Founded and led by the original MySQL and MariaDB creators, OpenOcean is one of the few European VC firms whose partners actually built multiple category-defining infrastructure companies before becoming investors, giving them unusually deep hands-on database and data-infrastructure operating experience. They run a deliberately concentrated, operator-led model where each partner works with a maximum of ~8 young companies, focusing on hands-on help with technical architecture, data strategy, and go-to-market scaling rather than a broad portfolio of lightly supported bets.