Creandum Closes €668 Million Early-Stage Fund VIII

By Daniel Okafor

Creandum closed its largest fund to date, Creandum VIII, at €668 million ($750 million). The Stockholm-based Swedish venture capital firm will back technology startups from pre-Seed through Series A.

Creandum said the fund plans approximately 30 investments over the next two years. It has a particular interest in opportunities emerging from the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

What does Creandum VIII fund?

Creandum VII, the firm’s previous fund, closed at €500 million in June 2024, according to EU-Startups.

Peter Specht, Partner at Creandum, said in a public statement: “We continue to focus on the early stage. 1 in 6 companies we’ve backed has become a $1B+ company. We have tripled our team in San Francisco in the past 12 months. We support founders globally from day 1.”

Specht also said: “After almost a decade at Creandum, this is a proud and exciting moment. Grateful for the team and my partners, and just so excited about the incredible founders out there to back.”

Creandum said approximately 30 institutional investors committed to Creandum VIII across Europe and the United States. The backers include university endowments, pension funds and charitable foundations.

EU-Startups previously reported Creandum’s €448 million sixth fund in 2022 and its role in leading Lovable’s €14.3 million funding round in 2025.

Founded in 2003 by Staffan Helgesson, Creandum is based in Stockholm, with additional offices in London, Berlin and San Francisco. Before establishing Creandum, Helgesson founded Startupfactory, an investment firm focused on mobile internet businesses.

Creandum lists Spotify, Klarna, iZettle, Depop, Bolt and Trade Republic among its early investments. More recent holdings include AI-powered software development startup Lovable, AI image-generation company Black Forest Labs, cloud infrastructure startup Modal and AI accounting platform Rillet.

How large is Europe’s 2026 venture fundraising wave?

Creandum VIII joins European venture capital fundraising announcements reported in 2026, according to EU-Startups. The comparable closings include:

• London-based QuantumLight closed a €432 million second fund.
• Berlin-based Earlybird VC secured €360 million for Fund VIII.
• Seedcamp raised €279 million across two investment vehicles.
• In Sweden, Norrsken Evolve closed a €62 million pre-Seed fund.
• Turbine Capital finalized a €54 million vehicle targeting Nordic DeepTech startups.

Across the comparable announcements, disclosed fund sizes total approximately €1.64 billion, according to EU-Startups. Including Creandum VIII, the total rises to €2.31 billion.

Will Creandum make the fund an AI-only vehicle?

No. Creandum said it will maintain a generalist investment strategy rather than restrict Creandum VIII to a particular technology or sector.

The firm argues that rapid changes in software development, enterprise technology and digital infrastructure are opening opportunities for startups to challenge established products and business models, according to Creandum.

Creandum connected the current shifts to earlier periods of technological and economic uncertainty, including the aftermath of the dotcom crash, the 2008 financial crisis and the venture capital market correction of 2022.

Creandum said: “The pattern has repeated for over two decades: the biggest companies get founded when the ground is shifting. And the ground has never shifted like it is shifting today.”

Why is Creandum expanding in the United States?

Creandum established its San Francisco presence approximately a decade ago, according to the firm. Its announcement says the West Coast team has tripled in size over the past two years, while Specht cited a 12-month period for the San Francisco increase.

The expansion is intended to increase Creandum’s investment activity in the United States. It will support European companies entering the market alongside American startups seeking early-stage capital, the firm said.

Creandum’s team said: “The best founders no longer belong to one geography, and neither do we.”

The firm remains optimistic about Europe’s startup ecosystem, citing the continent’s universities, engineering talent and increasingly experienced founder community. Creandum believes wider access to advanced development tools could help European startups compete more effectively with established global technology companies.

How is Creandum using AI internally?

Creandum said it is adopting AI-based processes to identify investment opportunities, evaluate companies and support its portfolio. The company frames the changes as an effort to adapt its investment operations to the technologies developed by the startups it finances.

Over the next two years, Creandum VIII’s roughly 30 investments will test whether broader U.S. reach and AI-assisted sourcing can extend the record Specht cited: one in six Creandum-backed companies has become a $1 billion-plus company.