How we’re building

Incubation

Ideating, validating & building companies from within our studio.

Co-creation

Co-founding great companies with great people who have great ideas.

Acquisition

Investing in people & tech that
help our studio companies grow.  

Who are the builders?

Former Head of Sustainability within two publicly listed companies and Brand Manager for leading Norwegian consumer goods brands in Orkla, Nora brings 10 years of experience in sustainability and business strategy. She is also an investor and co-owner of family office Constantia. She holds a Master’s from Copenhagen Business School.

NORA LØKE THOMMESSEN

Partner, Venture Builder

Monica Hedberg is a prominent Swedish entrepreneur and investor with a track record of building and exiting several businesses. Named Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Female Investor of the Year by Dagens Industri, she's been a key player in Sweden's startup ecosystem and prominent supporter of female investors.

Monica Hedberg

Partner, Investor Relations Manager

An economist by education, Elin has a strong background in finance & fundraising, operations, and expansion. She has 10 years of experience building and scaling businesses – from launching her own ecommerce brand to serving as venture manager at Hidden Dreams.

Ellie Fokas-Schuettinger

Partner, COO

Jesper is an experienced business leader, entrepreneur, investor, sales person and board representative. He has a background from both listed and unlisted environments. During the last decade Jesper has founded, built, scaled and also advised several companies.

Jesper Vendel

Partner, CEO Pinecone Sweden

Serial entrepreneur and board professional, Camilla Andersson founded TextTV (exit: TV2), WIN Ventures I & II, and the Nordic Ignite pre-seed fund. She is currently Chairman of HER AS, has also served as Chairman of SpareBank 1 SR-Bank Stiftelse, and recently raised NOK 150m for Feddie Ocean Distillery.

Camilla Andersson

Partner, Investor Relations

Stewart Stanbra is an entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded CSUSA/Pursue AS in 2007, which became Scandinavia's largest agency, before getting acquired by Keystone Education Group in 2021, where he served as VP Finance & Commercial, leading a business division of $10m+. He is an active angel investor and advisor, and a founder of The Visionary VC Invest AS.

Stewart Stanbra

PARTNER, Venture Builder

Former Head of Sustainability within two publicly listed companies and Brand Manager for leading Norwegian consumer goods brands in Orkla, Nora brings 10 years of experience in sustainability and business strategy. She is also an investor and co-owner of family office Constantia. She holds a Master’s from Copenhagen Business School.

NORA LØKE THOMMESSEN

Partner, Venture Builder

Serial entrepreneur and board professional, Camilla Andersson founded TextTV (exit: TV2), WIN Ventures I & II, and the Nordic Ignite pre-seed fund. She is currently Chairman of HER AS, has also served as Chairman of SpareBank 1 SR-Bank Stiftelse, and recently raised NOK 150m for Feddie Ocean Distillery.

Camilla Andersson

Partner, Investor Relations

Stewart Stanbra is an entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded CSUSA/Pursue AS in 2007, which became Scandinavia's largest agency, before getting acquired by Keystone Education Group in 2021, where he served as VP Finance & Commercial, leading a business division of $10m+. He is an active angel investor and advisor, and a founder of The Visionary VC Invest AS.

Stewart Stanbra

PARTNER, Venture Builder

Monica Hedberg is a prominent Swedish entrepreneur and investor with a track record of building and exiting several businesses. Named Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Female Investor of the Year by Dagens Industri, she's been a key player in Sweden's startup ecosystem and prominent supporter of female investors.

Monica Hedberg

Partner, Investor Relations Manager

An economist by education, Elin has a strong background in finance & fundraising, operations, and expansion. She has 10 years of experience building and scaling businesses – from launching her own ecommerce brand to serving as venture manager at Hidden Dreams.

Ellie Fokas-Schuettinger

Partner, COO

Jesper is an experienced business leader, entrepreneur, investor, sales person and board representative. He has a background from both listed and unlisted environments. During the last decade Jesper has founded, built, scaled and also advised several companies.

Jesper Vendel

Partner, CEO Pinecone Sweden

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All People

Questions?

What is Pinecone?

Pinecone is a "venture studio" – a company dedicated to building impactful businesses by collaborating with driven founders. We focus on turning ambitious ideas into successful and meaningful ventures.

STUDIO VS. INCUBATOR/ACCELERATOR – WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

Unlike incubators and accelerators, venture studios generate their own ideas, create startups from scratch, provide funding, recruit founders, and actively participate in operations without a fixed timeline. Studios also assume a significant portion of the responsibilities and risks associated with ideation, validation, and launch, making them more deeply involved in the long-term success of their startups compared to other startup support models.

WHY CO-FOUND WITH PINECONE?

Co-founding with Pinecone is akin to getting 10+ co-founders on your team, for the "price" of one. Through mentorship, network and access to capital, we greatly increase your chances – and speed – of success.  

WHO CAN CO-FOUND WITH PINECONE?

We partner with people who are determined to create something big, something meaningful. You should possess an unfair advantage, whether industry insights, skills or network/distribution. We mainly base our decision on trust, a shared vision and ambition are must-haves. We also look for traits like: resilience, adaptability, resourcefulness, curiosity, humility, passion, and drive. Last, but not least, we consider the ability to rally people behind a vision, a rare, yet decisive, skill.

Can Pinecone invest in my startup?

While our main focus is to build companies from scratch, with or without a co-founder from the start, we occasionally will look at investment opportunities that align with our portfolio. Such strategic investments should bring value to our existing portfolio companies or vice versa.

Where is Pinecone located?

Pinecone is based in Oslo, Norway. However, we operate globally with partners of several nationalities and locations, and we invest and build companies globally, too.  

LET's BUILD A BETTER FUTURE

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