Madeline Lawrence
Co-Founder & CGO, Aikido Security; former Principal at Peak Capital
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Berlin-based operator turned Aikido Security co-founder & Chief Growth Officer. Formerly a Principal at Amsterdam-based Peak Capital where she led/participated in 6 verified rounds (Signal by NFX) with a $2.2M sweet-spot check across German and Dutch SaaS/marketplace startups. Now scaling Aikido (~$85M raised, 350 employees, DST Global, PSG, Singular, Notion, Connect Ventures backing) and remains an operator-connector in the Benelux SaaS scene.
Background
Madeline Lawrence is a Berlin-based operator and investor. She is a co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Aikido Security, a Ghent-founded developer-first security platform that reached unicorn status and 350 employees on ~$85M of total funding from DST Global, PSG, Singular, Connect Ventures, Notion Capital, and Innovia 12. Aikido’s fellow co-founders are Willem Delbare (CTO/CEO), Roeland Delrue (COO/CRO), and Felix Garriau (CMO) 12.
Before Aikido, Lawrence was a Principal at Peak Capital, an Amsterdam-headquartered European SaaS-focused VC (Signal by NFX lists her as based in Berlin during her Peak tenure) 3. In the TechCrunch coverage of Aikido’s Series A, she explained her operator-first orientation and prior relationship with Delbare:
“Willem and I go years back. He was a fund scout and frequent angel co-investor.” 4
The same TechCrunch story describes her as having joined Aikido “after leaving her position as a partner at Peak VC” 4.
Stated Thesis
Lawrence has not published a formal individual investment thesis. Peak Capital’s portfolio construction while she was Principal skewed to European SaaS and marketplaces at seed and Series A 35, and her more recent public commentary is framed around scaling Aikido rather than an active investment agenda 12.
Inferred Thesis
Sample size caveat: 6 verified rounds during her Peak Capital tenure — sample is small. Percentages below are counts rather than ratios.
Sector concentration: European SaaS and marketplaces. All 6 verified Peak-era rounds are B2B or B2C SaaS / marketplace companies operating in Germany and Central Europe 3: - Fintech / expense management: Circula (Series A, May 2025), Bling (Series A, June 2024) — 2 of 6 - HR / hiring / SaaS: Empion (Pre-Seed, June 2022), handly (Seed, February 2025) — 2 of 6 - Data / developer platforms: Tilores (Seed, January 2022) — 1 of 6 - Consumer / marketplaces: Helio (Seed, April 2023) — 1 of 6
Stage: pre-seed through Series A. The verified rounds span pre-seed (Empion) to Series A (Bling, Circula), consistent with Peak’s seed-Series A mandate 3.
Check size: $260K–$4.2M with a $2.2M sweet spot — meaningful Principal-authored checks rather than scout-sized angel positions 3.
Geographic focus: DACH and Netherlands. All 6 verified companies are German or Dutch startups 35. This aligns with Peak Capital’s Benelux-DACH thesis.
Founder-network signal. Signal by NFX flags her as ranking among “top investors who were founders, invested in female founders, invested in diverse founders, and female investors,” and lists Tae Hea Nahm, Jenny Wang, and Harry Stebbings as notable co-investors 3.
Operator-connector role in Belgian SaaS scene. Willem Delbare’s Seedlist profile places Aikido’s founding team inside the Ghent operator-angel cluster (Louis Jonckheere and Pieterjan Bouten of Showpad; Mathias Geeroms of OTA Insight; Christophe Morbee of Besox), and Lawrence’s TechCrunch quote about being years-long co-collaborators with Delbare positions her as a cross-fund connector between the Benelux SaaS-operator network and continental European seed funds 46.
Portfolio
The table below lists Madeline Lawrence’s verified investments from her time as Principal at Peak Capital, sourced from Signal by NFX 3. She is not publicly known to be actively investing while running growth at Aikido; deals below reflect her VC-era portfolio.
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circula | 2025 | Series A | 3 |
| handly | 2025 | Seed | 3 |
| Bling | 2024 | Series A | 35 |
| Helio | 2023 | Seed | 3 |
| Empion | 2022 | Pre-Seed | 3 |
| Tilores | 2022 | Seed | 3 |
Note: Aggregator data on European VCs is often thin — 6 verified deals may understate her actual participation history.
In Their Own Words
On her long history with Willem Delbare, which led to her co-founding Aikido:
“Willem and I go years back. He was a fund scout and frequent angel co-investor.” — Madeline Lawrence, TechCrunch, May 1, 2024 4
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials about Madeline Lawrence’s investing style or post-investment support were found. Aikido’s other founders (notably Willem Delbare) are extensively quoted about the company’s product and market, but not about Lawrence’s contribution as a VC-turned-co-founder 126.
Connections
- Co-Founder & CGO, Aikido Security — alongside Willem Delbare (CTO/CEO), Roeland Delrue (COO/CRO), Felix Garriau (CMO); backers include DST Global, PSG, Singular, Notion Capital, Connect Ventures, Innovia 12
- Former Principal / Partner, Peak Capital (Amsterdam-based SaaS VC) — Berlin-based 34
- Long-standing collaboration with Willem Delbare — described in TechCrunch coverage as “years back” co-investing and scouting relationship 4
- Named co-investors during Peak tenure — Tae Hea Nahm, Jenny Wang, Harry Stebbings (per Signal by NFX) 3
- Adjacent to the Ghent operator-angel cluster — Aikido pre-seed was backed by Louis Jonckheere and Pieterjan Bouten (Showpad), Mathias Geeroms (OTA Insight), and Christophe Morbee (Besox) — the Belgian SaaS operator-angel network Delbare and Lawrence operate within 67
Sources
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“About” — Aikido Security, accessed August 2026. https://www.aikido.dev/about↩↩↩↩↩
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Willem Delbare profile, Seedlist, accessed August 2026 (primary citations to Aikido pre-seed announcement January 2023 and TechCrunch Series A coverage May 2024). /Users/EricRies2/Projects/seedlist/data/investors/willem-delbare.md ↩↩↩↩↩
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“Madeline Lawrence” — Signal by NFX investor profile, accessed August 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/madeline-lawrence↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Paul Sawers, “Belgium’s Aikido lands $17M Series A for its ‘no BS’ security platform aimed at developers,” TechCrunch, May 1, 2024, accessed August 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/01/belgiums-aikido-lands-17m-series-a-for-its-no-bs-security-platform-aimed-at-developers/↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Peak Capital portfolio — Bling company page, accessed August 2026. https://peak.capital/portfolio/bling↩↩↩
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“Aikido Security raises €2 million pre-seed round to build a developer-first software security platform” — Aikido Security blog, January 19, 2023, accessed August 2026. https://www.aikido.dev/blog/aikido-security-raises-eur2-million-pre-seed-round-to-build-a-developer-first-software-security-platform↩↩↩
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Peak Capital team page, accessed August 2026. https://peak.capital/team↩