Thesis
Moat first.
Steppe Ventures backs early-stage B2B software companies in three sectors where structural change is under way and durable advantages can still be built: Future of Work, FinTech and Marketing Technology.
What we believe
AI is now infrastructure, not differentiation. Capabilities that needed a serious research effort two years ago are an API call today, and that erodes any business whose main claim is that it uses AI.
So we look at the layer above the model. The companies that compound are the ones accumulating proprietary data, embedding themselves in work their customers cannot stop doing, and building distribution that a better model alone will not undo.
What would this product be worth without the AI layer?
The advantages we look for
- Proprietary data
- A dataset that grows with use and that nobody else can assemble. The data is the asset; the model is replaceable.
- Workflow lock-in
- Deep integration into an operational process, so that leaving means re-engineering how the customer works.
- Regulatory positioning
- Products designed for the AI Act, DORA and GDPR from the start, in sectors where compliance decides the purchase.
- B2B network effects
- Multi-sided or collaborative workflows where each new participant makes the product more valuable to the rest.
- Embedded domain expertise
- Founders who have turned years of institutional knowledge into product.
Where we invest
Future of Work
- Agentic automation for specific operational domains such as finance, HR, procurement and legal operations, where the process is repeatable and the cost being replaced is measurable.
- Tools that accumulate proprietary workflow data that generic assistants cannot replicate.
- Compliance-aware automation for regulated European environments: auditable, explainable, consistent with labour law.
FinTech
- B2B financial infrastructure with network effects in data, transaction flow or counterparty relationships.
- Financial operations tooling for SMEs, where switching costs grow with use.
- Compliance and risk tooling that sits inside the workflow of a financial institution.
- Embedded finance for B2B verticals outside financial services.
Marketing Technology
- AI-native B2B marketing infrastructure built on first-party data.
- Go-to-market automation where accumulated data compounds.
- GDPR-native customer data and personalisation for European enterprise buyers.
- Vertical tools for regulated industries, where compliance is a product requirement.
How we invest
- Stage
- Pre-seed and seed
- Ticket
- €20–75k
- Follow-on
- None. One cheque per company.
- Model
- B2B and B2B2C. No consumer.
- Geography
- Europe is the first priority, with the Benelux in front.
What we look for in founders
The commodity AI stack has lowered the technical bar. What separates teams now is customer insight, distribution instinct and the ability to iterate under real revenue pressure.
- Deep experience in the specific vertical, usually five years or more.
- Evidence of being able to find and close the first customers.
- A record of execution: shipped a product, scaled a team, or founded before.
- At least one person on the team with professional engineering experience.
What founders get from us
- Financial discipline
- Modelling, unit economics, cash flow and runway planning.
- Product strategy
- Finding product-market fit in B2B, and deciding what to build next.
- Introductions
- Co-investors, potential B2B customers in financial services and corporates, and fractional finance talent.
Founders from Asia
A company headquartered in Europe is a European company to us, wherever its founders come from. If you are building yours through the launchpad, the same thesis applies.