The first believers in improbable companies.
Alba backs European technical founders at pre-seed and seed — often before the product, sometimes before the company.
First cheques €500k–€2.5M · Answer in 10 days
Most funds wait for proof. We invest in the moment before it exists.
After years operating and investing at the earliest stage, we believe conviction — not consensus — is what the first cheque is for. We meet founders at dawn: pre-product, pre-revenue, pre-obvious.
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companies backed since 2021
€0M
under management
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days to a written yes or no
We meet founders at dawn.
Back at the earliest moment
We write the first cheque — pre-seed and seed — often before there is a product, sometimes before there is a company.
Concentrate, then commit
A dozen investments a year, not a hundred. Enough conviction to lead the round, hold a board seat and do the unscalable work.
Build alongside founders
Hiring the first engineers, landing the first design partners, shaping the seed-to-A story. We measure ourselves on the distance to your next milestone.
How we invest
Six commitments, in writing.
First meeting, straight answers
One partner reads every deck that reaches us. If we take the meeting, you talk to a decision-maker — and you leave it knowing exactly where you stand.
A decision in ten days
Our diligence is deep but bounded. Two partner conversations, reference calls we clear with you first, and a written yes or no within ten days of the first meeting.
We lead, we price, we sign
Alba leads or co-leads with a cheque of €500k–€2.5M. We set terms founders can show their lawyers without flinching, and we sign first.
The unscalable first year
Weekly office hours for the first twelve months. Customer introductions from a network we actually maintain, not a database we bought.
From first revenue to Series A
We help shape the metrics narrative, rehearse the raise, and bring downstream funds to the table when the numbers are ready — not before.
Honest in the hard moments
Pivots, down markets, co-founder splits: we have seen them all and stayed at the table. Ask any founder we have backed, including the ones that failed.
Companies we believed in first.
All companies →Fieldline
SeedRobotics
Autonomous inspection for energy infrastructure.
Cartesia Labs
Pre-seedAI Infrastructure
Evaluation tooling for production LLM systems.
Ledgerly
SeedFintech
Real-time treasury for European mid-market companies.
Bruma
SeedVertical SaaS
The operating system for specialty coffee supply chains.
Nordwind
Pre-seedClimate
Grid-scale forecasting for wind portfolios.
Quaderno
SeedDevtools
Collaborative notebooks for data teams that ship.
Don’t take our word for it.
“Alba signed the term sheet before our demo worked twice in a row. That kind of belief changes what you attempt.”
“They told us no in nine days, with three pages explaining why. We fixed those three pages and they led the next round.”
“The customer intros were real. Four of our first six design partners came from one partner’s phone.”
“When we pivoted, most of the cap table went quiet. Alba booked the flight.”
The team
Meet everyone →Elena Marchetti
General Partner
AI infrastructure, devtools
Tommaso Ricci
General Partner
Fintech, vertical SaaS
Sofia Lindqvist
Partner
Robotics, industrial tech
Marco Venturi
Head of Platform
Go-to-market, talent
Field notes
What we’ve learned, in public.
The first cheque is a belief, not a valuation
Why we price pre-seed rounds on the size of the wedge, not the size of the spreadsheet — and what that means for dilution math.
Design partners before pitch decks
The five questions we ask every B2B founder about their first three customers, and the answers that make us lean in.
What a useful no looks like
We commit to a written reason for every pass. Here is the template, in public, so you can hold us to it.
Everything founders ask us.
What do you invest in?
Pre-seed and seed rounds of European technical founders, with a bias for B2B software, AI infrastructure, devtools, fintech and robotics. We occasionally follow founders we know into other territory.
How big is a first cheque?
€500k to €2.5M. We lead or co-lead, and we reserve significantly for follow-on through Series A and B.
Do I need a warm intro?
No. Cold decks are read by a partner, not an associate, and every founder gets an answer. A specific subject line beats a mutual acquaintance.
How fast do you decide?
Ten days from first meeting to a written yes or no. If we say no, we tell you why in enough detail to be useful.
Do you invest pre-product?
Yes — most of our portfolio was backed before a working product. We underwrite the founders, the market and the wedge, not the demo.
Where do you invest?
Primarily Europe, with a home bias for founders building from Italy and the Mediterranean. We back companies incorporated anywhere our lawyers can read the documents.
Building something improbable?
Send us a deck, a memo, or just the paragraph you can’t stop rewriting. A partner reads everything, and every founder gets an answer.
or email pitch@albaventures.com