See
Step outside the existing logic. Recognise the patterns, tensions and weak signals beneath the obvious — and what may be beginning to emerge.
Ithaka Ventures
See what others don't yet see.
We work with entrepreneurs, leaders and organisations at moments of meaningful transformation. We see patterns, sense what is emerging, and help turn new possibilities into movement.
SEE. SENSE. ACT.
The challenge
More information is rarely the answer.
Leaders have never had more data, expertise and analysis. Yet the hardest questions can seldom be solved from within the logic that created them.
Sometimes you need to step outside the system to see the system.
Our approach
SEE. SENSE. ACT.
Embark on journeys worth taking.
Sense
Go beneath the data. Understand the human system: its energy, its identity, where it is blocked, and what people already know but have not yet put into words.
Act
Create the connections that turn possibility into movement. Bring together people, ideas, organisations and capital — and translate insight into tangible change.
Our perspective
Transformation begins with seeing differently.
How we see, sense and act — shaped across very different worlds.
Systems and complexity
Looking at the wider system rather than the isolated problem, and at the patterns that connect apparently unrelated developments.
Analytical rigour
Data and evidence taken seriously — as the starting point of the conversation rather than the end of it.
Human understanding
Organisations are living systems. Identity, relationships and energy shape outcomes as much as strategy does.
Entrepreneurial action
Insight only matters when it moves. We make choices, experiment, build, and mobilise the people who make change real.
Our perspective has been shaped across radically different worlds — fashion, consumer goods, entertainment, mobility, energy, hospitality, technology and logistics. That diversity is deliberate: the most interesting answers often come from outside the system that created the question.
Investment philosophy
Four convictions that guide our work.
The journey matters
Great companies rarely follow a straight line. We value learning, resilience and the ability to adapt without losing sight of the original purpose.
People before projections
Behind every venture are people. We invest in founders whose character, curiosity and capacity to grow are as compelling as their business model.
Value beyond capital
Capital matters, but it is rarely enough. We contribute experience, strategic reflection, relationships and honest conversation.
A longer horizon
We support companies and initiatives capable of creating enduring economic, social and ecological value.
About Laurens
A seer and a connector.
Ithaka Ventures was founded by Laurens van de Vijver — entrepreneur, executive, advisor and investor. Titles, though, describe the roles rather than the contribution.
His distinctive ability is to move between the levels of a system: zooming out to see the larger pattern, zooming in to sense what is really happening between people, and then connecting people, ideas and possibilities in ways that create movement.
That perspective has been shaped across industries and internationally: working in different markets, cultures and organisational contexts has taught him that the most valuable insights often come from the spaces in between.
The questions at the heart of the work are simple. What are we not seeing yet? What does this tell us? And what are we going to do about it?