Jacob Houlberg, Co-founder of Evertrace: Evertrace helps early stage funds identify new investment opportunities

Venture funds are becoming more systematic about finding founders before anyone else has seen them. As more firms build internal sourcing tools, the real advantage is shifting from collecting signals to knowing which opportunities are actually worth chasing.Jacob Houlberg is Co-founder of Evertrace, which helps more than 220 venture funds identify founders at the earliest stages of company creation. He believes sourcing is becoming table stakes for early-stage investors, while the real job of a VC is still deciding which founders can build exceptional companies.The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkSponsors:Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europeChargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeuropeTimestamps:0:00 - Introduction0:32 - Why Evertrace was created and the sourcing problem2:13 - Finding founders before anyone else4:44 - How VCs use Evertrace and data signals6:44 - AI agents in sourcing10:34 - Building vs becoming a VC fund14:53 - Expanding the platform beyond sourcing16:43 - Competition and acquisitions20:25 - Future of data-driven investing