Belgian venture capital firm NewSchool VC is building its investment strategy around a simple premise: Europe has no shortage of technically strong founders, but many early stage technology companies need more than capital to turn engineering expertise into commercial growth. The firm has now closed its first fund at €10 million, creating a dedicated pool of capital for pre seed and seed stage B2B technology startups across Europe.
Fund reaches €10 million
NewSchool Fund I reached its €10 million target after an initial close of €6.1 million last September. The fund is backed by around 50 investors, including six family offices and a group of Belgian entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Among the investors are The Millers Office, Willem Delbaere and Roeland Delrue of Aikido Security, Jean Louis Van Houwe of Monizze and Luc Coopman of Cobofisk. NewSchool founder Christophe Morbee has also committed 25 percent of the fund himself, giving him a significant personal stake in the success of the portfolio.
The new fund will focus primarily on B2B technology businesses at the earliest stages of their development, when founders are establishing product market fit, building initial sales organisations and preparing for expansion.
Investing across Europe
NewSchool has already built a sizeable portfolio. The firm has made 32 investments to date and has three additional investments in its pipeline.
Belgium remains its main market, accounting for approximately 75 percent of investments. The remainder is distributed across Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, France and the UK.
Its portfolio includes companies such as Warren, Spotable, Cashfeed, Ravical, Donna, Dalton, Feedelity, Alice Law and Exhibitly. The firm has also recently invested in Swiss company Talentir and Paris based Outline.
The geographic strategy reflects NewSchool’s broader interest in European B2B technology rather than limiting its activities to the Belgian market.
More than capital
NewSchool’s approach extends beyond writing investment cheques. The firm works with founders on go to market strategy, sales, positioning and storytelling, areas it considers particularly important for technical businesses entering established industries.
Morbee founded NewSchool after spending several years investing as an angel. He also serves as CEO of Belgian payroll and HR company besox, which has 110 employees and approximately 4,000 small and medium sized enterprise customers.
That operating network gives NewSchool a potential channel for connecting portfolio companies with prospective customers. The firm can therefore provide startups with access to an established business community alongside its financial investment.
Targeting traditional industries
NewSchool is particularly interested in technology companies developing software and services that can automate established industries.
Morbee argues that European founders often have strong engineering and technical capabilities, while commercial execution can become a bottleneck as companies move from product development to customer acquisition.
“Europe is an engineer’s continent, with technically strong teams. What’s often missing is someone who takes charge of go to market, sales and storytelling,” Morbee said.
The firm sees significant potential in industries where businesses still depend heavily on manual processes, fragmented systems and legacy technology. For startups, these markets can provide opportunities to introduce automation while addressing longstanding operational challenges.
Building the next stage
The €10 million fund gives NewSchool additional capacity to continue investing at the pre seed and seed stages while expanding its European pipeline.
Its model combines early capital with practical commercial support, using the experience and networks of its founder, investors and wider business community to help young companies move toward their next stage of growth.
With 32 investments already completed and additional deals in development, NewSchool is positioning Fund I as the foundation of a broader European B2B technology investment platform, with Belgium at its core and opportunities across multiple European markets.