI infrastructure
The layer under the model: compilers, evaluation, cost.
Models change every quarter; the tools that make them cheap and safe to run do not. We invest below the application, where a technical team has an unfair start.
What we look for
- 01A benchmark we can run ourselves in diligence
- 02A cost or latency gain of five times, not twenty per cent
- 03A team that has shipped a compiler, a runtime or a chip before
03 / 0514 companies
Robotics
Machines for factories of two hundred people.
The large plants were automated twenty years ago. The small ones were left out because programming cost more than the arm. That gap is closing.
What we look for
- 01A cell that a factory of two hundred people can pay back in a year
- 02Set-up measured in hours, by the people on the floor
- 03Hardware that ships with software margin
In the portfolio
04 / 0521 companies
Fintech rails
Treasury, ledgers and payments for companies that export.
We do not back another card. We back the plumbing a finance team needs when it sells in thirty currencies.
What we look for
- 01A licence path the founder can explain on one page
- 02Revenue per transaction, not per seat
- 03A finance lead who has closed the books the hard way
In the portfolio
05 / 0515 companies
Developer tools
Software that engineers choose and then expense.
A tool that saves an engineer an hour a day sells itself from the bottom up. We look for the ones that are loved before they are sold.
What we look for
- 01Engineers who installed it before anyone sold it to them
- 02A free tier that turns into a team plan without a sales call
- 03One painful hour a day removed, and measured
The honest part
What we do not back.
Saying no quickly is part of the fourteen days. If your company is on this list, we are the wrong first cheque, and we would rather tell you here than on a call.
- 01
Consumer social appsNone of us has built one, and it would show in the first meeting. - 02
Tokens and coinsWe buy equity in companies. Nothing else. - 03
Another card or neobankWe back the rails underneath, not the tenth brand on top. - 04
TherapeuticsWe fund the tools around the lab bench, never the molecule. - 05
Rounds above $8MPast a Series A, a larger fund will serve you better than we can. - 06
A company without a technical founderWe back the person who builds the first version.
Questions
Asked before the first call.
Straight answers on stage, ownership, board seats and how long a decision takes.
Memo · To founders
Read in2 daysNo warm intro needed.
Sixty-one per cent of our companies arrived as a cold e-mail. Send six lines on what you are building. A partner reads it within two working days.
Write topitch@kindling.vc
Pre-seed and seed are most of what we do: usually between $250,000 and $4M as the first institutional cheque. We also lead a small number of Series A rounds, mostly in companies we already back.
No. Sixty-one per cent of our portfolio came through a cold e-mail or the pitch form. A partner reads every one within two working days.
Fourteen days from the first call at seed, ten at pre-seed and twenty-one at Series A. If the answer is no, you get it early and with the reasons.
About 8 % at pre-seed, a little under 10 % at seed and about 16 % at Series A. The cheque at the top of this page works out the stake for any amount.
Questions
Asked before the first call.
Straight answers on stage, ownership, board seats and how long a decision takes.
Pre-seed and seed are most of what we do: usually between $250,000 and $4M as the first institutional cheque. We also lead a small number of Series A rounds, mostly in companies we already back.
No. Sixty-one per cent of our portfolio came through a cold e-mail or the pitch form. A partner reads every one within two working days.
Fourteen days from the first call at seed, ten at pre-seed and twenty-one at Series A. If the answer is no, you get it early and with the reasons.
About 8 % at pre-seed, a little under 10 % at seed and about 16 % at Series A. The cheque at the top of this page works out the stake for any amount.
Memo · To founders
Read in2 daysNo warm intro needed.
Sixty-one per cent of our companies arrived as a cold e-mail. Send six lines on what you are building. A partner reads it within two working days.
Write topitch@kindling.vc
Questions
Asked before the first call.
Straight answers on stage, ownership, board seats and how long a decision takes.
Pre-seed and seed are most of what we do: usually between $250,000 and $4M as the first institutional cheque. We also lead a small number of Series A rounds, mostly in companies we already back.
No. Sixty-one per cent of our portfolio came through a cold e-mail or the pitch form. A partner reads every one within two working days.
Fourteen days from the first call at seed, ten at pre-seed and twenty-one at Series A. If the answer is no, you get it early and with the reasons.
About 8 % at pre-seed, a little under 10 % at seed and about 16 % at Series A. The cheque at the top of this page works out the stake for any amount.
Memo · To founders
Read in2 daysNo warm intro needed.
Sixty-one per cent of our companies arrived as a cold e-mail. Send six lines on what you are building. A partner reads it within two working days.
Write topitch@kindling.vc