Cofounder closes seed fund for central Norway of 200 million

financing

The goal was at least 300 million, now the seed fund is closed at 200.

It was Sparebank 1 SMN that originally took the initiative for a separate seed fund aimed at companies in central Norway, which the Cofounder will manage.

However, they have had to adjust the ambitious target of at least NOK 300 million. In addition, it appears that Sparebank 1 SMN is entering with NOK 100 million instead of NOK 150 million, as they said last summer.

The others who enter with money in Seed 1 Middle are, among others, KLP, Reitan Kapital, Adolf Øiens Fond, Trønderenergi, the PIR environment in Ålesund and a number of private investors, according to Cofounder’s website.

– We are experiencing a large influx of companies that need capital and see many attractive investment opportunities within a relatively short time. Among other things, we have just under 70 companies that we actively follow and we are in active dialogue with several more. What the companies we consider have in common is that they have unique technology and great growth potential. We hope to have already placed the first investment before the summer, says Bjørn Reitan, managing partner in Cofounder.

The plan is to invest in 10-20 companies in Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. Over half of the investments must be in companies that are younger than 5 years. The fund can also invest in older companies with less than 50 employees and less than NOK 100 million in balance sheet value.

– The need for early-stage growth capital is great, and Cofounder has ambitions to expand the fund within the next 12 months, the company writes.

The cofounder reports that the fund will be industry-agnostic, meaning that in principle they are open to everything, but that they will build on technology areas and industries where Central Norway is strong. Among other things, aquaculture, digitization and autonomy, maritime industry and health.