(Bloomberg) — A who’s who of Swedish tech founders and chief executives have committed finances to a new impact fund focused on supporting entrepreneurs in Africa.
The equity growth fund, Norrsken22, has completed its first close at $110 million and included among its backers are 30 founders of so-called unicorns, companies that have achieved a pre-market valuation of at least $1 billion.
It’s a joint initiative by Hans Otterling, a partner at Northzone Ventures, and Niklas Adalberth’s Norrsken Foundation. “There are quite a few smaller venture funds that can support companies in their early stages, but there’s a lack of investors that can support the larger funding rounds when businesses are being scaled up,” Otterling said in an interview.
Other founders investing in the new fund include Niklas Zennstrom from Skype Inc., Jacob de Geer from iZettle AB, Niklas Ostberg of Delivery Hero SE fame, Mojang AB’s Carl Manneh, Sebastian Knutsson from King Digital Entertainment Plc and Willard Ahdritz of Kobalt Music Group.
Leveraging that business expertise is what makes the fund unique, according to Adalberth, who co-founded buy now-pay later provider Klarna Bank AB. “A founder of a fin-tech company will have access to the founder of Klarna or iZettle, within med-tech you have access to the founder of Kry and so on,” Adalberth said.
The announcement comes as impact investing in the Nordic region has started strongly this year with Summa Equity, Verdane and Sound Bioventures all announcing new fund raising. In 2021, Sweden attracted a record $4.5 billion in cash targeting ventures that seek to address at least one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The investment team at Norrsken22 plans to target fintech, edtech and medtech sectors with a goal of acheiving top-quartile returns. Africa is where Europe was about 15 years ago when it comes to internet penetration and connectivity, according to the Northzone partner.
“Eyes are turning towards Africa as the next epicenter for digital disruption,” Otterling said.
(Adds Otterling, Adalberth quotes)
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