Industrifonden invests in Heliospectra

Other investors in the SEK 30m financing round include Midroc New Technology and the company's previous owners, each contributing with SEK 10m in the equity issuance. The investment gave Industrifonden around a 20% shareholding in the company.

According to Stefan Jakélius, investment director, the investment and strategic support from Industrifonden will be used to introduce the product to new markets; primarily in Europe, but a contact network is also being built to market the product in the US.

Jakélius identified Heliospectra's technology as an alternative to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), modifying lighting instead of genetics to manipulate the growth and characteristics of plants.

Heliospectra has previously received funding from various regional sources, including companies and Swedish state funds.

Company
Heliospectra, founded in 2006, develops and manufactures intelligent LED lighting systems for the greenhouse industry. The technology allows customers to adjust lighting to correspond to the preferred wavelength of specific plants, thereby enabling control over plant growth and characteristics. The only current implementation of the system is for basil, and was developed in collaboration with Heliospectra's first customer Swedeponic.

The company's research is led by Canadian PhD Tessa Pocock. It is currently based in Borås, Sweden, but has announced plans to move to nearby Gothenburg and share offices with the Swedish Institute of Food and Biotechnology.

People
Stefan Jakélius, investment manager, worked on the deal for Industrifonden. Andreas Gunnarsson, investment manager, managed the deal for Midroc New Technology. Staffan Hillberg is the CEO of Heliospectra.

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