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Welcome to our 2024 Impact Report – a look at what our portfolio companies have done to move the needle. This year’s edition highlights the grit, progress and potential of impact startups in a world that feels anything but predictable. It’s a snapshot of where we are, what we’ve learned, and why we believe the case for impact has never been stronger.
With 2025 drawing to a close, we’re looking back at a year that pushed boundaries and raised the bar for what impact investing can deliver. There were headwinds, big wins and real-world outcomes – and together, they leave us feeling genuinely optimistic about what’s next.
A Quiet Rebound for Impact
After a rocky few years, impact tech is finding its footing again — this time thanks to fundamentals, not fanfare. Early 2025 marked a milestone: renewable electricity overtook coal globally for the first time and is on track to become the world’s biggest energy source by 2026. The benefits are already landing in the real world through lower operating costs and smaller energy bills.
But the rebound doesn’t stop at energy. Precision technologies are speeding up transformations across healthcare, industry and beyond. Healthcare is finally breaking out of its long productivity slump thanks to AI, becoming one of Europe’s most funded sectors. Heavy industry is stepping into its optimisation decade, unlocking huge efficiency and emissions wins through real-time insights.
These shifts are setting the tone for how the global economy will evolve in the decades ahead.
We Haven’t Been Sitting Still
As these technologies accelerate, we’ve kept our focus on backing the category winners — investing in seven standout companies in 2025:
Ankar: Reinventing how innovation is generated and protected, building the first AI-powered operating system for the entire patent lifecycle.
Aerska: Preventing brain disease before it starts through RNAi therapies designed to silence harmful genes.
Sava: Delivering pain-free, affordable glucose monitoring with the world’s first multi-molecule biosensor.
Biorce: Cutting clinical trial timelines by up to 50% with an AI-native platform that eliminates costly bottlenecks.
Endra: Boosting building-design productivity by 70x with the world’s first generative AI platform for MEP systems.
Trawa: Helping SMEs cut costs and carbon with AI-powered energy infrastructure built for Europe’s shifting grid.
Karman+: Sourcing water and metals from near-Earth asteroids to build a self-sustaining space economy.
And yes… we made a few more investments we can’t talk about just yet.
Follow us on LinkedIn — you won’t miss a thing.
Impact in Numbers
We published our 2024 Impact Report, and the numbers speak for themselves:
- 125% of annual impact targets reached (Fund II)
- 230% of long-term targets hit (Fund I)
- 304 new jobs created in a tough tech market
- 3× higher female board representation than the European startup average
To make impact reporting easier for everyone, we open-sourced our full toolbox — frameworks, templates, and guides, all free to use.
Optimism in the Air
We launched the first European Impact Index, surveying 660+ founders and investors across the continent. The takeaway? Momentum is building.
- 6 out of 10 now say the outlook for impact companies is favorable.
- 75% of investors expect to increase their impact allocations over the next five years.
- And the hottest sectors are Energy, Industrials and Healthcare — where profit and purpose now reinforce each other.
Prompt What Matters
AI investment has exploded — it’s one of the fastest capital surges in tech history. But while much of it is chasing productivity apps, we’re laser-focused on something bigger: using AI to solve real problems.
Together with the broader Norrsken ecosystem, we committed €300 million to European startups using AI for good across climate, health, food, education and society. Problems that used to feel impossible now look surprisingly solvable.
We also hosted the world’s largest Fixathon, spanning Stockholm, San Francisco, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Kigali.
Winners announced soon.
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Building Bridges in Brussels
Europe is shaping its own future, but innovation and regulation need to move in sync. Founders must understand what’s coming; policymakers must see the potential of the solutions being built.
That’s why we opened Norrsken Brussels, right next to the European Parliament. It’s quickly become a meeting point for EU decision-makers and frontier founders — and a space where better alignment is already taking shape.
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Impact Week 2025: A Global Community Growing Stronger
Impact Week came back bigger, brighter and more international than ever, bringing 1,500+ investors, founders and operators to Norrsken House Barcelona.
We also hosted the fourth edition of Impact/Return, our annual gathering of leading LPs and GPs. What started as a small side event has become the go-to forum for sharp insights, candid conversations and honest debate about the future of impact investing.
With 300+ investors, four stages and over 50 speakers, this year covered everything from fundraising realities to unlocking systemic change — and brought an energy we’re still feeling.
Looking Ahead
The post-2021 cooldown was real — funding in Europe dropped, and sentiment followed suit. But like every breakthrough sector, impact tech moves in cycles: the hype, the pullback, and then the moment when the real stuff starts to break through.
That moment is here. Global green-tech investment in 2025 has surpassed all of 2024, and the cost curves behind the transition are accelerating faster than expected. For investors, this is a defining window. Those distracted by the noise risk missing some of the most compelling opportunities of the decade.
We’re just getting started.
