Nicolai Wadstrom
About Nicolai Wadstrom
Nicolai Wadstrom is based in San Francisco, California. He is a Partner and Co-Head of the Ares Venture Capital Group, BootstrapLabs, an Ares company, and Co-Head of the Ares AI & Innovation Group, which drives Ares' internal AI strategy.
Before joining Ares in 2024, he was Founder, CEO and General Partner of BootstrapLabs. BootstrapLabs is a Silicon Valley venture firm that has had an applied AI investment thesis since 2015. Crunchbase lists Benjamin Levy as co-founder and credits Wadstrom as a co-founder of GlocalReach.
His bio describes him as a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience as a founder, CEO and CTO. His companies covered VR, internet, financial trading systems and enterprise software. He speaks on AI, startups and venture capital, and the BootstrapLabs site lists events run by Interpol, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Crunchbase lists one personal investment: an angel round in BootstrapLabs, dated June 1, 2008. It shows no lead investments and no exits. His individual angel activity is otherwise not publicly documented, and most of his visible deal history comes through BootstrapLabs.
Through BootstrapLabs, Crunchbase shows partner-level investments in AI-related companies, including seed rounds in Charm Solutions (April 2023) and Southie Autonomy (May 2022), both led by BootstrapLabs. Crunchbase counts 55 partner investments in total. He describes himself on X as an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist investing in artificial intelligence since 2015.
Crunchbase lists his investor stages as early stage venture, seed and venture, and his investor type as individual/angel and investment partner. BootstrapLabs describes itself as a Silicon Valley firm focused on applied AI, and Crunchbase tags its sectors as AI, enterprise software and fintech. No personal check size has been published.
- Charm Solutions: seed round led by BootstrapLabs, April 2023. He is listed as a board member or observer.
- Southie Autonomy: seed round led by BootstrapLabs, May 2022.
- Hayden AI: Crunchbase lists him as board observer.
- Klear: he is listed as a board member or observer.
- Mendel.ai: Crunchbase lists him as board member.
- BootstrapLabs: angel round, June 2008, the only personal investment Crunchbase lists.
Investing activity
Nicolai Wadstrom has made 1 investment according to Crunchbase across 1 portfolio company, and has founded 4 companies.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Nicolai Wadstrom
Who is Nicolai Wadstrom?
He is a Partner at Ares Management in San Francisco and co-heads its Venture Capital and AI & Innovation Groups. He founded BootstrapLabs, an applied AI venture firm that Ares now owns.
What stage does Nicolai Wadstrom invest in?
Crunchbase lists early stage venture, seed and venture. The BootstrapLabs deals it shows for him are seed rounds.
What is Nicolai Wadstrom's check size?
No check size is public for him, and we have not estimated one.
What sectors does Nicolai Wadstrom back?
His public focus is applied AI. BootstrapLabs is tagged for AI, enterprise software and fintech.
Is Nicolai Wadstrom an active angel investor?
Crunchbase lists one personal angel investment, from 2008. Most of his investing since then has been through BootstrapLabs, now part of Ares, so founders should expect to pitch him through that firm.
How can founders contact Nicolai Wadstrom?
He is on LinkedIn, on X as @nicolaiwadstrom, and at nicolaiwadstrom.com. BootstrapLabs also lists him on its community page.
Is Nicolai Wadstrom an angel investor?
Yes. Nicolai Wadstrom invests personally as an angel and is Co-head and Partner Venture Capital and AI & Innovation Groups at Ares Management. Crunchbase counts 1 investment.
Where is Nicolai Wadstrom based?
Nicolai Wadstrom is based in San Francisco, California, United States.
How can founders reach Nicolai Wadstrom?
Founders on Lounge can see Nicolai Wadstrom's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Nicolai Wadstrom to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.