Throughout history the world has been shaped by outlier entrepreneurs in relentless pursuit to succeed.

Defiance Capital is a seed fund and a community of some of the world's most extraordinary entrepreneurs. We look to be the first check in and provide valuable mentorship to our portfolio founders through to exit and beyond.

The Unicorn Founder DNA Report

The report captures the background of all new unicorn founders in the US and Europe from 2013-2023 and the associated seed stage investors. To access the report and the data file, please register.

Name

First Name

Last Name

Company

Work

Consent

This report and associated data file is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages, or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort, or otherwise, arising from, out of, or in connection with the data file or the use or other dealings in the data file. Users are required to provide appropriate attribution when using or redistributing this report or data file. Proper credit should be given to Defiance Capital as the original source of the data. Additionally, any modifications made to the data file should be clearly documented, and derivative works should acknowledge the original source. After submission. you will receive the report in a few days.

Yes

Founders

We look for three important things in the founders we back.

1. Successful Track Record

You have a history of entrepreneurship and overcoming significant challenges.

2. Passion for Growth

You have always been highly ambitious and obsessed with succeeding.

3. Problem Solving Innovation

You have a unique insight into a sector with a very large addressable market.

Why Defiance?

Our founder community have built some of the most admired companies today and overcome immense challenges in the process. Defiance Capital exists to partner with and support the outlier founders looking to positively impact the world.

Christian Dorffer

Christian has over 20 years of company building experience, as an advisor, founder and early stage investor. Christian co-founded and ran Sweet Capital, the King.com founders fund, from 2015 to 2022 and has made over 75 investments in early stage tech companies across Europe and North America.
The idea for Defiance Capital was born from a strong fact pattern in Christian’s investment experience and market data that clearly proves that you are more likely to dominate in your business category, sport or art if you are extremely ambitious and have a history of overcoming adversity since youth.
Christian is a passionate investor in and mentor to immigrant founders, female founders, ethnic minorities and other underrepresented groups using software to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges.
He is the dedicated husband to an African entrepreneur and a proud father of three. Christian is also a passionate athlete and founder of Midnight Runners, a running community spanning 18 metropolitan cities across five continents.

FOUNDING & MANAGING PARTNER

Edrizio De La Cruz

VENTURE PARTNER

Edrizio is an ex Visiting Partner at Y Combinator, the world's leading startup accelerator and investor. He joined YC in 2022, after co-founding and leading Arcus, a Payment-as-a-service platform that enabled millions of people in Latin America to access digital financial services.
At YC, he leverage my 10+ years of experience in venture capital, M&A, and fintech to support and mentor hundreds of founders from diverse backgrounds and industries. Edrizio is passionate about empowering underdogs and creating positive social impact through entrepreneurship and innovation. His new book, The Underdog Founder, chronicles his journey from selling guavas in a Santo Domingo barrio to selling his startup to Mastercard.

Nolan Gray

PARTNER & LP

Nolan is a climatetech entrepreneur. He co-founded Svea Solar, recently ranked Europe’s second fastest growing renewable energy company (per the Financial Times).
Before stepping out of day-to-day operations he was the Chief Commercial Officer. During that time Svea bootstrapped to $50 million in revenue in just four years before raising a $13 million Series A. Today the company has raised over $200 million and is reducing millions of tons of CO2 emissions each year. He started his career in enterprise software, and before that he was a a former collegiate athlete.
Nolan is also a Defiance Capital LP.

Efe Uwaifo

ASSOCIATE

Efe is an Associate at Defiance Capital. He has a plethora of experiences working within the world of finance both in the public and private markets at firms such as Morgan Stanley and Berenberg.
In addition he has investing and consulting experience for early-stage startups, and operational experience leading the Sales Strategy team at Saltpay (now Teya), where he oversaw the sales integration of a $350million acquisition.
Efe holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in Economics, where he was All-Academic x3, Captain of the Track and Field team and 2x NCAA All-American. He is the current British Triple Jump champion and is training for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Advisors

Lars Rasmussen co-founder @ Google Maps

Rijul Gupta - Founder @ Deep Media AI

Mads Rydahl - ex CPO @ Siri (Apple) / co-founder @ Proemial

Wemimo Abbey co-founder @ Esusu

Diego Saez Gil - co-founder @ Pachama

Lindsay Jurist-Rosner - co-founder @ Wellthy

Defying the odds.

Defying the Odds is our podcast series that cover interviews with highly successful entrepreneurs, athletes, explorers and artists that have all achieved great success in life, despite having to overcome tremendous challenges along the way.