Imfino News

• Norrsken VC Fund to get SEK 212 million (€20 million) participation from the European Investment Fund (EIF).
• The fund focuses on impact-driven companies that use digital technologies to address societal challenges, such as software for reduction of CO2 or food waste.
• The agreement has the backing of the Investment Plan for Europe.

Brussels, June 9, 2020 - The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed a SEK 212 million participation in the “NVC Fund 1 AB”, Norrsken for short, an impact investing fund focusing on impact-driven enterprises using digital technologies to address societal challenges. The EIF participation in the Fund was made possible under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) of the Investment Plan for Europe and InnovFin Equity.

Launched in December last year, Norrsken has also received backing from Nordea, SEB, Ramsbury Invest (H&M Family office), Saminvest as well as a number of Swedish tech unicorn founders making it the largest early stage impact tech investor in Europe. With the EIF's participation the Fund reaches €91 million, out of a €100 million target size. The Fund team, which has a joint track record since 2017, has extensive experience in impact financing and supporting start-ups.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said: “The Norrsken fund is providing venture capital to early-stage tech companies working on some of the most pressing issues we face, such as climate, poverty, education and health. Europe needs to up its game when it comes to the availability of venture capital to start-ups, so this investment in Norrsken by the EIF has my full support.”

“We are delighted to welcome the new investors on board. We think that our ability to attract institutional investors of this calibre, especially in the midst of Covid crisis, is a true testament that impact investing is no longer a niche asset class and will grow rapidly over the coming years” stated Niklas Adalberth, General Partner of Norrsken VC, Founder of Norrsken Foundation.

The Fund will invest in early stage tech start-ups that aim to provide solutions for the world's greatest challenges in areas such as climate, health, education and poverty, while also building profitable businesses. The Fund is associated with the Norrsken Foundation, which operates a co-working space for tech impact businesses in Stockholm.

Alain Godard, Chief Executive of the EIF, added: “Operations like this one make it clear that impact investing is on the rise. The investment class supported by these funds will play an important role in the green recovery from the ongoing crisis, making it all the more important for Europe to support it.”

Background information:

Norrsken VC is a €100 million impact fund backed by Norrsken Foundation, launched in December 2019. The fund invests in rapidly scaling early stage start-ups that use their business models to solve some of the world's greatest challenges, such as poverty, health, discrimination, integration, food waste, and climate change. The fund is based in Sweden and will invest primarily in Europe with a focus on the Nordics.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. It provides first loss guarantees enabling the EIB to invest in more, often riskier projects. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI are expected to mobilise €486 bn in investment, supporting over 1.2 million start-ups and SMEs across the EU.

This investment is supported by InnovFin Equity with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020). Through or alongside selected Venture Capital (VC), Business Angels (BA), Technology Transfer funds and funds-of-funds, the EU provides risk capital financing to enterprises, research organisations, universities in their proof-of-concept, pre-seed, seed, start-up and other early-stage phases allowing them to set up or reach their next stage of development.