Janneke Niessen

Who they are

Janneke Niessen is Co-Founder and Founding Partner at CapitalT — built VCVolt, a proprietary data-driven platform to assess entrepreneurial teams, and wrote The New Girl Code to push more girls into tech careers.

Person

Janneke joined CapitalT in 2018 when the fund was being built from scratch — she and co-founder Eva de Mol launched it as a people-focused early-stage VC with a data-driven thesis baked in from day one. Before VC, she served as Chief Innovation Officer at Improve Digital, and earlier did angel investing and board work across European startups — roles that gave her the operator-to-investor pattern rather than the banker-to-VC one. Harvard Business School's Executive Education programme on Leading Professional Service Firms (2007) and the Deloitte Academy Executive Academy (2014) round out a training track that mixes strategic leadership with professional services rigour. The through-line: she keeps building alongside investing — VCVolt (proprietary team-assessment technology), InspiringFifty (making female role models visible in tech), The New Girl Code (a novel for young girls encouraging them into technology), Project Prep (a novel co-created with an award-winning children's book author on math and computer science foundations), #Fundright (a diversity-in-VC initiative), and Next Level (a storytelling initiative for tech careers). She writes actively for Fortune, TNW, Inc, Modern Diplomacy, Wonder Women Tech, Cambridge, and Jinek on AI bias, ESG in VC, and diversity — and speaks at venues from SuperReturn Venture 2026 to Slush to the European Angel Investment Summit. Possibly — the public platform she's built around diversity and data-driven investing is as much a CapitalT brand strategy as personal conviction.

Company

CapitalT's most recent move is the first close of Fund II, announced in July 2025 and targeting €50 million — backed by returning Fund I LPs and new limited partners. The team also expanded in 2025 with two new hires, Daphne Dovermann and Nina Donker. Fund I is claimed to rank among the top-performing early-stage funds in Europe, which gives Fund II a credible fundraising story. The fund focuses on pre-seed and seed stage in ClimateTech and Future of Work, with a portfolio of 30+ companies including Cur8 and Overstory. AI is integrated into the investment workflow as an enabler rather than the end product — a distinction Janneke has spoken about explicitly.

Market

CapitalT operates in the European early-stage VC market, concentrating on ClimateTech and Future of Work — two sectors the firm characterises as areas of urgent and unavoidable transformation. The broader backdrop is increasing AI integration into lean VC teams' workflows, a trend CapitalT is leaning into with VCVolt. The Dutch and Northern European early-stage scene is competitive, with impact-oriented funds from Norrsken and others fishing in similar waters, though CapitalT's people-science angle and Fund I performance give it a differentiated pitch to LPs.

Network

Her closest working partner is Eva de Mol, co-founder and Founding Partner at CapitalT, who appears frequently in shared portfolio amplification — particularly around Overstory. Outside the fund, Janneke holds or has held board and advisory positions at UNICEF (Supervisory Board), Codam (Board Member), Innovation Quarter (Investment Committee), FutureNL (Advisory Board), and NPEX (Supervisory Board) — a wide institutional footprint across Dutch tech, education, and finance.

Eva de Mol· Co-Founder and Founding Partner, CapitalT
Daphne Dovermann· Team member, CapitalT (joined 2025)
Nina Donker· Team member, CapitalT (joined 2025)

How they likely show up

Founded CapitalT, VCVolt, and InspiringFifty alongside writing multiple books and initiatives → high agency, runs several things in parallel, unlikely to be a passive observer in any meeting.
Built VCVolt as proprietary team-assessment technology from inside the fund → data and process discipline matters to her; she systematises what others treat as gut feel.
Active public writer across Fortune, TNW, Modern Diplomacy, and others on AI bias and ESG in VC → comfortable translating complex investment frameworks into public arguments; expects rigour in conversation.
Career moved from operator (Chief Innovation Officer) to angel to fund founder — not the traditional finance-to-VC path → she'll frame investing through a builder's lens, not a banker's.
Long tenure building CapitalT since 2018, with Fund II now in market → thinks in fund cycles and multi-year portfolio construction arcs, not quarterly deal flow.
Speaking at SuperReturn Venture 2026 alongside earlier Slush and EAIS keynotes → comfortable on stage with institutional audiences; likely expects her counterparts to have done their homework.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific portfolio company — Cur8 or Overstory — and ask about the thesis behind that bet; she actively amplifies both and will have a real answer.
→ Bring a view on AI in VC workflows, not just AI as a product — she has said explicitly that AI should be the enabler, not the product, and will probe whether you've thought that through.
→ Ask about VCVolt specifically: how does a data-driven team-assessment tool actually change the conviction process at pre-seed, where there's almost no data? It's her proprietary angle and she'll engage deeply.
→ If diversity in VC comes up, go past the talking points — she runs #Fundright and wrote The New Girl Code; she'll notice if you're reciting generalities rather than having a position.
→ She writes for a wide range of publications and speaks internationally; acknowledge the specific venue or piece you've read rather than a generic 'I've seen your work.'

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the Fund II first close announced in July 2025 — targeting €50 million with returning LPs is a meaningful signal about Fund I's performance, and it's the freshest thing on the CapitalT timeline.
Reference VCVolt — she built proprietary technology to assess entrepreneurial teams from inside a VC fund, which is an unusual move; asking what it actually measures at pre-seed is a genuine question with no obvious answer.
Mention The New Girl Code or Project Prep by name — these are books she co-created for young girls on tech and math careers, not just generic diversity work, and naming them signals you went past the LinkedIn headline.

Discovery questions

VCVolt is designed to assess entrepreneurial teams — at pre-seed stage, where you have almost no performance data, what signals does it actually surface that human judgment tends to miss?
Fund II is targeting ClimateTech and Future of Work — how do you think about the tension between urgency (climate timelines) and the typical 7-to-10-year VC return horizon when you're picking pre-seed bets?
You've described AI as the enabler rather than the product in your own workflows — where in the CapitalT investment process has that distinction mattered most in practice?

Avoid

Don't treat diversity as a soft theme to mention politely — she has built sustained, named initiatives (#Fundright, InspiringFifty, The New Girl Code) around it and will expect a specific, considered view rather than a nod of agreement.

Make it yours