SNÖ Ventures launches $100m fund

The GP did not comment on how much it raised during the first close, but said that it planned on holding another close this summer, which could be an interim or a final close. If the latter, then the GP will aim for a final close towards the end of 2021.

The GP's debut fund raised NOK 100m ($12m) and is now fully invested, but has reserved some capital for follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies.

SNÖ partner Max Samuel told Unquote: "We're happy with how the first close went, as we brought in some really good LPs from around the world, featuring a good international base with investors including Peter Thiel, Northzone co-founder Karl Christian Agerup, Kahoot! CEO Eilert Hanoa, Norway's largest pension company KLP, and Investinor, as well as others from throughout Europe and the US – which goes well with our international strategy of bringing investment to the tech community in the Nordic countries."

The GP is committing its own capital to the fund. It declined to say how much, but said that it was a "standard amount".

No placement agents or advisers were appointed for the fundraise. 

Samuel said that the two broader missions of the new fund were "to connect the Nordic region to the US and to broader Europe, and to unify the Nordic ecosystem – which we've found to be very fragmented – by helping share resources, ideas, funding, experience and talent".

Investors
Investors in the second fund include many of the cornerstone investors from the first fund, including Investinor, Karl Christian Agerup, Eilert Hanoa, KLP and some prominent family offices in Norway.

New investors include Paypal and Palantir founder Peter Thiel, as well as Nordic family offices and US institutional investors.

Investments
SNÖ Fund II will back 20-25 Nordic companies at seed and series-A stages.

The strategy for the new fund, Samuel said, will be similar to the previous fund: "We're looking to back early-stage, high-growth companies based in the Nordic region, or with a very strong Nordic connection, that are looking to disrupt or capture very large markets."

In terms of sectors, Samuel said the second fund will be sector agnostic across digital technology. He added that the GP will reserve half of the new fund for follow-on investments in the more successful portfolio companies.

However, Samuel added that the GP was particularly keen on investing in companies in the space sector: "Part of our strategy is to find interesting companies and founders within the Nordic countries, and often that means in sectors where the region has some historical expertise or some industry experience, and space is a good example of this, because Norway has a strong space ecosystem. There are strong legacy players who have received a lot of international attention and have contributed a lot to the international space ecosystem."

Samuel said that Magne and Teodor, the two founding partners of SNÖ, were both from Andøya, and had a personal connection to the Andøya Space Centre, one of the major hubs for Norwegian space. 

The GP said it has not made any investments from the second fund yet, but is in "several really good conversations with companies that we're excited about".

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