Earlier this year, Stockholm-based investment firm Spintop Ventures started to invest in Nordic tech companies via its Spintop Fund IV. Now, the firm raises additional financial support from the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Swedish venture capital company Saminvest along with Nordic family offices, institutional investors and their network of 50+ entrepreneurs and executives from the technology sector. The reason why they wanted to contribute to this new fund is the fact that the company makes smart investments and actively engages the companies, and supports diversity and sustainability along the way. After this support, the fund reaches a total of around €188M (2 billion SEK) to be used for early stage tech companies in Scandinavia.
Old news – the new Spintop fund
Spintop Ventures announces the new Spintop Fund IV. Investors and the early-stage technology companies Spintop invests in have shown a strong trust in the active engagement, the long-term commitment and the vast experience of the Spintop team. As a result, Spintop is now trusted to manage a total amount approaching 2 billion SEK.
“Our new fund is actually old news. The fund started actively investing in early 2022”, says the Spintop Team.
The European Investment Fund, EIF, a major investor in top-tier funds across Europe, and Sweden’s Saminvest, have decided to continue their cornerstone roles from the previous Spintop fund.
“We are very proud of the trust from our cornerstone investors, the strong support from Nordic family offices, institutional investors and our network of 50+ entrepreneurs and executives from the technology sector. Many of our investors have been with Spintop for a long time. A specially warm thanks to the investors who have invested with Spintop since the first fund in 2010, with some having doubled their commitments with every new fund generation”.
Investors have demonstrated their confidence in Spintop’s battle-proven pan-Nordic early-stage technology investment strategy:
- A solid track-record from the previous Spintop funds where value has been realized in numerous exit transactions and distributed to investors.
- An active and long-term engagement with all companies Spintop invests in, combined with a capacity to make significant follow-on investments in the companies that perform well.
- A true pan-Nordic footprint where currently ~40% of investments are in Finland, Norway and Denmark and ~50% of the Swedish investments are from outside of the Stockholm region.
- Applying software technology and the venture capital scaling playbook to maximize sustainability impact. Sustainability is an integrated part of all investment activities and Spintop IV adheres to the EU SFDR Article 8.
- Actively supporting diversity as it drives long-term returns and is essential for society – currently 30% of the active portfolio companies are led by female CEOs.
“With this operation the EIF is contributing to the management of two-billion SEK investments by Spintop Ventures. Investing in Swedish and Nordic early-stage technology is crucial for Europe’s digital transition,” says Alain Godard, Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund.
The fund will remain open to bring on new investors on a selective basis during the fall.
Saminvest has pledged SEK 150 million to Spintop Ventures’ fourth fund, Spintop IV. The fund will invest in software companies in the early stages in various industries in the Nordic countries. The fund’s investment focus is software companies in various industries that are in the pre-sowing or sowing phase. The fund has a Nordic focus.
“One of the ways in which Saminvest can strengthen the Swedish ecosystem for venture capital for innovative companies in the early stages in the long term is to support the development of more fund generations, which is an important part of Saminvest’s mission. It is therefore very gratifying that we have had the opportunity to support the establishment of Spintop Ventures’ fourth fund.” comments Peder Hasslev, CEO of Saminvest.
“We are very pleased that Saminvest has chosen to continue investing in Spintop Ventures’ new fund. It gives us the opportunity to continue investing in the early stages and contribute to developing the companies that will be the tech giants of the future from Sweden and the Nordic countries,” says Finn Persson, partner at Spintop Ventures.
Spintop III was one of the earliest investments for Saminvest 2017, which is now being followed up with a capital commitment also for Spintop IV.
“Spintop Ventures is a well-qualified team that has invested in Nordic and Swedish software companies in the early stages for many years. Spintop Ventures has been an active investor and we believe that this work will continue with the new fund.” says Magnus Skåninger, Head of Fund Investments at Saminvest.
Other investors in the fund include the EIF and several family offices.