Back

No Label Ventures: Europe’s VC fund focused on backing immigrant founders

No Label Ventures is Europe’s VC fund dedicated to supporting immigrant founders in building exceptional companies.

Our distinctive approach of tackling visa issues for founders enables us to tap into an overlooked market segment that traditional VCs tend to ignore. With our late-stage advantage and unwavering commitment to leading by conviction, NLV is on a mission to back immigrant entrepreneurs in Europe and help them create outstanding companies.

1. Backing immigrants founders in Europe: it’s an overperforming thesis

We believe that investing in immigrant founders in Europe is a high-performing thesis. Immigrant founders have outperformed their peers in mature tech ecosystems, with 55% of unicorns founded by immigrants in the US and 36% in the UK. 

In addition, the recent immigration surge in Europe is reminiscent of the surge in immigration in the US in the 1970s/80s which coincided and contributed to the growth of Silicon Valley.

As European ecosystems mature and become more open to outsiders, we anticipate exponential growth in unicorns founded by immigrant entrepreneurs. NLV is betting that two out of three new unicorns in the UK, France, and Germany will be founded by an immigrant over the next 10- years.15

2. NLV’s approach to playing this thesis

First, NLV’s unique approach is focused on solving visa issues faced by immigrant founders. By doing so, we are helping open up a new market of founders who would have otherwise been discouraged from becoming entrepreneurs. We are the first check investors for these founders, and solving visa issues enables us to have early conversations with them, often while they are still employed.

Second, we lead by conviction, not by equity. NLV often identifies and backs founders early, committing early and helping them raise funds from other VCs. We don’t compete with lead VCs but rather work with them at the pre-seed and seed stages. Our win rate is 100%, as all the founders we wanted to back brought us on their cap table.

At times, NLV may choose to invest in immigrant founders who have already received overwhelming interest from other investors. Despite this oversubscription, these founders are still eager to have NLV on board, recognizing the value we can provide and NLV’s mission and values around empowering immigrant entrepreneurs in Europe.

3. NLV’s super-power: the late-stage advantage

NLV’s late-stage advantage is its superpower. With a decade of investing at the late stage in firms like KKR and Silver Lake, we have a unique advantage in finding and helping founders. We maintain a high-conviction approach to investing, don’t succumb to groupthink, and commit to founders early.

NLV’s LP base consists of GPs and portfolio company CEOs from the late-stage, incentivized to open doors and help by virtue of their investment in NLV. We help our founders in ways other investors cannot, making mutually beneficial introductions to late-stage companies who become clients of the startups we back. Thanks to the late-stage network we have developed over the years, we also help our founders find their lead investors and connect them to later-stage VCs in subsequent rounds.

In conclusion, NLV has a unique approach to investing in immigrant founders in Europe, solving visa issues and leading by conviction. Our ability to make valuable introductions to clients and downstream capital makes us the partner of choice for immigrant founders looking to build epic companies in Europe.

See all articles