Creandum raises a record $750m, betting on AI and San Francisco as Europe's pension money stays on the sidelines

02/11/2026
3
Abstract illustration of glowing golden light columns of different heights rising from a dark blue Nordic landscape, one far taller than the rest

The Stockholm firm that backed Spotify, Klarna and Lovable has closed Creandum VIII at €668m ($750m, about SEK 7.5bn), a third more than its last fund, to make roughly 30 early-stage bets over two years. It has tripled its San Francisco team in a year, and its money comes from US and European institutions at a moment when the EU has just backed away from pushing its own pension funds into venture capital.

Creandum, one of Europe's best-known early-stage investors, has raised the largest fund in its 23-year history. The Stockholm-based firm said on Monday that Creandum VIII has closed at €668m, or $750m, to invest from pre-seed to Series A. Bloomberg was first to report the fund. Swedish business daily Dagens industri and tech site Breakit put it at a record SEK 7.5bn.

The new vehicle is about a third larger than Creandum VII, which closed at €500m in June 2024, and follows a €448m sixth fund in 2022, according to EU-Startups. The firm plans around 30 investments over the next two years. Spread evenly, that would be more than €20m per company over the life of each holding, though venture funds rarely invest evenly and Creandum has not disclosed a target cheque size.

A European fund with one eye on California

The fundraising pitch leans heavily on Creandum's track record. "One in six companies we invest in becomes worth $1bn or more," partner Fredrik Cassel told Dagens industri (translated). Partner Peter Specht made the same claim in the firm's public statement: "1 in 6 companies we've backed has become a $1B+ company." Creandum has not published the base for that figure, such as how many companies it counts or at which valuation date, so it cannot be checked independently.

The portfolio behind the claim is real enough. Creandum was an early investor in Spotify, Klarna, iZettle, Depop, Bolt and Trade Republic. Its more recent bets include Stockholm's AI coding platform Lovable, the German image-model maker Black Forest Labs, the US cloud start-up Modal and the AI accounting company Rillet. Cassel told Bloomberg that AI investments had been a "net positive" for the firm and that investors will need to look beyond the makers of large language models as companies turn to cheaper open-source models from Europe and China.

The firm is also widening its search. "We have tripled our team in San Francisco in the past 12 months," Specht said. Creandum says it will keep a generalist strategy rather than become an AI-only fund. Two of the four AI companies Cassel named, Modal and Rillet, are American, which suggests that a growing share of a fund marketed as European may end up outside Europe.

Who is putting up the money

Creandum says about 30 institutional investors from Europe and the United States committed to the fund, including university endowments, pension funds and charitable foundations. It has not named them or given a split by region.

That question matters in Brussels. European pension funds and insurers committed only about $15.5bn to European venture funds between 2016 and 2025, roughly 0.1% of a pool of about $15 trillion, according to Invest Europe data cited by Dealroom. Last month the European Parliament dropped a proposal from rapporteur Damian Boeselager that would have required pension funds with more than €1bn under management to put 2% of their assets into venture capital, IPE reported. Dutch funds had lobbied hard against it. Parliament's economic committee is due to adopt its position on 10 November.

For Europe's start-ups, Creandum VIII is a large new pool of early-stage money. The harder question is how much of it comes from European savers, and how much of it Creandum will invest in Europe.

Sources

Image: AI-generated abstract illustration (European Tech On Heels).

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Creandum raises a record $750m, betting on AI and San Francisco as Europe's pension money stays on the sidelines

02/11/2026
3
Abstract illustration of glowing golden light columns of different heights rising from a dark blue Nordic landscape, one far taller than the rest

The Stockholm firm that backed Spotify, Klarna and Lovable has closed Creandum VIII at €668m ($750m, about SEK 7.5bn), a third more than its last fund, to make roughly 30 early-stage bets over two years. It has tripled its San Francisco team in a year, and its money comes from US and European institutions at a moment when the EU has just backed away from pushing its own pension funds into venture capital.

Creandum, one of Europe's best-known early-stage investors, has raised the largest fund in its 23-year history. The Stockholm-based firm said on Monday that Creandum VIII has closed at €668m, or $750m, to invest from pre-seed to Series A. Bloomberg was first to report the fund. Swedish business daily Dagens industri and tech site Breakit put it at a record SEK 7.5bn.

The new vehicle is about a third larger than Creandum VII, which closed at €500m in June 2024, and follows a €448m sixth fund in 2022, according to EU-Startups. The firm plans around 30 investments over the next two years. Spread evenly, that would be more than €20m per company over the life of each holding, though venture funds rarely invest evenly and Creandum has not disclosed a target cheque size.

A European fund with one eye on California

The fundraising pitch leans heavily on Creandum's track record. "One in six companies we invest in becomes worth $1bn or more," partner Fredrik Cassel told Dagens industri (translated). Partner Peter Specht made the same claim in the firm's public statement: "1 in 6 companies we've backed has become a $1B+ company." Creandum has not published the base for that figure, such as how many companies it counts or at which valuation date, so it cannot be checked independently.

The portfolio behind the claim is real enough. Creandum was an early investor in Spotify, Klarna, iZettle, Depop, Bolt and Trade Republic. Its more recent bets include Stockholm's AI coding platform Lovable, the German image-model maker Black Forest Labs, the US cloud start-up Modal and the AI accounting company Rillet. Cassel told Bloomberg that AI investments had been a "net positive" for the firm and that investors will need to look beyond the makers of large language models as companies turn to cheaper open-source models from Europe and China.

The firm is also widening its search. "We have tripled our team in San Francisco in the past 12 months," Specht said. Creandum says it will keep a generalist strategy rather than become an AI-only fund. Two of the four AI companies Cassel named, Modal and Rillet, are American, which suggests that a growing share of a fund marketed as European may end up outside Europe.

Who is putting up the money

Creandum says about 30 institutional investors from Europe and the United States committed to the fund, including university endowments, pension funds and charitable foundations. It has not named them or given a split by region.

That question matters in Brussels. European pension funds and insurers committed only about $15.5bn to European venture funds between 2016 and 2025, roughly 0.1% of a pool of about $15 trillion, according to Invest Europe data cited by Dealroom. Last month the European Parliament dropped a proposal from rapporteur Damian Boeselager that would have required pension funds with more than €1bn under management to put 2% of their assets into venture capital, IPE reported. Dutch funds had lobbied hard against it. Parliament's economic committee is due to adopt its position on 10 November.

For Europe's start-ups, Creandum VIII is a large new pool of early-stage money. The harder question is how much of it comes from European savers, and how much of it Creandum will invest in Europe.

Sources

Image: AI-generated abstract illustration (European Tech On Heels).

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