2022 holds significant highlights for Northzone. For one, we raised €1bn to invest in the next generation of changemakers from Seed to Growth, becoming a full-stack investor with transatlantic hubs, out of New York, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Stockholm. This milestone has encouraged us to reflect on our 27 years and how we’ve grown.
Many of our portfolio companies have had meritorious achievements this year, such as Klarna, coming out stronger through turbulent times and pulling out one of its biggest fundraises so far. And category-defining leaders Einride, Anyfin, Homa or Personio also raised significant amounts of capital during one of the most challenging fundraising climates. We have also welcomed new portfolio companies: Ravio, Dalma, Sunscreen, Defacto, Katana, Holidu, and Idoven, to name a few, across health tech, B2B, Web 3.0, manufacturing software, and more. And as we dive into the challenging times ahead, we’re grateful to be in a position to act on the opportunities to come with a new fund.
WHAT LIES AHEAD?
We believe spectacular failures of some highly valued unicorn companies are yet to happen. The lingering uncertainty can be daunting with a recession already in the midst. But many entrepreneurs will seize the opportunity to create valuable products and services for businesses and consumers. Fundraising will stay the top priority for our founders despite capital markets being tough to navigate. In our annual survey to founders, right after fundraising, entrepreneurs are focusing on how to retain and attract top talent.
We will see massive shifts in different sectors. Many we are excited about, including generative AI, but also powerful newcomers in the PoS market, with payment service providers challenging the legacy of incumbents, to name only a few of the spaces we’re looking forward to. New opportunities will also arise in the clean tech industry, health tech, and within the cellular agriculture industry, DER ecosystem, logistics, and e-commerce universe.
TEAM UPDATES FROM THE NORTHZONE SHORES
In the Investment team, we’ve kicked the new year off by announcing three well-deserved promotions, from Vice President to Principal:
Deepka Rana, who joined our London office in 2019, has become a core part of our UK presence. Throughout her time at Northzone, she has been instrumental in winning deals such as Katana, Yonder Benefits and Infogrid. Markus Gleim joined us in 2019 and has been leading our efforts across the German-speaking market. His contribution has proven essential for our investments in teams such as Ravio and Stonly. Initially based out of our Stockholm office, he relocated to Berlin in 2021 to expand our reach in the ecosystem and work closely with the local founder community. Finally, Maxine Rior, based in our Stockholm office, joined Northzone in 2020 and has proven her investor talent with deals such as Homa, Dalma, and Holidu while being a key driver in building up our presence in France.
We’ve welcomed Pieter-Jan Van Haute into our investment team, who joins us from EQT Partners to fill a new role as Chief of Staff to our partner, Michiel. And as we continue to grow, we are also excited to announce other promotions and recent hires into our broader team: Tom McGinn was promoted to General Counsel, further strengthening our legal offering to founders. We also welcomed Anna Skarborg as Head of Sustainability and Theo Weir as Fund Accountant joining the finance team. More recently, Dennis Eriksson joined as Talent Lead, and Aitana Giebels van Bekestein as Content and Events Manager in the marketing team.
We’re excited and ready to delve into the opportunities that lie ahead in 2023!