Nordic Impact
Startups
2023
Sept 2023

Previous reports:
Nordic Impact Startups 2022

Nordic Impact Startups 2021

Impact startups – 2022 review

Food for Climate 2022
To read the report Nordic Impact
Startups 2022 click here

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Key Takeaways
The Nordics are leaders in the impact space,
Sweden and Stockholm are leading hubs.
The Nordics are the most impact-focused region in theworld with 38% of funding going to impact startups,
compared to 22% for Europe and less than 10% for US andAsia.
The four major nordic countries rank amongst the top 11
countries by total and early-stage funding with Sweden
leading on most metrics, followed by Norway.
At city level, Stockholm is the top hub for impact fundingin Europe, Helsinki is also in the top 10 both by total andearly stage funding.

Although impact funding has suﬀered thefunding slowdown in the Nordics, it isshowing more resilience and strong
historical performance.

Transportation and Energy have dominatedClimate Tech funding in the Nordics, but
new segments like Blue Economy andCarbon tech are emerging.

2023 is showing a significant slowdown for Nordic impact
tech funding with $1.2B in H1 2023, a nearly 50% drop from2022, in line with the broader VC market.

The Nordics are leaders in Climate Tech, attracting 30% ofEuropean funding in the segment since 2015.
Most of the funding have been attracted by B2B oriented
manufacturing/deep tech startups.

Impact, and climate tech, held on better than the overallmarket in the slowdown last year, both as overall funding
and early-stage.
Impact startups in the Nordics are also showing higher
conversion rates to Series A and beyond.

Impact investment as a percentage of total VC
funding (2023)
Nordics

VC investment in Nordic Impact
startups by year
$5.5B

36%

$4.3B
Europe

22%

Asia

8%

North America

7%

$2.4B
$1.8B $2.0B

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Total amount of climate tech investment per
cluster (2020-H1 2023)
Transportation &mobility$7.6B

Energy$4.1B

Circular economy $1.2B
Food & Land $1.2B

$610M
2018

The cluster which attracted the most funding by far areTransportation & mobility (including EV battery like
Northvolt) and Energy. Other emerging Climate Techsegments are gaining traction in the Nordics such as Blue
Economy and Carbon Tech.

$1.2B
2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Building &$0.9B
infrastructureCo-authors:

Mikkel Skott Olsen
For more than 150 years, Danske Bank has helped enable growth and development in society. We have developed intandem with the societies we are part of, and our advisory services, expertise and financial solutions have helped
individuals, families, businesses and organisations to realise their ambitions and potential.With long-term sustainable
development as our ambition, we will continue to work every day to be the best possible bank, for the benefit of ourcustomers, employees, shareholders and the societies we are part of.

Invest Stockholm is the oﬀicial investment promotion agency of Stockholm. We work with the marketing anddevelopment of the Stockholm region as a business destination under the brand Stockholm – The Capital of
Scandinavia. Invest Stockholm is a subsidiary of Stockholm Business Region, owned by the city of Stockholm. We arededicated to promoting and developing our city as an attractive and sustainable destination for business, international
investors and talents.

Global startup & venture capital intelligence platform: Dealroom.co is the foremost data provider on startup, early-stage
and growth company ecosystems in Europe and around the globe.
Founded in Amsterdam in 2013, we now work with many of the world's most prominent investors, entrepreneurs andgovernment organizations to provide transparency, analysis and insights on venture capital activity.

Page / 4

Head of ComEx & Business
Development
Danske Bank Growth

Jenny Berthling
Sustainable Growth
Invest Stockholm

Maria Grabowska
Growth and Impact
Danske Bank Growth

Lisa Öberg
Strategic Communications
Invest Stockholm

Lorenzo Chiavarini

Camilla Falanesca

B2B Research lead
Dealroom.co

Innovation Analyst
Dealroom.co

Why this report

What are the latest developments in the Nordics when it comes to creating and growing innovative startups working to produce asustainable impact on the world?
In this report you will see the most detailed analysis of the Nordic impact ecosystem to date, based on data from 1,278 VC-backed
impact startups and 2,244 funding rounds.

The Nordics have a strong reputation for creating impact startups. But what can the latest data show us?
Do Nordic countries still over-index for impact innovation? Can impact startups oﬀer investment returns as well as real worldchange? What are the latest trends in Climate Tech startups?

Now at its third annual edition, the Nordic Impact startups report examines in detail development of the startup scene, to assess
and nuance the common perception of the ecosystem.

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Source:Dealroom.co

1.

Are Nordic countries leaders in theimpact tech space?

The Nordics remain Europeʼs leading
impact-focused region with 38% offunding going to impact startups in H1
2023, compared to 22% for Europe
and less than 10% for US and Asia.

Page / 6*Early-stage Investments are defined by those with amounts up to $15M.

Nordic startups are attractive toimpact investors, with
Sweden (2nd), Norway, Finland andDenmark in the
Top 10 European destinations
for early-stage impact funding*.

Sweden lead the way for
impact VC funding in the Nordics,
followed by Norway.
At city level, Stockholm and Helsinki
are the top hubs.

The Nordics continue
to be the mostimpact-focused startup
ecosystem.

Impact investment as a percentage of total VC funding▊Nordics ▊United Kingdom ▊Europe ▊Asia ▊North America

40%

36% of funding goes to
impact startups, morethan any other region.

36%
30%

24%
22%
20%

10%

8%
7%

2016

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Source:Dealroom.co *2023 data up to H1 2023

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023*

The Nordic impact
ecosystem underwent astronger hit than otherregions last year, with a
23% drop ininvestment.

% growth over 12 months (2022 vs 2021)

18%

United Kingdom
Nordics-23%
16%

EuropeNorth America-19%% growth over 24 months (2022 vs 2020)

United Kingdom
Nordics

75%
113%
147%

EuropeNorth America

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Source:Dealroom.co.

105%

The four largest Nordic countries rank amongst the top 11 European countries by total andearly-stage funding. Sweden and Norway lead on all metrics.
Total impact funding(2017-H1 2023)(2022-H1 2023)(2017-H1 2023)(2022-H1 2023)

United Kingdom $16B

United Kingdom $6B

United Kingdom $2.9B

United Kingdom $847M

Sweden $12B

France $5B

Germany $1.6B

Germany $713M

Germany $12B

Germany $4B

France $1.6B

France $543M

Sweden $913M

Netherlands $314M

France $11B
Netherlands $4B

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Early-stage impact funding*Sweden $3.8B

$905M

$257M

Netherlands$1.5B

Netherlands$1.5B

Norway$498M

Sweden$159M

NorwaySwitzerland$2.6B

Switzerland

Estonia$2.4B

Estonia

$1B

Spain

$484M

Spain

$155M

Norway$1.7B

Norway$1B

Switzerland$385M

Switzerland

$123M

Spain

$1.5B

Finland$506M

Finland$376M

Finland$87M

Finland

$1.3B

Spain

$485M

Denmark$311M

Denmark$73M

Denmark$925M

Denmark

$380M

Italy

$226M

Belgium$69M

Source:Dealroom.co. *Early-stage Investments are defined by those with amounts up to $15M.

The four largest Nordic capitals are all among the top 10 cities for early-stage impact fundingin Europe. Stockholm and Helsinki also ranks among the top 10 by overall impact funding.
Total impact funding* (2017-H1 2023)

Stockholm $10B
London $10B
Paris $8B
Berlin $5B
Munich $3B

Early-stage impact funding (2017-H1 2023)

London $2B
Berlin $861M
Paris $803M
Stockholm $625M
Amsterdam $383M
Munich $368M

Amsterdam $2B
Tallinn $2B
Zurich $1B

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Helsinki $317M
Oslo $295M
Copenhagen $289M

Helsinki $1B

Rotterdam $251M

Oxford $1BBarcelona $218M

Source:Dealroom.co. *Cities include their respective metropolitan areas.

Stockholm is a major European impact tech hub, along with London and Paris.

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VC funding in Impact(2018 - 2023*)

VC funding in Impact(2023*)

Impact ecosystem value**

Stockholm$10.7B

$1.5B

$25B

205

5

London$10.4B

$1.6B

$35B

578

7

Paris

$7.8B

$0.8B

$42B

304

8

Berlin

$5.2B

$0.5B

$19B

275

7

$0.5B

$15B

Munich

$3.4B

Amsterdam

$2.4B

$0.2B

Tallinn

$2.2B

$0.1B

Zurich

$1.5B

$47M

Hamburg$1.2B

Helsinki$1.1B

Source:

$13B

$0.2B

103
185

Number of impact unicorns

4
2

51

1

$5B

67

1

$3B

79

1

$9B

$0.5B

Number of VC-backed
impact startups$5B

Dealroom.co. *2023 data up to 1st September 2023**Ecosystem value defined as the sum of all valuations of private and public startups. For private ones the last known disclosed or estimated valuation is used
Cities include their respective metropolitan areas.

151

0Stockholm impact ecosystem snapshot.
Stockholm is top impact hub in Europe*
Funding

Impact startups

$2.5B

+200

Impact funding in 2022

VC-backed impact startups

1st Hub by impact funding in 2021 ($4B)
1st Hub by impact funding 2017-2023 ($10B)
4th Hub by early-stage impact funding
2017-2023*

The Stockholm Business Alliance (SBA)
includes 55 municipalities in eight counties
to attract foreign investments andinternational companies to the region.

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Source:Greater Gothenburg and Greater Malmö
rank respectively 12th and 21st in total
impact funding from 2017-2023.
These cities are also the birthplaces of theunicorns BICO and Oatly.

Dealroom.co *Stockholm refers to Greater Stockholm, the city of Stockholm and surrounding municipalities. *Early-stage
Investments are defined by those with amounts up to $15M

Distribution of VC-backed impact startups in the
Stockholm Business Alliance
Number of VC-backed impact startups

2.

How did the Nordic impact ecosystem
perform amid the funding slowdown?

Impact funding reached
its peak in 2022 whenexcluding Northvolt.
2023 to fall short of 2021-2022
but higher than 2020.

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Impact, and climate tech, held on
better than the overall market in
the slowdown last year, both as
overall funding and early-stage.

Public valuation have fallen
and public listing has stopped,
while M&A still active.
No new unicorns in 2023, but
strong pipeline of future unicorns.

2021 was a record year
for the Nordic impact VC
funding, as 2022
reached the highest
investment mark, whenexcluding Northvolt
megarounds. 2023 isshowing significant
slowdown, projected at$2.4B

Yearly venture capital investment into Nordic impact startups▊Total impact (exc. Northvolt) ▊Northvolt

$5.5B
$5B

$4.3B
$4B

$3B

$2.4B
$1.8B

$2B

$2.0B

$1.2B
$1B

$61M
2013

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Source:Dealroom.co. *2023 data up to H1 2023

$92M

$165M $283M
2015

$438M

2017

View online »

$610M

2019

2021

2022

2023*

Nordics impact fundingis falling short of thelast two years in 2023,
but still projected to behigher than 2020 levels.

Cumulative impact VC funding in the Nordics▊2020 ▊2021 ▊2022 ▊2023

$5.5B
$5B

$4.3B
$4B

$3B

$2.0B

$2B

$1.2B
$1B

Jan

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Source:Dealroom.co

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Nearly 90% of impact
funding has been
directed to Climate techin the Nordics since2016.

Yearly venture capital investment into Nordics impact startups▊Climate tech ▊Rest of Impact
$5.5B

$5B

$4.3B
$4B

$3B

$2.4B

$2.0B
$1.8B

$2B

$1.2B
$1B

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Source:Dealroom.co. *Climate tech (aka Green Growth) refers tostartups specifically seeking to improve environmental
conditions as part of their main business activities,
therefore an environmentally-focused subset of Impact.
*2023 data up to H1 2023

$57M

$61M $92M $165M

2012

2014

$283M

$438M

2016

View online »

$610M

2018

2020

2022

2023*

Impact, and climate tech, held on better than the overall market in the slowdown last year,
overall funding in general and early-stage funding in particular.
Venture capital growth 2022 vs 2021 by industry in the Nordics
All funding

Early-stage only

Real estate

55%

Semiconductors

50%

Semiconductors

36%

Marketing32%

Transportation

31%

Health25%

Real estate

22%

Fintech18%

Climate tech

-19%

Energy-21%

Impact-23%

Fintech-34%

Education-39%

Transportation–44%

Health-47%

Telecom-52%

Climate tech-1%Marketing

-52%

Food

-14%

Fashion-58%

Education

-36%

Food

-60%

Fashion-46%-28% Total VC

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Source:Dealroom.co.

Energy5%

Total Impact

5%-21% Total VC

Public listed impact
tech company
valuations decreased
post-2021 in line withbroader public market
adjustment and have
yet to recover.

Combined enterprise value of Nordic impact startups▊Private ▊Public

$79B
$69B

$71B

$60B

The combined value ofprivate Nordic impact
tech companies has
kept growing, +37% in
the same period.

$47B

$24B
$7B
$12B
$1B
2013

Source:Source: Dealroom.co, created withdatawrapper. *2023 data up to H1 2023

$28B

$40B

$20B

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$28B

$2B

$2B
2015

$3B

$5B
2017

View online »

$8B

$32B

$41B

$44B

$17B

2019

2021

2023*

So far, 8 impact unicorns have been built in the Nordics, with two new unicorns in 2022.
Cumulative number of unicorns in the Nordics

Nordic impact unicorns▊Impact Unicorns ▊Non-impact Unicorns

56
50

40

30

20

**
8

10

8**
View online »2017

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Source:

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Dealroom.co. Methodology: https://dealroom.co/blog/what-is-a-unicorn.
*2023 data up to H1 2023**Polarium had achieved unicorn status in 2022, but its valuation has been reduced to less than $1B in August 2023.

2023*

A fast-growing pipeline of potential future impact unicorns is emerging in the Nordics.
Cumulative number of future unicorns in the Nordics*

Nordic impact future unicorns▊Impact Future Unicorns ▊Non-impact Future Unicorns

41
40
35
30
25

19

20
15
10
5

View online »2017

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Source:

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023**

Dealroom.co. *Future unicorns are not exited startups that received investments in the last 5 years and have a valuation from $250M-999M.
**2023 data up to H1 2023

M&A of Nordic impact companies remained active
in 2022-2023, while IPOs stopped after 2021.

Selected exits in 2022-2023

Startup

Number of impact startup exits in the Nordics▊M&A ▊IPO & SPAC

40

Exit

Focus

£90M Acquisition

Plastic recycling$66M Acquisition

EV charging$20M Acquisition

Climate Fintech

Und. Buyout+ €150M Growth Equity
round

Solar parks
developer

Und. Acquisition

Wind turbine
technology

Und. Acquisition

Robots for wastesorting

30

20

10

2016

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Source:

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Dealroom.co The stats include companies in the process of going public through SPAC.
*2023 data up to H1 2023

2022

2023*

View online »3.

Are impact nordic startups performing
better than the rest of startups?

Impact startups are more likely toconvert to Series A in the Nordics:
31% have raised a Series A
after 5 years versus 19% for
the rest of startups.

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Impact startups show better conversion
rates at all stages. The gap even widens atlater stages with 2x more conversion to
Series B and 2.3x at Series C.

Nordics impact startups raise bigger
rounds at all stages, with the gap
increasing at later stages and especially
Series C.

Impact startups are
more likely to convert
to Series A in theNordics.

Conversion to Series A by time elapsed since Seed round (2014-2018 seed cohort)▊All Nordics ▊Nordics Impact

31% of Seed-funded
impact startups haveraised a Series A after 5
years vs. 19% for all
Seed startups.

31%
25%

16%
13%
11%
6%
4%

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Source:Dealroom.co

27%

17%

19%

Impact startups show
better conversion rates
at all stages.
The toughest conversion is the Seedto Series A, where impact startups
outperform 35% the benchmark in
the Nordics.

Conversion rates (2012-2021 seed cohort)▊All Nordics ▊Nordics Impact

100%

The gap even widens at later stages
with 2x more conversion to Series B
and 2.3x at Series C.
The analysis has been carried out on startups
raising their seed round in 2012-2021, so somerecent seed rounds did not have the time toconvert to Series B and C.

31%
23%

20%
10%

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Source:Dealroom.co

16%7%

Nordics impact startups
raise bigger rounds at
all stages, with the gap
increasing at laterstages and especially
Series C.

Median round size (2014-2022)▊All Nordics ▊Nordics Impact

$40M

$30M

$20M

$10M

Seed

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Source:Dealroom.co

Series A

Series B

Series C

4.

How is the geography of the impact
ecosystem in the Nordic countries?

Sweden has consistently
attracted over 50% of total andearly-stage Nordics Impact
funding.

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Sweden and Norway are the mostimpact-focused ecosystems among
the Nordic nations.

Nordic impact tech ecosystem in numbers.
Ecosystem Value

Impact Overview

$71B

$4.3B

Ecosystem value - 2023

Impact funding in 2022

$71B

NOW
2018

$8B

2022 Impact VC funding

Iceland

2.25x

$13M

Norway$594M

higher than in 2020

41%

Impact Unicorns

$4B

8*

Climate tech funding in 2022

Unicorns$382M

Denmark$276M

1.3x
higher than in 2020

$66B
Ecosystem value in 2023

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Source:Dealroom.co*Polarium had achieved unicorn status in 2022, but its valuation has been reduced to less than $1B in Aug 2023. The numberof unicorns would then be 7.

$3B

Finlandof all VC funding in 2022

Climate Tech Ecosystem

SwedenSweden is the leading country for impact investment in the Nordics.
Share of impact funding in the nordics by country (all-stages)

Share of impact funding in the nordics by country (Early-stage)▊Sweden ▊Norway ▊Denmark ▊Finland ▊Iceland▊Sweden ▊Norway ▊Denmark ▊Finland ▊Iceland

100%

100%

80

80

60

60

40

40

20

20

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2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Source:Dealroom.co. Early-stage Investments are defined by those with amounts up to $15M.
*2023 data up to H1 2023

2023*

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023*

Sweden and Norway
are the mostimpact-focused
ecosystems among
the Nordic nations.

Impact investment as a percentage of total VC funding▊Sweden ▊Norway ▊Finland ▊Denmark ▊Iceland

53% Norway
50%

49% Sweden
45
40
35
30

28% Finland
25

19% Iceland20

19% Denmark

15
10
5

2016

Page / 29

Source:Dealroom.co. *2023 data up to H1 2023

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023*

5.

Who are the key enablers of the impact
ecosystem in the Nordics?

Domestic and European investors
play a vital role in theNordics ecosystem, contributing
over 70% of capital into
Nordics-based impact startups
over the last five years.

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Venture Capital account formost of the funding (38%) in
Nordics impact startups since 2020,
followed by corporates (26%) and PE& Asset managers.

Many of the most active domestic
VCs in the Nordics are state-aﬀiliate.
Nordic Impact startups
have also raised over $7.6B in
non-dilutive capital such as debt
and grants since 2018.

Domestic and European investors play a vitalrole in the Nordics ecosystem, contributing over
70% of capital into Nordics-based impact
startups over the last five years.

1000+ Nordics investors with at least
1 impact investment

VC funding by investor HQ location▊Domestic ▊European ▊USA ▊Asia ▊Rest of the World

2017

Page / 31

Source:

2018

2019

Dealroom.co. *2023 data up to H1 2023

2020

2021

2022

2023*

View online »Venture Capital investors account for the largest
share of Nordics impact investment, followed bycorporates and PE & Asset managers.

Selected Nordic Impact investors by type
Venture Capital
Impact VCs

Source of investment in Nordic Impact startups (2020-H1 2023)

Nordic state-aﬀiliated VCs

6%
7%▊Others

Generalist VCs▊Angel38%

17%▊Venture Capital▊Assets managers

Corporate & CVCs

and other investors

6%

Other

▊Private equity

26%▊Corporate

Page / 32

Source:Dealroom.co. *Other investor type includes all other investor types.
**Angel investor type includes Angel and Angel funds.

There is strong public support for Impact and Climate Tech in the Nordics.
Domestic

Page / 33

EuropeSwedenNorwayFinlandDenmark

Source:Dealroom.co.

Beyond equity, Nordic impact startups are tapping into vast amounts of non-dilutive capital,such as debt and grants.
Largest debt and grand financing to Nordic Impact
startups (2022-2023)

Debt and grant funding to Nordic Impact startups▊Debt ▊Grant$3.5B debt

$1.6B debt

2016

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Source:

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023*

Dealroom.co. *2023 data up to H1 2023 The stats above include explicitly labelled debt. Convertible are included in VC
equity financing stats instead. Some late-stage VC financing labeled in Dealroom as “growth equity” might included
undisclosed an debt portion, this is not added as estimation here in the scope of this report.

View more »5.

What is the role of the Nordics in the
climate transition?

The nordics are leaders in climate tech,attracting 30% of European funding
in the segment.
Climate tech in the Nordics issignificantly B2B and manufacturing
oriented.

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Transportation & Energy have been
dominating the climate tech scene in theNordics in the last years, especiallyelectric vehicles mobility.

New segments have emerged such as blue
economy, alternative proteins and carbon
capture & storage.
The nordics over index in blue economy
and carbon tech funding compared to therest of Europe.

The Nordics investment into climate tech represents almost a third of the entire European VC
Investment.
Nordics share of climate tech investment (2015-2023*)

Climate Tech VC Investment Nordics vs Europe▊Rest of Europe ▊Nordics
annualized projection based on H1
reported VC activity

30%▊Nordics$4B$15.0B$13.6B$10.0B

$16B
$1.1B
$5.0B

$5.7B

70%
▊Rest of Europe

2015

Page / 36

Source:

2016

2017

2018

Dealroom.co. *2023 data up to H1 2023

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023*

The climate tech market in the Nordics is dominated by B2B players.

Smaller domestic consumer market

More focus on B2B models

The Nordic regionʼs GDP per capita is bigger than any other EU
country and almost twice the average of all countries in theEuropean Union. The Nordic countries represents about 5% of
the total population in the European Union but deliver almost
10%
of
the
total
GDP.

The small consumer market has led to an enhanced
development of the B2B counterpart in the Nordics. This trend
is also reiterated in the climate tech space, with B2B sharesreaching 86%, 13 points higher than the European average.
Climate tech funding by business model (2022- H1 2023)

Nordic share of European total

100%

10%

5%

▊B2C

50%

73%

Population

Page / 37

Source:Dealroom.co

GDPEurope86%

Nordics▊B2B

Capital-intensive
manufacturing startups
raise more investment
than SaaS andmarketplaces model
counterparts among
Nordics Climate Techstartups.

Nordics Climate Tech VC funding by business model▊Ecommerce ▊Saas ▊Manufacturing (excl. Northvolt) ▊Northvolt

$5.0B

$4.0B
$4.0B

$2.0B

$1.7B

$1.7B
$1.2B

$296M
2017

Page / 38

Source:Dealroom.co *2023 data up to H1 2023

$391M

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

We analyzed seven key clusters of focus for climate tech startups in the Nordics.

EnergyTransport & mobility

Tot. funding: $4.1B since 2020
Renewable energy production,
smart- and micro grids,
power-to-X, energy storage andenergy eﬀiciency software.

Tot. funding: $7.6B since 2020
Manufacturing of electricvehicles, EV batteries andcharging stations for private andpublic transportation; automatedor hyper-eﬀicient monitoring
systems, smart mobility andmicro-mobility.

Blue Economy
Tot. funding: $0.6B since 2020
Sustainable marine transportation,
marine energy, oﬀshore renewables,
carbon capture, sustainableaquaculture, marine biodiversity.

Page / 39

Manufacturing &Circular Economy

Buildings &Infrastructure

Tot. funding: $1.2B since 2020
Sustainable production novel andsustainable resources, packaging
materials with enhanced
properties, fibers & technologies
to obtain them.

Tot. funding: $0.9B since 2020
Novel technologies (software,
hardware & materials) & businessmodels in construction & realestateCarbonTot. funding: $0.5B since 2020
Carbon capture and storage (CCS),
carbon removal, carbon utilization,
carbon tracking and oﬀset.

Dealroom.co
Companies addressing more than one cluster are counted in all clusters they address. Total funding data covers the 2020 to H1 2023 time-frame.

Food & Land Use
Tot. funding: $1.2B since 2020
Sustainable agtech technologies,
including land optimization,
biodiversity, food production;
sustainable food technologies
including food waste
management and alternative
protein.

Transportation & Energy have been dominating the climate tech scene in the Nordics in thelast years. Carbon and blue economy are emerging strongly in 2022-2023.
Total amount of climate tech investment per cluster(2020-2023*)

Investment in Climate Tech per cluster in the Nordics▊Transportation ▊Energy ▊Food ▊Buildings▊Circular Economy ▊Carbon ▊Blue economy

Transportationand mobility$7.6B

Energy$4.1B

Circular Economy$1.2B

Food and Land

$1.2B

Buildings andInfrastructure

Page / 40

$0.9B

$0.9B

Blue Economy$0.6B

Carbon$0.5B

Source:

$0.6B

$0.5B

2020

Dealroom.co *2023 data up to H1 2023. There are often overlaps between diﬀerent Climate Tech clusters such as residential solar panels (both energy
and buildings). We tried to minimize the overlap, in particular assigning electric mobility startups (especially EV battery such as Northvolt, or EV charging
such as Virta) only to the transportation cluster and not to the energy one. This is diﬀerent from past editions of the report.

2021

2022

2023*

The Nordics, especially Sweden and Norway, are leading the EV transition in Europe.
Share of battery-only electric passenger cars

VC investment in European Electric mobility
startups by country (2018 - H1 2023)

among newly registered passenger cars (2022)*
NorwaySwedenIcelandNetherlands
Denmark
Switzerland
FinlandGermany
UK
Austria
EuropeSpain
Italy
PolandGreece

79%
33%
31%
24%
21%
18%
18%
18%
17%
16%
12%
4%
4%
3%
3%

Nordic countries lead in EV adoption with all 5 nordic
countries among the top 7 countries for share of new EV sales

Page / 41

Source:Dealroom.co. *ACEA (2022)

Sweden$7.08B

United Kingdom$3.1B

Germany$1.5B

France$1.1B

Croatia$849M

Netherlands$804M

Norway$418MBelgium$206M

Portugal

$165M

Spain

$142M

Sweden has been the top country by VC funding in electric
mobility. Norway also come as 7th country in Europe.

The Nordics invest three times more than the European average in the blue economy.
Blue Economy share of VC funding in the Nordics vs Europe(2019-H1 2023)

Notable rounds in blue startups in the Nordics in
2022-2023

1.5%

0.5%

EuropePage / 42

Source:Dealroom.co

Nordics

View
Viewonline
more »»

Carbon Tech VC funding in the Nordics is on
track for its most active year, with $118M in H1
2023, projected to grow nearly 30x since 2020.

Discover 50+ Carbon Tech startups in the Nordics

VC funding for Carbon Tech startups in the Nordics** »View online
Projected amount

$236M

$118M

View online »Page / 43

Source:Dealroom.co. *2023 data up to H1 2023 **Carbon Tech defined here as startups on carbon
removal, carbon capture and storage, carbon utilisation, and carbon oﬀsetting.

6.

Are Nordics Impact startups animportant job creation engine?
REPORT

1 in 7 startup jobs in the Nordics
are today at impact companies.
Impact startups are second only to
Healthtech for total employment.

Transportation, Energy and Healthtech
have been dominating jobs creation at
Nordics Impact startups.
Further insights in theNordic jobs report

Page / 44

Jobs at Nordic startups (2023*)

4K

Healthtech

Impact startups are amajor employer in theNordics – placed second
overall only behind
Healthtech.

28K

ImpactEnergy (excl. Climate Tech)

13K

FintechEnterprise Software
Gaming & Marketing
Food

3K

Transportation
e-CommerceReal Estate

2K

Robotics
TravelAll other industries

Page / 45

Source:Dealroom.co. Dataset: 1160 impact companies. 27.8K jobs in the Nordics. *2023 data up to H1 2023
* jobs at impact startups are subtracted from the total count of their original industries to prevent double counting.
Check the full Nordic Nordic Startup Employment 2023 for more insights.

1 in 7 startup jobs in the Nordics are at impact startups.

8K+ job creating startups in
the Nordics
340K jobs globally
200K jobs locally▉ 1.1K impact startups in this analysis
1.8K Nordic impact startups » view online

Selected Nordic impact startups
currently hiring

Nordic impact startups support 45k jobs
globally, of which 28K (60%) are located in
Nordic countries.

1.1K impact startups
45K jobs globally
28K impact jobs locally

86% of impact jobs are created byearly-stage startups and rising scaleups.
Larger nordic impact scaleups andgrownups (below) support just 1 in 7 impact
jobs.

Top 10 biggest impact startups
14% of Impact jobs
Browse job openings
at Nordic impact
startups on
Dealroom.co

Page / 46

Source:Dealroom.co
Check the full Nordic Nordic Startup Employment 2023 for more insights.

» Explore more

2.9k

Nordic impact startups
support 45K+ jobs
globally, including 28K
jobs in Nordic
countries.

1.1K+ Nordic impact startups
support 45K jobs globally.

Health7.4k jobs

Food
Energy & Climate Tech startups
contribute the largest share of jobs
within the impact ecosystem.
Impact startups are younger on averageand develop technologies and products
locally, leveraging a large and adequate
talent pool in the Nordics to support
their growth. As a result, 63%, or over
28K jobs created by impact startups are
based in the Nordics, a higher proportionof local jobs than non-impact startups(53%).

Page / 47

Source:Dealroom.co. Dataset: 1160 impact companies. 28K jobs in Nordics in 2023 H1.
Check the full Nordic Nordic Startup Employment 2023

6.4k jobs

Energy23.2k jobs

All other industries

7.2k jobs
Electric Mobility

10k jobs
Transportation

Real Estate

12k jobs

2.3k jobs

7.

Are impact startups more gender diverse?
How do the Nordics compare withthe rest of Europe?

Impact scaleups in the Nordics are moregender diverse than non-impact ones.
16% of impact ones have at least 1 female
founder in the founding team, compared
to 10.5% for non-impact startups.

Page / 48

Impact scaleups in the Nordics
are less gender diverse than their
European peers.
16% of impact ones have at least 1 female
founder in the founding team, compared
to 10.5% of non-impact startups.

Impact scaleups in the Nordics are more gender diverse than non-impact ones.
Nordic non-impact scaleups by founders gender

Nordic impact scaleups by founders gender

16%

10.5%

▊Gender diverse▊Gender diverse

84%
Male only

89.5%
Male only

16% of impact ones have at least 1 female founder in the founding team, compared to 10.5% of non-impact startups.

Page / 49

Source:Dealroom.co A scaleup, as defined by Dealroom, is a company designed to grow fast with a VC-backable business model, ateam of 50 to 500 employees, and founded in or after 1990. The study analyses only companies that received funding(venture capital, private equity or grant) or have exited (M&A, IPO) in the last five years.

Impact scaleups in the Nordics are less gender diverse than their European peers.
Impact scaleups Rest of Europe by founders gender

Nordic impact scaleups by founders gender

16%

21%

▊Gender diverse▊Gender diverse

84%
Male only

79%
Male only

16% of nordics ones have at least 1 female founder in the founding team, compared to 21% in the rest of Europe.

Page / 50

Source:Dealroom.co A scaleup, as defined by Dealroom, is a company designed to grow fast with a VC-backable business model, ateam of 50 to 500 employees, and founded in or after 1990. The study analyses only companies that received funding(venture capital, private equity or grant) or have exited (M&A, IPO) in the last five years.

Methodology & definitions.
Venture Capital, Investors

Sectors & Industries

Underlying Data

Investment numbers refer to rounds such as Seed,
Series A, B, C, … late stage, and growth equity
rounds. VC investment figures exclude debt or othernon-equity funding, lending capital, grants and
ICOs. Investment rounds are sourced from public
disclosures including press releases, news, filingsand (verified) user-submitted information.

Industry classification follows Dealroomʼs
proprietary taxonomy, which was built specificallyfor startups. A given startup may belong to up to
two industries.

Dealroomʼs proprietary database and software
aggregate data from multiple sources: harvesting
public information, user-submitted data verified by
Dealroom, data engineering. All data is verified andcurated with an extensive manual process.

Glossary & Definitions

Most underlying data from the report is available
online via impact.dealroom.co

When startups are successful, they develop intoscaleups (>50 people), grownups (>500 people) andresult in big companies, like Kry or Northvolt.
In this report, the term “tech ecosystem” refers tostartups, scaleups grownups from diﬀerent
vintages/cohorts. Only companies founded after
1990 are included in this report.

Valuation
The combined valuation of the tech ecosystem isbased on their market cap or latest transaction
value.
Transaction value is realized from exit or implied
unrealised valuation from the latest VC round, which
is either announced or estimated by Dealroom
based on benchmarks.

The data on which this report builds is available on app.dealroom.co.
For more info please visit dealroom.co or contact support@dealroom.co.

Page / 51

Source: Dealroom.co

Explore the impact ecosystem

Glossary.
What is a startup?
by Dealroom.co
What is an impact startup?
A startup company that addresses one or more of the UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) at the core of its business. Our litmus test: If you
remove the impact you also remove the business.
Within the context of the EU Sustainable Finance package, the report focuses oncompanies and products with “environmental objectives”, as in Article 9 in the
EU Sustainable Finance Regulation, and those that significantly contribute to asustainability objective in the EU taxonomy.

What is a Climate Tech startup?
Climate Tech is a subset of impact startups. They not only addresses SDGs ingeneral, but in particular seeks to improve environmental conditions as part ofits main business activities. In other words, the more a Climate Tech company
scales, the more environmental parameters should improve. This may bethrough the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, resource consumption,
and/or through regenerative practices that lead to gradual restoration ofdamaged ecosystems.

Page / 52

Source: Dealroom.co

What is a Deep Tech startup?
Deep Tech includes startups working on innovative technologies that are closely
linked to the frontiers of science and engineering. These companies inherently
take on risk relating to the feasibility of their technologies (R&D risk), as well as
the risk in proving market demand for the product which has likely not been
seen before in the market (Product/Market fit risk). Deep Tech startups often
start with an extended R&D phase, have a higher share of technical staﬀ andinvolve hardware and/or IP.

More on Deep Tech
by Dealroom.co
What is an impact Deep Tech startup?
An impact Deep Tech company fits both the criteria for being an impact startup
and a deep tech startup.

What is a Climate Tech x Deep Tech startup?
A Climate Tech x Deep Tech company qualifies for being both a Climate Techstartup and a Deep Tech startup.

Impact and SDGs.

Impactaka Tech for Good, double bottom
line, triple bottom line, purpose andprofitClimate techaka Green Growth,
Greentech, Cleantech

Page / 53

Source:Dealroom.co

Doing goodby addressing one or more UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs)
at the core of its business and the potential to scale.
Social-impact: SDG 1, 4, 8, 16
Diversity and equality: 5, 10
Health & quality of life: 2, 3, 6, 11

Doing environmental goodby addressing one or more environmentally focused UN Sustainable
Development Goal (SDGs) at the core of its business and the potential to scale.
Environmentally focused SDGs: 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Sometimes also SDGs 2, 6, 9, 11 can focus on the environment and fall into
Climate Tech.