The rise of 'Seed-strapping'

Welcome to the Eighty-fourth edition of Unstoppable Founders!

👑 #Unstoppable Female Founder

Meet Linnéa Kornehed Falck, the Swedish co-founder of Einride, who's proving that the future of transportation is electric, autonomous, and absolutely achievable.

Growing up in Stockholm with a computer science background, Linnéa has stated that she didn't see many female entrepreneur role models. She was told girls shouldn't compete in business, that heavy-duty electric transport would never work and that a young woman couldn't possibly co-found a company focused on autonomous vehicles. She said, watch me and co-founded Einride in 2016 with her husband Robert Falck and Filip Lilja. Their "freight as a service" model is now transporting goods for industry giants such as Lidl, Heineken, PepsiC, and Electrolux while dramatically reducing CO2 emissions by up to 90%.

A few of her accomplishments:

• Einride achieved unicorn status with a $500M Series C funding round

• Tripled company revenue from €1.5M to €5M in just one year (2021-2022)

• Built customer contracts now valued at over €3bn, with 700% annual growth rate

• Scaled the team from double digits to nearly 500 employees in just a few years

• Led Einride to become the first company approved for autonomous trucks on US public roads

• Named Forbes' 30 Under 30 All-Star Alumni

• Recipient of the Les Margaret Award and Future Female Leader recognition

Early in her career, Linnéa stayed quiet, feeling insecure about speaking up; she has clearly transformed those early feelings of not having a voice into a superpower. She learned to focus on output over endless planning, embracing what she calls the balance between "order and chaos" to deliver results. Her approach to challenging industry narratives is a brilliant example of proving the haters wrong, sometimes the most powerful thing we can do as founders is simply to show up and prove that something is possible. She is also a fantastic example of why we need more women role models across STEAM, Entrepreneurship, VC, etc. to inspire the next generation of women.

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📣 #TheRant

The Rise of ‘Seed-Strapping’

You might have seen the term ‘seed-strapping’ popping up recently, it’s been getting some attention across several publications and a few founder circles I’m a part of. Basically, it’s the idea of raising a single round of funding to achieve profitability, rather than jumping on the hamster wheel of multiple VC rounds.

Photo by SEO Galaxy on Unsplash

From a founders perspective, unless you are building something incredibly complex, requiring tons of R&D and upfront investment, it makes a lot of sense. Most founders dread fundraising. It’s stressful, it takes forever and it pulls your focus away from building your business. And today's startup environment is vastly different from a decade ago. With low-code/no-code tools, affordable infrastructure and direct-to-consumer distribution channels, many founders can get to market faster and with less capital than ever before. Why sign up for round after round of fundraising when you could focus on customers and growth instead?

Seed-strapping is about being smart with your first raise and using it to build a solid business.

Why Consider ‘Seed-Strapping’?

✔️ Fewer & more discerning VCs
European VC activity dropped ~30% from 5,704 to 4,044 active investors between 2022 and 2024

✔️ Cheaper startup infrastructure
Modern tools and automation reduce initial capital needs

✔️ Focus on profitability over fundraising
Founders restoring control and discipline, emphasizing lean operations and real customer demand

✔️ VCs aligning with capital efficiency
Investors also benefit from Seed-strapping, for example, one round with low dilution at a €500M exit beats multiple rounds with diluted ownership

I see this as part of a deeper shift across the ecosystem away from standardized investment rhythms and toward strategic, founder‑led capital decisions. It’s prompting VCs to lean into value, traction, and efficiency, and encouraging founders to define success on their own terms.

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💰#HypeCorner

This is where we cover funding rounds raised by female founders and their teams across Europe. With less than 2% of VC funding going to female led startups, the HypeCorner is simply our way of congratulating and celebrating these founders!

Perci Health raised a £3M Seed

🇬🇧 Lydia Franks & Sophie Murray Co-founders of Ruly
🇩🇪 Ann-Kristin Balve Co-founder & CTO of Omnisent
🇫🇷 Anne-Carole Coen Co-founder & CTO of Kolet
🇪🇸 Sílvia Frutos Co-founder & CTO of SpliceBio
🇩🇪 Delphine Charvin, Jocelyne Caboche & Mélanie Rouillier Co-founders of Elkedonia
🇬🇧 Morgan Fitzsimons & Kelly McCabe Co-founder of Perci Health
🇮🇹 Elena Paola Lanati Founder & CEO of Lionhealth

Huge congratulations to these founders and their teams. Wishing you all continued success!

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🎤 Events for founders

🇳🇱 {Amsterdam} European Women in Technology is a must for your calendar, happening June 25th & 26th. 5,000+ women in tech, diversity advocates, allies and change makers for Leading the Digital Revolution!

🇬🇧 {London} Sifted Summit is back 8th & 9th of October, bringing together 3,000 founders, startup and scaleup operators and investors to celebrate the resilience of the ecosystem and how its leading players are preparing for the long-haul.

🇫🇷 {Paris} unlockVC (formerly WVCE) is hosting its annual Summit from the 13th - 15th of October. This year unlock vc are bringing 30 exceptional female founders to meet 400+ active female investors - Applications are now open until 1st August!

👑 UNSTOPPABLE FOUNDING MEMBERSHIPS Now available! Inside the Community Hub you’ll gain access to the resources, networks and capital you need to build and scale your business. From helping you secure capital to building traction, everything you need as a female founder, all in one place!

☀️ Have a wonderful weekend! ☀️
Jen

PS- Are you a female founder just getting started and not quite how to structure your go to market, build your brand frameworks or what to expect from the fundraising process? Get in touch!