Norrsken Evolve Research
Investment Thesis
Norrsken Evolve backs founders building Europe's resilient and sustainable future. The fund's core belief is that Europe's next generation of climate, resilience, and deep-tech companies is being starved at the earliest, riskiest stage of funding, and that a heavyweight operator network combined with a pre-seed fund is the right vehicle to close that gap. Norrsken Evolve evolved out of an accelerator program founded in 2021 and converted into an institutional fund, giving it an unusually deep multi-year pipeline of founder relationships before it ever wrote checks. The firm frames its mandate as turning "crisis into opportunity" by supporting founders addressing environmental, geopolitical, and financial risk simultaneously, rather than treating climate, security, and resilience as separate categories.
Sector Focus
Norrsken Evolve organizes its thesis around three pillars:
- Carbon-Free Economy - renewable energy, grid optimization and storage, mobility and transport, built environment, industrial decarbonization, and food & agriculture.
- Infrastructure of Tomorrow - disruption-resistant systems, resource and material security, breakthrough health tech, cybersecurity, and water security.
- Europe's Future - talent and innovation, industrial transition, and companies positioned to benefit from European policy tailwinds.
In practice this spans climatetech, energy, agritech, healthtech, biotech, fintech, proptech, and trust & security, with an increasing tilt toward AI infrastructure (e.g. its 2026 reinvestment in Velatir, an "operating system for AI" built on European-owned infrastructure).
Stage Focus
Norrsken Evolve is a dedicated pre-seed investor. It is typically the first institutional check into a company, ahead of any Series A processes, and mandates participation in an in-person sprint program as part of the investment.
Check Size
Initial checks run €250K-€500K, with a target ownership of roughly 5% when leading a round. Follow-on capital is available through a transparent pro-rata mechanism: if a company raises a subsequent round led by a recognized investor at a valuation at least 50% higher than the Evolve round, Norrsken Evolve has pro-rata participation rights.
Lead Tendency
Norrsken Evolve typically leads or co-leads at the pre-seed stage, consistent with its stated ~5% target ownership when leading. It also participates in later rounds as a follow-on investor into its own portfolio (e.g. its August 2026 participation in Velatir's €5M seed round alongside lead investors Spintop Ventures and Ugly Duckling Ventures).
Recent Activity
- August 2026: Interim/final close activity and Amsterdam expansion announced; participated in Velatir's €5M seed round (AI infrastructure/"operating system for AI").
- 2025-2026: Closed its dedicated pre-seed fund at €62M, exceeding its €40M target by more than 50%; an interim close of ~€57M was reported in August 2025.
- 2026: Opened a permanent base at Norrsken House Amsterdam, with GP Alex Bakir relocating to lead Dutch operations alongside local investor Sjoerd Stevens; roughly €3M is ring-fenced for five to eight Netherlands-based pre-seed bets.
- Fund is actively deploying, screening 3,000+ startups per year and investing in roughly 20-30, an acceptance rate below 0.7%.
Portfolio Highlights
Norrsken Evolve has backed roughly 80-88 companies since inception, with 75% of the cohort going on to raise follow-on capital from top global investors. The portfolio spans climatetech (Atmospheric AI, Cemvision, Bubble Robotics, Nordic Bio-Graphite), fintech (Kwara, Emata, Leja, Nash, SunFi), healthtech/biotech (Aiomics, Crane Biosciences, New Dawn Bio, Molecular Attraction), energy (Rye, Jälle Technologies, LexEnergy, FION Energy), and trust & security / AI infra (Berget AI, NobodyWho, PRYVX, Velatir, Thalius). Notable geographic spread includes Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda) alongside Sweden, the UK, Germany, France, and the Nordics/Baltics, reflecting Norrsken's dual Stockholm/African-hub heritage even though Evolve itself is Europe-focused.
Team
- Rebecka Löthman Rydå - General Partner (fund lead)
- Johan Attby - General Partner
- Alex Bakir - General Partner, relocated to Amsterdam to lead Dutch operations
- Funda Sezgi - Co-founder
- Ebba Forsberg - Investor
- Sjoerd Stevens - Investor, local lead for the Netherlands
- Inez Atmer - VP of Platform & Operations
- Merit Vislapu - Platform & Operations
- Siim Teller - Venture Partner
The firm's advisor network includes executives from Truecaller, Mojang, Oatly, and Spotify.
Decision Process
Team-based partnership decision process across the General Partners (Rebecka Löthman Rydå, Johan Attby, Alex Bakir), supported by an investor team and venture partner network. Given the fund's high-volume, programmatic screening (3,000+ startups/year), the process is structured around a mandatory in-person sprint before a check is finalized.
Founder Preferences
Norrsken Evolve looks for founders building at the intersection of impact, resilience, and scalability - technical and mission-driven founders tackling structural risks in energy, industrial systems, health, food, water, and security. The fund explicitly avoids weapons/defense-adjacent businesses per its resilience-not-weapons framing.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Europe (EU27, EU Candidate Countries, and the UK), with a new dedicated allocation for the Netherlands (~€3M for 5-8 Dutch pre-seed bets) following the Amsterdam base opening. The fund will selectively support a handful of high-potential companies outside Europe. Norrsken Evolve is headquartered at Birger Jarlsgatan 57C, 113 56 Stockholm, Sweden, and is one fund within the broader Norrsken family (which also runs Norrsken VC, Norrsken Launcher, Norrsken 22, and Norrsken Africa Seed, plus physical "Houses" in Stockholm, Barcelona, Kigali, Brussels, and Amsterdam).
Funding & Backers
Norrsken Evolve's €62M pre-seed fund is backed by Saminvest AB (a Swedish government fund-of-funds), the European Investment Fund (EIF) via InvestEU, SmartCap Green Fund, Skaala, and the investment vehicle of Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi, alongside other European tech founders and family offices.