BlackWood was founded in 2021 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Led by a deep curiosity and a desire to build something great, the firm launched its first Fund in 2023 after having received its EuVECA licence from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority in late 2022.

The firm was created with the goal of living life to the fullest, shaping the future in a positive way, and ultimately becoming the most consequential investor in Europe.

It was born from a belief that ambition should not be reduced to resumes, that creativity should not be filtered through hierarchy, and that the most interesting people in the world are often the least institutionally obvious. The firm was built for founders who don’t fit patterns, who don’t come from the “right” places, and who aren’t trying to optimize – they’re trying to create.

Traditional capital often rewards familiarity. BlackWood was designed to reward originality.

The firm’s founding philosophy is simple: great founders are not rare – access is. Opportunity is distributed unevenly. Talent is not. We exist to close that gap.

Instead of relying on closed networks and insider loops, BlackWood began as a discovery engine: systematic, technology-enabled, pan-European in scope. The idea was not to replace human judgment, but to expand it – to see what others miss, to look earlier, and to look wider.

But this was never only about sourcing.

From the beginning, the firm rejected the idea that founders should be treated as instruments of return. The firm was built around a more human premise: that startups are not just companies but acts of self-authorship. They are people attempting to shape reality rather than accept things as they are.

That belief influences everything: how BlackWood selects founders, how it supports them, how it structures relationships, and how it defines success.

BlackWood is based on the conviction that work should not anesthetize you. That ambition should not narrow you. That success without vitality is a form of failure.

So BlackWood was built as an experiment: What would a venture firm look like if it was designed for people who refuse to become predictable? For founders who don’t want to merely win, but to become?

Today, BlackWood operates as a pan-European, early-stage investment platform, supporting founders from the moment they decide to bet on themselves. It blends systematic discovery with deeply personal conviction, speed with long-term thinking, and technology with care.

But its core question remains unchanged:

What if capital didn’t just fund companies - but protected possibility?