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Neil S W Murray
Angel Investor (The Nordic Web Ventures) / Previously built Playmaker (YCW21) Investing:📍 Nordics 🌱 Pre-Seed/Seed 💰 $50-125K 🚀 Vertical agnostic
Neil S W Murray is a prominent figure in the Nordic startup ecosystem, serving as a Solo GP (Angel Investor) at The Nordic Web Ventures. He is the founder of The Nordic Web, which has become a key entry point to the Nordic startup ecosystem.13
Murray's investment focus is on:
- Region: Nordics
- Stage: Pre-Seed/Seed
- Investment size: $50-125K
- Approach: Vertical agnostic1
His professional background includes:
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Founding Partner of The Nordic Web Ventures, a micro VC fund backed by over 100 community builders, entrepreneurs, and investors supporting early-stage Nordic startups.12
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Co-founder and CEO of Playmaker from November 2019 to September 2022.1
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Founder of The Nordic Web from January 2014 to November 2017, which aimed to support and strengthen the Nordic ecosystem through community and analysis.1
Murray participated in Y Combinator's W21 batch with Playmaker in 2021.1 He is known for his passion for the Nordic startup ecosystem and his efforts to provide founder-friendly options for companies raising their first round of funding.2
The Nordic Web Ventures typically invests around €50K per check and can participate either independently or as part of a larger funding round.2 Murray's investment philosophy focuses on founder-market fit, looking for founders with hands-on experience in their industry who are solving problems they've personally encountered.2
Highlights
Most pre-seed rounds in the Nordics follow a familiar pattern:
About $1.5M, usually led by a dedicated local pre-seed fund.
These rounds are important for the ecosystem. They provide founders legitimacy, support, and a starting point.
But pre-seed investing isn’t only about solid foundations.
It’s also about extremes.
The best founders often don’t fit neatly into the middle of the curve.
Some raise <$1M syndicates: fast, scrappy, "headless" (h/t @sarahdrinkwater ) rounds that bring multiple great people (angels, micro funds, Solo GPs etc) around the table, providing early validation before a breakout seed.
Others raise $3M+ internationally led rounds, skipping the incremental step and going global from day zero.
In 2024, I thought I wanted to build a pre-seed fund.
But then I realised most pre-seed funds live in this middle while the best companies were being built at the edges.
That’s where I now focus: either bringing a syndicate around a diamond in the rough, or earning my place as the rough in the diamond!
If you draw out the typical size of pre-seed rounds, it looks like a bell curve.
Pre-seed, as it’s usually practiced, is about the middle. I invest in the tails.
That’s why I no longer think of my fund as a “pre-seed fund” but rather a "first-cheque fund" operating at the edges of the earliest days.


