NVO Capital

What NVO Capital does

NVO Capital is a Luxembourg-domiciled (S.à r.l.) seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2021 that invests in early-stage startups building AI solutions intended to replace human labor. The firm is led by three Managing Partners — Sergey Fedyushchenko, Vladislav Zdorenko, and Artem Smirnov — each of whom is an alumnus or mentor at a top-tier Silicon Valley accelerator (Berkeley SkyDeck, 500 Startups, and Alchemist, respectively). NVO Capital derives its deal flow from embedded relationships with five accelerators: Y Combinator, 500 Global, Berkeley SkyDeck, Alchemist, and Techstars, allowing the firm to track startups during the acceleration process and commit before Demo Day.

The firm's portfolio of 34 companies is heavily concentrated in Y Combinator alumni (30+ companies) and spans AI applications across voice agents (Marr Labs, Opencall.ai), document intelligence (Leafpress, Artos), healthcare AI (Cair Health, MICSI, Maven Bio), fintech AI (Cardamon, Envelope Money, Gullak), legal AI (Caseflood.ai, Dili), and developer infrastructure (Buster, Superagent). The investment thesis is verticalized around automation of human work rather than horizontal AI exposure. NVO Capital itself does not develop proprietary technology; its core product is capital, mentorship, and network access delivered to portfolio founders.

NVO Capital's revenue model is conventional for early-stage venture: returns are generated via equity appreciation in portfolio companies upon exit (IPO or acquisition) and standard management fees on committed capital. The firm operates with a lean team of 1-10 employees across Managing Partners, a Partner & CFO (Viacheslav Voytkov, formerly CFO of a $1.5B VC), a General Partner (Marat Karpeko, co-founder of Wargaming.net and InData Labs), two Venture Partners, a COO, and an Entrepreneur in Residence. Go-to-market is entirely referral- and network-led through accelerator relationships, with no external sales motion.

Name

NVO Capital

Legal name

NVO Capital S.à r.l.

Website

https://nvo.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

NVO Capital is a Luxembourg-domiciled seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2021 that invests in early-stage AI startups replacing human labor, sourcing deals through embedded relationships with Y Combinator, 500 Global, Berkeley SkyDeck, Alchemist, and Techstars.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Seed-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

Keywords

• Seed-stage venture capital
• AI startup investing
• Early-stage equity funding
• Accelerator network deals
• Portfolio investment management

Headquarters

HQ city

Luxembourg

HQ country

Luxembourg

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Returns: NVO Capital generates returns through equity investments in early-stage AI startups. As a VC firm, revenue is derived from capital gains on portfolio company exits (IPOs, acquisitions) and potentially management fees.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

NVO Capital is an early-stage (seed) venture capital firm that invests equity capital into AI startups developing solutions that replace human labor. The firm sources and funds companies primarily from top Silicon Valley accelerators — notably Y Combinator, 500 Global, Berkeley SkyDeck, Alchemist, and Techstars — and supports them with mentorship from a team of experienced tech entrepreneurs. As of the latest data, the firm maintains a portfolio of 34 companies, predominantly Y Combinator alumni.

Product overview

NVO Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in AI startups. The firm focuses on AI solutions that replace human labor and has a portfolio of 34 companies, primarily Y Combinator alumni. As a VC firm, NVO Capital does not offer a product in the traditional sense but provides investment capital and mentorship to early-stage AI companies through its team of experienced tech entrepreneur partners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Seed-stage AI venture capital fund

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Y CombinatorcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerNVO Capital has established relationships with Y Combinator, one of the world's most prestigious startup accelerators. This partnership enables unique opportunities to track YC startups during the acceleration process and make investment decisions before Demo Day. The firm specifically focuses on Y Combinator alumni startups.
• 500 Global (500 Startups)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerNVO Capital has established relationships with 500 Global (formerly 500 Startups). Managing Partner Vladislav Zdorenko is an alumnus and mentor at 500 Startups, providing deal flow access to their accelerator portfolio.
• Berkeley SkyDeckcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBerkeley SkyDeck is a top university-affiliated accelerator. Managing Partner Sergey Fedyushchenko is a UC Berkeley SkyDeck alumnus, providing access to their startup ecosystem.
• Alchemist AcceleratorcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerManaging Partner Artem Smirnov serves as a mentor at Alchemist Accelerator, enabling deal sourcing and relationship building with their portfolio companies.
• TechstarscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerNVO Capital has established relationships with Techstars accelerator. The portfolio includes at least one Techstars alumni company (Ultraviolet), indicating deal flow from this partnership.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Pioneer Fund: A community-driven early-stage fund focused on backing Y Combinator-adjacent startups. Shares NVO's reliance on YC ecosystem deal flow and pre-seed/seed check sizing.
• Zetta Venture Partners: An early-stage venture fund focused specifically on AI startups, with a comparable thesis of backing applied-AI companies from seed through Series A. Like NVO, it concentrates on AI-first founders and is sized as a focused seed/Series A specialist.
• Bloomberg Beta: An early-stage fund (backed by Bloomberg L.P.) investing in AI/data-led startups at the seed stage. Operates with a similar focused, AI-thesis-driven seed mandate and comparable portfolio sizes.
• AI Fund: An AI-focused venture studio and seed investor that backs early-stage AI startups. Shares NVO's conviction that AI will replace human labor across industries and invests at comparable stages.
• Afore Capital: A pre-seed focused venture fund backing technical founders at the earliest stages. Operates with a comparable fund size and pre-seed/seed mandate, often co-investing with accelerator graduates.
• Correlation Ventures: A data-driven seed and early-stage venture fund investing across software and AI. Operates with comparable fund sizes and an AI-leveraged sourcing model that overlaps with NVO's thesis-driven approach.

Broad incumbents

• Lux Capital: A larger, established deep-tech and AI investor with a much broader portfolio and larger fund sizes. Overlaps with NVO in AI-focused seed and Series A deals but operates at significantly greater scale and check size.
• Bain Capital Ventures: The early-stage arm of Bain Capital, with a meaningful AI-focused seed practice. Overlaps with NVO in AI seed deals but at significantly larger fund scale and broader sector coverage.

Emerging players

• 1984 Ventures: An emerging pre-seed and seed fund investing in AI, crypto, and frontier-tech startups. Shares NVO's seed-stage focus on AI-native companies but with broader sector scope.
• Contrary Capital: A university-focused venture fund that invests in student and recent-graduate founders at seed stage, with significant AI exposure. Comparable in stage and check size, though differs in origination channel (university network vs. accelerators).

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nvo-capital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments16 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NVO Capital