Ada Ventures bets on Norway with first local hire and scout network launch

Ada Ventures has appointed Tonje Ørnholt as venture partner for the Nordics and named three Norway scouts, marking the London-based firm's formal expansion to the region.

Ørnholt joins from Oslo Business Region, where she led investor and fund engagement as head of investment. She has previously worked at Abelia, the association for Norwegian tech companies, and brings a decade of experience across the Nordic startup and venture ecosystem. She is sector-agnostic but has notable experience in climate tech.

"I've known Ada for a couple of years – they have been actively exploring the Norwegian and Nordic market," Ørnholt tells Impact Loop in an interview. "I know the team will contribute a lot to the Nordic startup scene and further internationalise the ecosystem."

'Democratising' the Sequoia scout model

The three incoming Norway scouts are Ane Birkeland, who works at Norwegian Innovation Cluster Norinnova and previously spent nearly six years at the UK's Department for Business and Trade; Dr Anjali Bhatnagar, a serial founder and physicist; and Fátima Sani, who spent 12 years at Google and co-founded carbon accounting startup MoreScope.

Ada's scouts earn a £5,000 finder's fee and 10% carried interest on any deal they bring to the firm.

"We saw what was happening in Silicon Valley – the boys club was being extended," founding partner Matt Penneycard tells Impact Loop about its scout model, which has already been widely deployed in the UK. "If you'd made money for Sequoia as a founder, you got to be a Sequoia Scout. We took some of that model and almost democratised it."

How Ada will invest in the Nordics

Ada writes first cheques of £250,000 to £750,000 at pre-seed, or £1m to £1.5m at seed, targeting around 10% ownership.

Ada is currently investing from Fund II, which is approximately €75m. It plans to deploy roughly 75% in the UK and 25% in the Nordics.

In Norway, the firm is targeting founders with an international outlook from day one – specifically those looking to expand beyond the Nordics.

"We offer access to the UK market, which is often also a great stepping stone into the US," says Pennycard.

Central to its 'Inclusive Alpha' thesis is a focus on diverse founders: the firm considers gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background at every stage of the investment process.

Ada's push into Norway comes as data suggests the region is moving in the wrong direction on founder diversity.

Just 8% of total invested capital in the Nordics and Baltics went to teams with at least one female founder last year – down from 21% in 2024, according to a study Impact Loop reported on in February.

Filling Norway's capital gap

Despite being one of the world's richest country's, Penneycard said Norway in particular was "crying out" for institutional pre-seed capital.

"I go to Oslo Innovation Week and the quality is amazing, but there's just not that much capital locally," he said.

Ørnholt pointed to a structural shift in recent years as domestic capital has retreated from venture.

"The last three years there's been a big decrease of investment and activity in Norway," she says. "Family offices and others that are crucial for the ecosystem are putting their money into other areas such as property."

Ada hopes that it can fill part of that gap early-stage funding gap. Pennycard says the firm will look to partner and share deals with local early-stage VCs, which include the likes of Antler, Katapult, and Spring Capital.

Ada currently manages over £100m of assets. LPs include the British Business Bank, Atomico, and Better Society Capital.

Pennycard says the firm is currently raising a third fund, alothough declined to name further details. However, according to previous reporting by ImpactAlpha, the firm is fund will be around $100m in size.