Industrifonden invests SEK 35m in Smartfish

Current owner Investinor increases its stake in the company to 36% after the second of two tranches of a fully subscribed SEK 82m share issue, alongside private investors. Industrifonden, which enters as a new active owner, and Investinor are now the main owners of Smartfish.

The fresh capital will be used mainly for clinical trials as well as for furthering the company's international expansion. In connection with the investment, a Stockholm-based R&D centre will be established.

The investment in Smartfish is the first step in a recently launched life sciences partnership between Industrifonden and Norwegian government funded Investinor, with a purpose to provide life science companies access to international capital.

Following a dialogue between Industrifonden and Investinor, Industrifonden started looking at Investinor's portflio company Smartfish. Industrifonden subsequently initiated a long due diligence process this spring which showed the company's great potential, according to the GP.

Founded in 1979, Industrifonden is a venture capital firm with approximately €400m in funds under management. The firm invests between SEK 5m-SEK 100m in companies with a turnover of up to SEK 400m operating across life science, technology, and industrial growth sectors. Current portfolio companies include Foap, inRiver and Powerbox International.

Previous funding
Smartfish received its first venture funding when Investinor led a NOK 25m investment in the company in March 2011. Half of the capital in the private placement was provided by Investinor, while the other half was provided by existing and new investors including DnB Nor, BSN, Hermanas, Glastad Invest and James Stove Lorentzen. The deal was initiated by the company, which made contact with Investinor.

Company
Headquartered in Oslo with its production facilities in Sweden, Smartfish produces an omega-3 based fruit juice for cancer patients. The company is also developing an omega-3 based drink for patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Founded in 2001, Smartfish had a turnover of NOK 5.2m in 2012, currently a negative EBITDA and 9 employees.

People
Nina Rawal, an investment manager at Industrifonden, led the deal. Jens Nordahl is the CEO of Smartfish.

Advisers
Equity - Deloitte (Financial due diligence); Vinge (Legal).
Company - ABG Sundal (Corporate finance).

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