Our Team
Thomas Due
Chairman and Managing Partner
Thomas has over 20 years of innovation and venture capital fund raising experience in Norway. He has managed Venturelab for more than 10 years. Thomas has spent most of his adult life working where finance meets entrepreneurs and is passionately involved in entrepreneurship, funding processes and company building. He is also a seasoned serial entrepreneur with multiple start ups to his name.
Thomas co-founded Venturelab, Alycore, Dextera, Multi Media Communications, DuB Media, XLR8FUND and Innovation Event, and has screened over 1500 companies throughout his career. He has helped fund several Norwegian start ups and early venture companies. He has both led and participated in a number of key deals. He has served as an advisor, strategist, placement manager and private investor and board member in several deals.
Thomas is also a passionate curling player, and hold 6 Norwegian Championship Gold Medals a well as few medals from the World and European Championships.
Chairman and Managing Partner
Thomas has over 20 years of innovation and venture capital fund raising experience in Norway. He has managed Venturelab for more than 10 years. Thomas has spent most of his adult life working where finance meets entrepreneurs and is passionately involved in entrepreneurship, funding processes and company building. He is also a seasoned serial entrepreneur with multiple start ups to his name.
Thomas co-founded Venturelab, Alycore, Dextera, Multi Media Communications, DuB Media, XLR8FUND and Innovation Event, and has screened over 1500 companies throughout his career. He has helped fund several Norwegian start ups and early venture companies. He has both led and participated in a number of key deals. He has served as an advisor, strategist, placement manager and private investor and board member in several deals.
Thomas is also a passionate curling player, and hold 6 Norwegian Championship Gold Medals a well as few medals from the World and European Championships.
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Tom Skolbekken
Partner and Senior Advisor Tom has several years of international business and industrial experience. He has also worked as a management consultant in Norway, USA and Singapore. Tom co-founded the publishing system Escenic and grew the company as vice president of sales and marketing. Escenic became the market leading solution for online newspapers such as The Times, Daily Telegraph, Toronto Globe & Mail and 600 others. The company was sold for MNOK 173 to Vizrt. Subsequently, Tom has taken part in several ventures. Among them are co-creating the Partnership for Change conference. The conference gathers 700 people over 2 days in the Oslo Opera house for dialogues on creating social change. He has helped two British software companies grow internationally. And he chairs MINOS AS, who develop solutions for anti-bullying and suicide prevention among youths. Tom has a 4 year engineering degree from University of Manchester and an MBA for BI Norwegian School of Management. |
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Joachim Svenstad McLean
Investment Coordinator & Manager of XLR8HUB Joachim Svenstad McLean joined Venturelab in Autumn of 2015. Joachim gained startup experience by co-developing a non-profit organization. Through this process, he encountered several of the common challenges facing entrepreneurs, especially in the early stages. After joining Venturelab, Joachim received the role as Hub-Manager for XLR8, in charge of supporting the member companies and growing the hub. Joachim also works on all of Venturelab's investments ensuring project management and mission success. A "doer" by heart, Joachim provides the partners with thorough strategic and financial analysis, along with highly valuable input for strategy implementation. |
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Peder Grimstad
Senior Advisor and CEO of Custos AS Peder has previously built up and sold: Super Boards (clearchannel.no), Solsiden av Kvitfjell (kvitfjellvest.no) VIFO kindergardens (norlandiabarnehagene.no). He has worked with companies facing major challenges and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. His speciality is advising companies in turn-around processes. |
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Anne Aas Sjøvik
Administration and Hub Manager Anne is the newest member of the Venturelab team, and is in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the hub. Before joining Venturelab she had over 10 years of experience in the service industry. In 2013 she co-founded and developed one of the first vegan cafés in Norway - Prana Kafé. It became the highest rated restaurant in Agder. With her background as CEO of her own company she knows it takes a lot of hard work to run a business. She's creative and likes to think outside of the box, and is always happy to lend an ear if you're stuck in a thought process. |
Advisory Board
Jennifer Vessels
Senior Advisor and CEO of Next Step
Jennifer Vessels is the founder and CEO of Next Step. Next Step is a forty person consulting firm which has launched and developed over 100 international and US startups. It was founded in 1998 and today it is recognized as a successful business leader both in Silicon Valley and globally.
Prior to founding Next Step, Jennifer held numerous sales and marketing leadership roles with Ungermann-Bass. During the 1990s Jennifer was International Sales Director for Tandberg based in Oslo. After the launch of Tandberg USA in 1997, Jennifer returned to Silicon Valley to build Next Step. Their clients include Adobe, Cisco, Genentech and Google as well as many smaller Nordic companies.
Jennifer holds a MBA from San Jose State and a Masters of Occupational Psychology from the University of London, she is also a Certified Management Consultant (CMC).
Senior Advisor and CEO of Next Step
Jennifer Vessels is the founder and CEO of Next Step. Next Step is a forty person consulting firm which has launched and developed over 100 international and US startups. It was founded in 1998 and today it is recognized as a successful business leader both in Silicon Valley and globally.
Prior to founding Next Step, Jennifer held numerous sales and marketing leadership roles with Ungermann-Bass. During the 1990s Jennifer was International Sales Director for Tandberg based in Oslo. After the launch of Tandberg USA in 1997, Jennifer returned to Silicon Valley to build Next Step. Their clients include Adobe, Cisco, Genentech and Google as well as many smaller Nordic companies.
Jennifer holds a MBA from San Jose State and a Masters of Occupational Psychology from the University of London, she is also a Certified Management Consultant (CMC).
Jørgen Flood
Finance and logistics advisor
Jørgen is a senior business executive with 25 years of international finance experience from Wescott, Unisys, Kvaerner, Hydro and Resources Connection. He has senior management experience from England, Norway and the US and considerable M&A and project management experience. He has a long background in financial consulting for both domestic and international companies.
His expertise also includes cash management, insurance and purchasing responsibility. Additionally Jørgen is a good resource when it comes to due diligence processes and US subsidiaries.
Finance and logistics advisor
Jørgen is a senior business executive with 25 years of international finance experience from Wescott, Unisys, Kvaerner, Hydro and Resources Connection. He has senior management experience from England, Norway and the US and considerable M&A and project management experience. He has a long background in financial consulting for both domestic and international companies.
His expertise also includes cash management, insurance and purchasing responsibility. Additionally Jørgen is a good resource when it comes to due diligence processes and US subsidiaries.