Jacob Houlberg, Co-founder of Evertrace: Evertrace helps early stage funds identify new investment opportunities
Scaling EuropeShow Notes
Venture funds are becoming more systematic about finding founders before anyone else has seen them. As more firms build internal sourcing tools, the real advantage is shifting from collecting signals to knowing which opportunities are actually worth chasing.
Jacob Houlberg is Co-founder of Evertrace, which helps more than 220 venture funds identify founders at the earliest stages of company creation. He believes sourcing is becoming table stakes for early-stage investors, while the real job of a VC is still deciding which founders can build exceptional companies.
The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk
Sponsors:
Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction 0:32 - Why Evertrace was created and the sourcing problem 2:13 - Finding founders before anyone else 4:44 - How VCs use Evertrace and data signals 6:44 - AI agents in sourcing 10:34 - Building vs becoming a VC fund 14:53 - Expanding the platform beyond sourcing 16:43 - Competition and acquisitions 20:25 - Future of data-driven investing
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