The Kigali-based Norrsken22 has closed its first African technology growth fund at US$205 million, surpassing its target of US$200 million.
Founded by Niklas Adalberth, one of the founders of Swedish fintech unicorn Klarna, in 2016, Norrsken aims to help entrepreneurs solve the world’s greatest challenges. Its ecosystem consists of Norrsken House, a co-working space for over 350 impact entrepreneurs in Stockholm, the Norrsken Founders Fund, and Norrsken VC.
Disrupt Africa reported in 2019 the foundation had launched operations in Kigali, Rwanda, which it said it planned to use as a base for investing across the East and Central African region, and it started raising its fund in February 2022.
Norrsken22 is focused on entrepreneurs developing fintech, ed-tech, e-health, and market-enabling solutions that will deliver strong returns and have a positive impact across Africa. At its inception, the fund was supported by over 30 unicorn founders, including Olugbenga Agboola, co-founder of Flutterwave; Niklas Zennström, co-founder of Skype; and Niklas Östberg, co-founder of Delivery Hero.
The fund was also backed by SEB Pension Foundation and family offices. Since the fund’s first close, a number of high-profile institutional investors have joined the investor base, such as British International Investment (BII), International Finance Corporation (IFC), US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Standard Bank and Norfund.
“Africa has the youngest population globally and its upcoming digital-first generation is the future of Africa – and the world. We’re delighted to announce this final close and with the support the fund has received. There are huge opportunities in Africa. We are excited to continue our mission of driving funding into African tech, and creating jobs and sustainable growth in the region,” said Adalberth.
Norrsken22 has already made five investments, in South African challenger bank Tyme Bank, African business-to-business digital commerce platform Sabi, Africa’s leading identity verification solution, Smile ID and auto financing platform Autochek.
