European VC Focused on Identifying Startups With Potential to Transform and Disrupt

**[YouTube Video Title: Redefining Unicorns: European VC Hunts for the Startups That Can Change One Billion Lives]**

**[Introduction Paragraph]**
Welcome to our YouTube channel! In this video, we explore the ambitious mission of Norrsken VC, a Stockholm-based venture capital fund that aims to invest in European startups with the potential to positively impact the lives of at least one billion people. As General Partner Agate Freimane explains, this fund is on the lookout for “impact unicorns” – companies that can make a serious difference in addressing global issues such as climate change, food shortages, pollution, and social inequality[^1^]. So, how can entrepreneurs make a genuine difference, and what role can investors play? Let’s dive in and find out!

**[Background and Purpose Paragraph]**
Norrsken VC grew out of the Norrsken foundation, established by entrepreneur Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of fintech company Klarna[^1^]. Believing that entrepreneurs are key to solving big and intractable problems, Adalberth created a support platform that includes accelerators and co-working spaces in Stockholm and Kigali, Rwanda’s largest city[^1^]. Today, as the venture capital arm, Norrsken VC has made 31 investments in impact businesses[^1^]. The fund’s main goal is to support companies aligning with the United Nations’ sustainable investment goals, emphasizing the combination of profit and positive impact[^1^].

**[Highlighting Impactful Investments Paragraph]**
Norrsken VC’s investments reflect a renewed willingness of venture capitalists to go beyond software and invest in hardware and infrastructure projects[^1^]. For example, the fund has invested in Northvolt, a battery developer constructing a gigafactory powered entirely by green energy, and Heart Aerospace, a company focusing on electric-powered aircraft development[^1^]. While hardware-led Greentech projects hold risks, these investments demonstrate Norrsken VC’s commitment to tackling global challenges and supporting groundbreaking solutions[^1^].

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**Sources:**
[^1^]: Forbes (source): [Redefining Unicorns: European VC Hunts for the Startups That Can Change One Billion Lives](https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevorclawson/2022/01/14/redefining-unicornseuropean-vc-hunts-for-the-startups-that-can-change-one-billion-lives/)

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Norrsken VC is nothing if not ambitious. As General Partner, Agate Freimane explains, the aim of the Stockholm-based venture capital fund is to find and invest in European startups that have the potential to scale up to a level where they can positively affect the lives of at least one billion people. In a sense it’s an arbitrary number – and a tall order – but as a stated ambition it serves a purpose. Norrsken is an early-stage impact investor. The avowed mission to benefit the lives of not just hundreds or thousands of people but billions is intended to emphasise that the fund is on the lookout to find “impact unicorns.”  Or to put it another way, companies that can make a serious difference to the problems facing the planet. But what does that mean in practice?  As the world struggles to find solutions to problems such as climate change, food shortages, pollution and social inequality, it often seems that the vast majority of startups working in the “impact” field can offer solutions that are perhaps useful but ultimately limited in the face of global issues. So when I spoke to Agate Freimane, I was keen to get her take on how entrepreneurs can make a genuine difference and the role that investors can play. Norrsken VC grew out of the Norrsken foundation, an organisation established by Niklas Adalberth, an entrepreneur who is perhaps best known as a founder of fintech company Klarna. Taking the view that entrepreneurs represented the world’s greatest asset in terms of solving big and intractable problems, he established a support platform, which today runs accelerators and has co-working spaces in Stockholm and Rwanda’s largest city, Kigali. As the venture capital arm, Norrsken VC has, to date, made 31 investments in impact businesses.  “The companies we invest in must align with at least one of the UN’s 17 sustainable investment goals,” says Freimane. As Freimane stresses, the focus is on companies that are fully commercial. “Originally we looked at both not-for-profit and profit-making companies,” she says. “But we realised that the biggest opportunity was to invest in businesses that combined profit and impact.”The companies that Norrsken has funded perhaps indicate a renewed willingness on the part of venture capitalists to look beyond software and put money into projects that include the development of hardware and infrastructure.. For instance, naming electrification as a key theme, Freimane cites two companies in the Norrsken portfolio that illustrate a willingness to embrace capital intensive R&D. Northvolt is a battery developer building a gigafactory powered entirely by green energy. Heart Aerospace is working on the development of electric-powered aircraft. I suggest this might be risky. Track back a decade or so and many VCs – particularly in the Bay Area – had their fingers burned investing in hardware-led Greentech projects. In  contrast to software development, the timelines to market were long and the risks high.

All data is taken from the source: http://forbes.com
Article Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevorclawson/2022/01/14/redefining-unicornseuropean-vc-hunts-for-the-startups-that-can-change-one-billion-lives/

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