Norrsken22 announces first close of African tech fund
Thirty unicorn founders are backing African tech entrepreneurs through Norrsken22, a new $200 million tech growth fund that will invest in exceptional entrepreneurs building Africa’s new tech giants.
The Norrsken Foundation, founded by Klarna co-founder Niklas Adalberth, has teamed up with Hans Otterling, partner at Northzone, and an investment team led by Natalie Kolbe, previous global head of private equity at Actis in South Africa, Actis colleague Ngetha Waithaka in Kenya, and Lexi Novitske, prior founder of Acuity Venture Partners in Nigeria, to launch the Norrsken22 Africa Tech Growth Fund. The fund announced its first close of $110 million.
The fund is backed by 30 unicorn founders, contributing their entrepreneurial skills and $65 million in funding. Among them are Olugbenga Agboola, co-founder of Flutterwave; Niklas Zennström, co-founder of Skype; Jacob de Geer, co-founder of iZettle; Niklas Östberg, co-founder of Delivery Hero; Carl Manneh, co-founder of Mojang; Sebastian Knutsson, co-founder of King and Willard Ahdritz, founder Kobalt Music. The fund is also backed by SEB Pension Foundation and family offices, who share the Norrsken22 vision of scalable entrepreneurship as a driver of long-term and sustainable economic growth across Africa.
Norrsken22 will back exceptional businesses and category leaders within fintech, edtech, medtech and market-enabling solutions. The fund is dedicated to delivering top quartile returns, and will drive strong, positive impact across Africa. Norrsken Foundation will reinvest its portion of the capital generated by Norrsken22 back into supporting African entrepreneurship, to further promote the growth of the Africa tech ecosystem and a new generation of founders.
“Africa has a population of 1.2 billion, where 60% are below 25 years old. In the next decade, this young, digital-first generation will change not only the future of Africa but of the world,” said Niklas Adalberth, founder of Norrsken Foundation.
“Eyes are turning towards Africa as the next epicentre for digital disruption. Technology is enabling emerging enterprises to leapfrog legacy ways of doing business. Leaders are emerging but a lack of growth capital is holding them back,” said Natalie Kolbe, Norrsken22 managing partner.
“Technology is already transforming economies across the African continent on a massive scale. Enabling a new generation of African founders is one of the greatest investment opportunities of our time,” said Niklas Zennström, Skype co-founder and member of the Norrsken22 unicorn board.
The pan-African investment team, based in the key tech hubs of Africa, have previously backed Africa’s fastest growing unicorns from Fawry to Flutterwave and are focused on helping companies expand regionally and internationally, delivering the support that African founders need when scaling their businesses.
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