Norrsken VC

A self-sustaining space economy? It’s no longer light-years away. 🛰️ Right now, everything we send into orbit starts on Earth—fuel, materials, infrastructure. And launching it? Expensive, inefficient, and burning billions of liters of fuel just to escape gravity’s grip. Our latest portfolio company takes Earth out of the equation. Instead of dragging resources up the gravity well, Karman+ harvests materials from asteroids—fuel, metals, and other essentials—right where they’re needed. Less waste. Lower costs. No impact on Earth. Karman+ is laying the foundation for a self-sustaining space economy. Beyond excited to back Teun van den Dries, Daynan Crull and the experienced Karman+ team as they take another giant leap for mankind. 🔗 Blog post in comments

Mankind drew borders. Nature drew rivers, mountains, and rainforests. If we’re serious about protecting the planet, it’s time to think less like cartographers and more like ecosystems. With advances in AI and data, that shift is becoming possible. Cecilia Ma spoke to Digital Frontier about how a bioregional mindset could unlock smarter, more sustainable resource management grounded in nature’s own logic. 🔗 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eStFk8Nm

How can we close the trillion-dollar gap, inspire more impact VCs, and put better role models in the spotlight? Niklas Adalberth spills the beans in the new EUVC podcast series with Impact Supporters and ImpactVC. 🎧 Plenty of food for thought here: https://lnkd.in/dPZr2BGU

✈️ Aviation accounts for 3% of global emissions today, but that number could skyrocket by up to 700% by 2050. So how do we keep flying without frying the planet? BBC went behind the scenes at Heart Aerospace, one of our portfolio companies, to check out Heart X1, which is set to become the largest fully electric aircraft ever to fly. https://lnkd.in/dfjn3mTF

We’re very proud to announce the first speakers for Impact/Week 2025. This October, they’ll join 1,000+ founders, investors and other industry leaders at Norrsken House Barcelona. All building a future that works for both people and planet. Mike Schroepfer (Meta, Gigascale Capital) Indy Johar (Dark Matter Labs) Olivia Lazard (PEACE IN DESIGN CONSULTING LTD, Carnegie Europe) Peter Carlsson (Northvolt) Josephine Philips (SOJO) Funda Sezgi & Sara Kappelmark (Norrsken Foundation) Lawrence Leuschner (TIER Mobility, Capacity.eco) Björn Öste (Oatly) Meik Wiking (The Happiness Research Institute) Alessa Berg (Top Tier Impact) Namrata Sandhu (Vaayu) More to come. Until then, spots are filling up fast. Apply now to join us in Barcelona, Oct 1–2. 👉 norrsken.org/impactweek

Our Investment Manager Cecilia Ma sat down for a deep-dive interview as part of Investment Reports and Newsweek’s upcoming report on the green transition. They covered a lot of ground, including: ✔️ How Norrsken VC supports startups beyond capital ✔️ Why staying committed to impact matters, especially when the macro gets messy ✔️ What she looks for in a founder ✔️ And how impact solutions are fixing some of the economy’s biggest headaches today 🔗 Well worth a read: https://lnkd.in/dKeFe84c

Great having you in the house, Anton. Can’t wait to back the first impact trailblazer built with Lovable! ❤️

How do we move beyond intentions and measure real-world impact? 📊 Solving our biggest challenges also unlocks the biggest investment opportunities. But identifying where that impact meets outsized financial return isn’t always obvious. Our peers at Revent just shared a smart approach to tackling that. Their Real Value Framework translates human and natural capital (think carbon, health, productivity) into financial terms, making it possible to quantify the upside of solving real problems. 🔗 Worth a read: https://lnkd.in/dUesHH5Q

Big moment for early cancer detection! 🔬 Our portfolio company Elypta just shared impressive clinical results: A simple urine test that can detect recurring kidney cancer with 90% accuracy. That’s a potential game-changer for patients who currently face repeated CT scans. And all the cost, stress, and radiation that comes with them. According to WHO, nearly half of all cancer deaths are caused by late-stage diagnoses. Elypta is tackling that head-on by developing new ways to detect cancer earlier, using machine learning to find subtle patterns found in urine or plasma. And the results suggest they’re onto something big. We couldn’t be prouder to back this team. 🔗 in comments

“Stop talking about labels. Let’s talk about fundamentals.” 📊 Last week, Agate S. Freimane joined a packed house of GPs and LPs at Mesh Community’s Mesh Collective in Oslo to dig into what really matters in impact investing. The takeaway? The fundamentals are stronger than ever. Europe has the talent, the tailwinds, and the demand for tech that delivers more with less. The labels might change — but the upside doesn’t.