SNÖ Ventures, an Oslo-based venture capital firm, has announced today the launch of a new fund targeting $100 million (around €82 million) to invest in early stage, high-growth Nordic tech companies with the potential to disrupt, create or capture large markets through transformative technology or solutions.
SNÖ Ventures is led by Magne Uppman, Teodor Bjerrang, Max Samuel and Kremena Tosheva, an international team with deep expertise in founding, building, scaling and advising companies. In connection with the new fund, SNÖ plans to expand the organization into Sweden and Denmark.
Peter Thiel has also joined SNÖ as an investor and Strategic Partner and is accompanied by an international group of advisors to the SNÖ team, including the former Executive Director of the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program under President Obama, and a diverse group of seasoned founders, investors and startup advisors.
“The unique cultural, economic and geographic traits of the Nordics contribute to the success of its thriving startup ecosystem”, said Max Samuel, Partner of SNÖ, who recently joined SNÖ from Thiel Capital, Peter Thiel’s global investment office. “We aim to enhance this ecosystem by facilitating the sharing of resources, talent, ideas and experience throughout the Nordic region, and by leveraging our international networks to support Nordic companies in their global expansion.”
“We invest in visionary entrepreneurs and we bring decades of experience in supporting them at every step of their global growth journey”, said Magne Uppman, co-founder and Managing Partner of SNÖ.
SNÖ’s most recent investments include PortalOne Kitemaker, and Confrere. The new fund will be targeting Series Seed and Series A companies throughout the Nordic region.
“SNÖ Ventures is a one-of-a-kind Nordic fund. They offer local support, but also have an extensive international network that can help startups navigate the road to the next level and beyond. PortalOne has been very fortunate to work with some of the top VCs in the world, and our experience with SNÖ Ventures places them squarely within that group. Their international approach, thinking and intuition has provided great value to us since the very beginning of our partnership”, said Bård Anders Kasin, co-founder and CEO of PortalOne.
The first closing of SNÖ Fund II has already been held, with investments from a group of international limited partners who bring unique experience and networks to the fund, including Peter Thiel, Karl Christian Agerup (co-founder of Northzone), Eilert Hanoa (CEO of Kahoot!), KLP (Norway’s largest pension company), Investinor and others from throughout Europe and the US.
“SNÖ Ventures fills an important role in the Nordic ecosystem for building valuable international growth companies out of the Nordics. The entrepreneurial background of the investment team, their proven ability to build international networks and their active ownership approach towards their portfolio companies makes them a valuable partner for any growth company with international ambitions”, said Karl Christian Agerup, co-founder of Northzone.
“We at Investinor have a close eye on funds throughout Norway and the Nordics, and SNÖ has brought something new and different to the ecosystem. Given the SNÖ team’s international network, mindset and backgrounds, they have been successful in building a position as a strong partner for global venture funds looking to access the Nordic market,” said Johan Bøe Bjørkevoll, Investment Director at Investinor.
