OWOW Venture Studio, based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, has secured €2.65 million ($2.86 million) in seed funding from eight family offices and angel investors to build and accelerate early-stage B2B startups targeting traditional industries.
The capital will enable the venture studio to invest between €100,000 and €250,000 in individual startups while planning to launch at least three new ventures annually. The studio focuses specifically on business-to-business software and artificial intelligence solutions designed for manufacturing, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and construction sectors.
Building Startups With Industry Credibility
OWOW’s model differs from traditional venture capital approaches by combining venture creation with investment. The studio provides more than capital to its portfolio companies. Founding teams gain access to AI specialists, software developers, designers, and product development support. Critically, OWOW leverages its own established relationships to facilitate market validation and connect startups with potential launch customers from its client network.
This approach reflects the studio’s foundational philosophy. Robin Dohmen, associated with the venture studio, emphasized the importance of customer validation: “For every venture we build or invest in, we want to be able to find launch customers ourselves. If we can’t, it’s not a win-win, and we don’t invest. We only invest in the industries we have worked in ourselves for almost fifteen years. We know the customers there, and they know us.”
The selective investment thesis demonstrates a deliberate focus on sectors where OWOW has substantial operational experience. Rather than pursuing opportunities across diverse verticals, the studio concentrates on manufacturing, OEMs, and construction—sectors where deep relationships and domain expertise provide tangible competitive advantages for portfolio companies.
Addressing Digital Transformation Gaps
The funding round arrives as traditional industries face increasing pressure to modernize their operations through digitalization. Many manufacturing and construction businesses struggle to adopt contemporary technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and cloud-based software solutions. OWOW’s venture studio model addresses this gap by building solutions specifically tailored to these sectors’ unique requirements and workflows.
The venture studio’s approach of embedding technical talent and providing go-to-market support aligns with broader European trends toward more hands-on venture creation models. Rather than simply providing capital and board representation, studios like OWOW actively participate in building companies from inception, reducing time-to-product and improving product-market fit probability.
The €2.65 million secured positions OWOW to execute its multi-year plan while maintaining selectivity about investment opportunities. This capital base provides runway for operational expenses while deploying capital across multiple startup cohorts.
The Eindhoven-based studio’s funding activity reflects growing recognition that Europe’s traditional industries represent significant untapped opportunities for software innovation. As manufacturing and construction sectors increasingly acknowledge digital transformation imperatives, venture studios combining technical expertise with industry knowledge may prove particularly valuable for building solutions that achieve rapid customer adoption and meaningful market impact.