In 2019, we officially founded the company and completed our first financing round by 2020, raising €350k through the issuance of non-voting C-shares – €100k of which I contributed personally. From the outset, we were committed to steward-ownership and looked for investors who shared this philosophy. Honestly, I wasn’t sure we’d succeed, so I cast a wide net. To my surprise, even some first-time investors came on board because they believed in our approach.

Talking to potential investors was a mixed experience. I was transparent from the beginning about the core principles – capped returns and no voting rights—but not everyone ruled themselves out as I had expected. Interestingly, it was often the first-time investors who grasped and accepted the model most easily.

In 2022, we raised another €250k through non-voting E-shares and took out a €250k loan from GLS Bank, which we are currently repaying. I personally guaranteed 50% of that loan – something I didn’t decide lightly. Then in 2023, we secured a €200k subordinated loan to close a financing gap. Now we’re at a pivotal point: should we focus on achieving profitability, or raise a larger round to unlock our next phase of growth?

Having a strong network and my own capital was essential in 2019/2020, as explaining steward-ownership back then was still a major hurdle. Since then, the landscape has changed dramatically – what once seemed difficult is now much easier. With NN, it helped immensely that many investors could personally relate to the product and saw our work itself as part of their return on investment.

One recurring challenge was securing bridge financing. Many potential investors were either inexperienced or bound by slow decision-making structures. Still, we eventually found someone who could step in and fill the gap.

That said, steward-ownership isn’t without its challenges. It always requires some explanation, and investors may not be eligible for certain grants (though that may have changed). One of our biggest priorities in the coming years will be ensuring we can meet our repayment obligations – either from our cash flow or through another round of fundraising.

The most time-consuming part of our journey wasn’t just getting to know our potential investors or figuring out if we were a good match. That was important, of course, but the real challenge came when we had to dive into the legal details – what kind of framework would work best, and how would the contracts look?

We had multiple investors with smaller investments, and they all had to send the contracts to their lawyers for review. It took time for everyone to read, understand, and feel comfortable with these agreements. It was crucial to have corporate law experts on board to double-check everything and ensure that we were structuring things correctly. This process was unfamiliar for many of our investors. Interestingly, even the more traditional venture capital investors we spoke with were cautious at first, given that we weren’t following the usual venture capital model. However, they didn’t immediately back out; in fact, they were intrigued by the concept of long-term thinking and how that could be integrated into venture capital.