At Creandum we believe in equality. We believe in equal rights and opportunities for all people regardless of social identity such as gender, race, ethnic origin, nationality, and sexual orientation. Creandum is an equal partnership and we believe all people shall be paid equal pay for equal work. Investment advice, internal advancements, and opportunities are awarded to anyone solely based on merits such as competence, relevant experience, and performance.
We do not tolerate discrimination against anyone based on non-work-related personal characteristics.
We consider balance and non-uniformity to be business critical, not a compliance necessity and by embracing balance we will build a better and more successful franchise. Hence, everyone at Creandum is responsible and is committed to:
Enhancing their awareness of unconscious bias and how that might hinder them to be more inclusive and collaborative.
Respecting the dignity and diversity of all people inside and outside the organization.
Creating a work environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, derogatory attitudes, and bullying.
Actively stand up and take actions against any behavior witnessed, inside or outside the organization, which goes against the fundamental values of our firm.
Putting a dedicated extra effort into making diverse talent inside and outside the organization successful.
Anyone who believes that they or another individual has been subjected to conduct that is not aligned with this policy should report this to Creandum’s ombudsman or the person’s mentor. Any such allegations shall be taken seriously and all reported incidents will be investigated in an effort to keep the source of the report confidential.
In addition to our overall balanced ambition, Creandum is currently focusing our efforts on selected actions that specifically target the representation of gender and ethnic origin. These initiatives span across our own Creandum organization, the fund’s portfolio and investment activities, and finally, the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem considering the influence Creandum has in the market.
We recognize gender is not only men vs women, but for these initiatives, we are focusing specifically on female representation in tech. We also recognize ethnicity must not be tracked in some jurisdictions, which means measuring and reporting on it will not be possible. However, we still believe in making it explicit here to force us out of biases and put extra focus on finding talent from underrepresented ethnicities.
In all hiring processes at Creandum, we commit to building a candidate pipeline which at the final round should include at least 50% of candidates who are of underrepresented gender or ethnic origin.
Creandum is a meritocracy and any hiring decisions are based on such. We never hire anyone because of diversity traits but solely based on their experience, skills, and attitude.
We treat everyone with fairness and respect.
We appreciate everyone’s uniqueness.
We do our utmost to provide resources and support for everyone to achieve their full potential.
We use gender-neutral language.
We measure inclusion across gender and ethnic origin twice per year.
Creandum employees are encouraged to combine parenthood and work and the firm understands and supports the practical implications of this with for example flexible work hours. We also believe parenthood should be distributed equally regardless of gender, and hence gives everyone across all our offices up to 9 months of 100% paid parental leave regardless of local state-funded leave.
At least every 2nd year conduct unconscious bias training across the entire team.
When the firm acquires services, such as for example legal, banking, or recruiting, we ask such providers to staff our project with diverse team members across gender and/or ethnic origins.
In our internal documentation for every investment recommendation, we include a dedicated section on the topic of what the company is doing and what they’re thinking about balance.
When the fund is leading a round, we do our utmost to involve and invite angel investors of diverse backgrounds.
Proactively support and help portfolio companies improve their hiring and inclusion, with practical tools and best practices.
Once a year we survey the entire portfolio on gender diversity across their team and externally publish the results.
Once a year we measure gender distribution in the top end of the deal flow funnel.
Maintain and promote Creandum’s Balanced Ambition: Knowledge Bank.
For any event hosted by Creandum, ensure participation with representation of all genders and people of different ethnic origins.
In all visual external communications (e.g. website, job descriptions), help build non-obvious role models by highlighting women and people of different ethnic origins.
Whenever invited to speak at an event where diversity is missing, offer up Creandum’s seat on stage to females and people of underrepresented ethnic origins.
These targets were set in Q4 2021 with the purpose of driving our cultural efforts forward in a tangible and measurable way, and to force us out of our conscious and unconscious biases.
A balanced team: Within 2 fund cycles (CVI + CVII) the Creandum organization will have a gender split of 40/60 across 3 organizational dimensions
“check writers” (Principals + Partners + General Partners)
the whole investment team
the Creandum organization as a whole.
Team inclusion: There will be no differences in perceived inclusion and job satisfaction within the Creandum team, as measured twice per year, between genders and people of underrepresented groups.
Capital allocation: At least 25% of new companies invested into by each Creandum fund shall be in gender-diverse teams. To be considered a gender-diverse team, both women and men should be represented as founders and/or the CEO.
Creandum is a meritocracy and any investment by the fund will be based on such. The fund never invests in any team because of diversity traits, and any investment is only done based on fundamental early-stage conviction of the company.
Last updated: March 2024