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Learn which startups Heartcore Capital invests in, what size check sizes they write, and who their partners are (e.g. ).
Heartcore Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm devoted to backing founders building category-defining consumer internet brands. Founded as Sunstone Capital in 2007, Heartcore has raised over $500 million in committed capital across four fund generations. The firm has offices in Copenhagen, Berlin, and Paris but invests across Europe andoccasionally in the United States. Heartcore has backed more than 70 exceptional founding teams.
Key people at Heartcore Capital.
Key people at Heartcore Capital.
# Heartcore Capital: Europe's Founder-First Venture Investor
Heartcore Capital operates as a premier European venture capital firm with a mission centered on "investing in happiness."[1] The firm's investment philosophy fundamentally differs from traditional asset-management-focused venture capital by prioritizing long-term, trusting relationships with founders rather than purely financial metrics.[1] The firm invests in early-stage consumer technology companies across Europe, spanning B2B, B2C, and deep tech sectors, with a particular emphasis on companies that use technology to improve people's lives.[2][6]
Since its inception, Heartcore has deployed capital across more than 100 portfolio companies, generating over €10 billion in enterprise value and creating five unicorns alongside ten "soonicorns."[1] The firm's geographic footprint spans Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, and Paris, positioning it as a truly pan-European investor with deep local expertise across the continent's most vibrant startup ecosystems.[1][2]
Heartcore was founded in 2007 with a deliberate focus on building authentic partnerships with high-potential founders.[1] The firm emerged during a period when many European venture investors were adopting a transactional, asset-management approach to capital deployment. Rather than follow this trend, Heartcore's founders chose to differentiate by treating entrepreneurs as their primary customers and committing to support founders from seed stage through IPO.[1]
This founder-centric philosophy became the firm's defining characteristic. Over nearly two decades, Heartcore has cultivated what it describes as an "exceptional founder reputation," with founder Net Promoter Score rankings that are second to none in the European venture ecosystem.[1] This reputation was built through consistent execution on the promise of being a reliable, empathetic partner during both the triumphs and challenges of scaling a technology company.
Unlike traditional venture firms that emphasize financial returns and operational metrics, Heartcore has built its entire investment thesis around the entrepreneur experience. The firm explicitly rejects the "asset management" approach, instead focusing on understanding the real challenges of building rapidly-growing organizations.[1] This translates into hands-on support, talent sourcing assistance, and access to a global network of industry experts.[1]
Heartcore has carved out a distinctive niche by concentrating exclusively on consumer-facing technology companies.[5] This specialization allows the firm to develop deep domain expertise in sectors like fintech, health and wellness, mobility, education, and travel—areas where consumer behavior shifts can create massive market opportunities.[5] The firm targets the €11 trillion European consumer market, a massive addressable opportunity that many generalist investors overlook.[5]
The firm deploys capital across a wide range, from €100,000 to €5 million per investment, allowing it to support companies from idea stage through Series A.[3] This flexibility enables Heartcore to be a founder's first institutional investor or a bridge to later-stage capital, creating continuity in the founder journey.[1]
Heartcore's portfolio includes category-defining companies such as Tink (fintech infrastructure), Neo4j (graph databases), Boozt (e-commerce), Peakon (HR tech), and TravelPerk (corporate travel).[2] The creation of five unicorns and ten soonicorns from early-stage investments demonstrates the firm's ability to identify and nurture transformational companies at their inception.[1]
Beyond traditional venture, Heartcore operates a dedicated Web3 fund focused on protocols and native tokens at the application layer, signaling the firm's willingness to evolve its thesis alongside emerging technology trends.[3]
Heartcore represents a countermovement against the financialization of European venture capital. While many European VCs have adopted the institutional, metrics-driven playbook of American venture firms, Heartcore has doubled down on relationship-driven, founder-centric investing. This positioning has made the firm influential in shaping how European venture capital is practiced, particularly among emerging managers who view the firm as a model for sustainable, values-aligned investing.
The firm's emphasis on consumer technology is particularly significant given Europe's historical underinvestment in consumer-facing startups compared to B2B software. By concentrating on this segment, Heartcore has helped legitimize consumer tech as a serious venture category in Europe, contributing to the emergence of European consumer brands that can compete globally.
Additionally, Heartcore's geographic diversification across multiple European hubs—rather than concentrating in a single city—reflects and reinforces the broader trend of venture capital decentralization across Europe. The firm's success in backing companies from 13 different countries demonstrates that exceptional founders and opportunities exist throughout the continent, not just in traditional venture capitals like London or Berlin.[2]
Heartcore Capital has established itself as one of Europe's most respected venture investors by refusing to compromise on founder relationships in pursuit of asset growth. The firm's consistent top-decile returns and exceptional founder reputation suggest that the founder-first model is not just philosophically sound but also economically superior to purely financial approaches.
Looking ahead, Heartcore faces an interesting inflection point. As the firm's portfolio companies mature and the European venture ecosystem becomes increasingly competitive, the firm will need to balance its commitment to founder support with the operational demands of managing larger fund sizes and more complex portfolio dynamics. The firm's expansion into Web3 signals an openness to evolving its thesis, though maintaining the founder-centric culture at scale will be critical.
The broader significance of Heartcore's trajectory lies in its potential to influence how venture capital is practiced across Europe. If the firm can continue delivering exceptional returns while maintaining its values-driven approach, it may catalyze a broader shift away from the financialized venture model toward more sustainable, founder-aligned investing practices. In a European venture ecosystem that has historically struggled with founder retention and brain drain to the United States, Heartcore's model offers a compelling alternative: that European founders can build world-class companies with European capital and European partners.