Iceland Venture Studio

Iceland Venture Studio is a venture studio and early-stage investor founded in 2019 in Reykjavik, Iceland, led by Partner Bala Kamallakharan. The studio's mission is to transform ideas into sustainable, decentralized businesses. Fund I was a $5 million vehicle with pre-seed checks of $25,000 to $50,000 and seed checks of $100,000 to $200,000. Fund II has been announced at $35 million. Notably, the General Partners do not take carry on returns, a structure that aligns the studio's incentives closely with founder outcomes. The team of 4 includes distinguished advisors: Ari Jonsson (President of Reykjavik University and Stanford PhD in AI), Bre Pettis (MakerBot co-founder), and former executives from Icelandic Group (a EUR 600 million seafood company), Landsvirkjun (Iceland's largest energy company), and Glitnir bank. The studio has invested in 26 companies with 8 exits, including Buuteeq, which was acquired by Priceline.com. Portfolio companies include Expertrons ($2.3 million Seed, invested August 2023 and the most recent investment), Nanom ($3 million Seed, materials science), Flow VR ($500,000, virtual reality meditation), Atlas Primer, and Soptle. Focus areas include decentralization of personal data, privacy, sustainability, security, and hard problems in diabetes, energy storage, banking, mental health, disability empowerment, and the future of work. The studio concentrates primarily on startups in Iceland and India. The Developer's Ecosystem provides portfolio founders with a multi-disciplinary team of developers, designers, marketers, analysts, and operators. The Capital Ecosystem connects startups with VC firms and angel investors. Beyond capital, the studio takes an active mentoring role through technology design, strategy, business development, team building, and recruiting.