A technical read on every deal, at every stage.
Smartfin backs European B2B technology companies from early stage to growth. The X-Ray gives its deal team a read on product, technology and team within the deal timeline, at every stage.
Smartfin
Smartfin was founded in 2014 by six entrepreneurs and investors, among them Jürgen Ingels, who had just sold Clear2Pay to FIS, and Bart Luyten. It started with a first venture fund and a €75M growth fund, and has since grown to five funds and more than €600M in commitments, with the EIF joining for the first time in its €250M third growth fund. Two exits from the first growth fund, Newtec to ST Engineering for €250M and the Euronext listing of Unifiedpost, repaid that fund in full. Silverfin, Recharge, THEO Technologies and Zivver followed, and Deliverect, backed at seed in 2019, became a unicorn three years later.
The model is deliberate. Smartfin invests in B2B technology across Europe and the UK, from early stage to growth, and goes, in its own words, where other investors hesitate to go. It enters with a first ticket and keeps most of its growth fund for follow-ons, increasing its stake as a company proves itself, and it can stay on board well beyond a typical ten-year fund life. Its partners are hands-on, with board seats, help with C-level hiring and exit preparation from day one. The team comes first: "Always go for an A team with a B product," in the words of partner Harry Haeck, and Ingels looks for small, strong teams built around what their customers need, superteams with a north star.
Smartfin is selective by design. Its own reviews covered architecture, team, roadmap and scalability, with a full technical due diligence on later-stage deals. The next step was a deeper technical read at every stage, at the pace of the deal and light on the founders.
How it went
Start from the investment thesis
Each X-Ray starts with a scoping call on Smartfin's thesis for the company and the milestones in the plan. The question is what the technology needs to carry the company through ten times the scale.
The code first, then the team
The X-Ray reads the codebase and infrastructure and benchmarks them against more than 300 previous engagements. On deals that need it, confirmatory interviews follow on what does not show in the code: leadership, the tech team and the product roadmap.
Light on the founders
One call with the CTO, temporary access to the repositories and a short list of focused questions. Founders keep control of their code and spend hours, not weeks.
Short updates along the way
The deal team gets a short update every few days, so the technical read keeps pace with the legal and financial workstreams.
One read for the syndicate
On a co-led round, one scope and one set of reports serve both lead investors.
“Scaleflow gave us a clear, independent read on Marble's technology within two days of kick-off, with regular updates along the way. We appreciated the support and the swift delivery on the transaction.”
What the X-Ray gives Smartfin
- A code-based read on top of what Smartfin already assessed: architecture, team, roadmap and scalability
- Fast enough to run on early-stage deals, not only on the late-stage ones
- A clear answer on the deal's key question, from scalability for regulated clients to defensibility in AI
- A prioritised set of recommendations the company can pick up after the round
The outcome
- The same approach on a Series A and on a growth round
- Smartfin led Marble's €6.5M Series A, with reports two working days after kick-off
- Smartfin and Forgepoint Capital co-led Hadrian's $40M round, with one shared X-Ray and confirmatory DD
Smartfin
Venture Capital
A European venture capital investor in early and growth-stage B2B technology companies, founded in 2014 by entrepreneurs and investors including Jürgen Ingels and Bart Luyten.
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Start with an X-Ray.
1 business day. The complete picture. 300+ assessments delivered.