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.
Open letter from Norrsken VC, Norrsken Launcher and Norrsken Accelerator:
We’re living through the most profound shift since the Industrial Revolution. But this time, the engine of change isn’t steam. It’s godlike intelligence. Artificial intelligence is the most powerful tool humanity has ever created. Yet, so far, we are mainly using it to optimize clicks and automate emails. Helpful, yes. But we’ve barely scratched the surface of what this technology can do. AI is not just another productivity boost; it’s a real chance to fix what truly matters.
In 2024 alone, AI startups attracted over $110 billion in VC funding, accounting for approximately one-third of all global VC investments. It’s one of the most aggressive capital flows we’ve seen into any tech wave, ever. The message is clear: investors believe AI will reshape the world.
But most of this capital is chasing the same old playbook of productivity growth and convenience. Meanwhile, the real opportunity is sitting wide open: using AI to solve the world’s most urgent challenges.
The investors at Norrsken’s funds have lived through multiple waves of technological revolutions. From the internet boom to the app era, the rise of SaaS, climate tech, and now AI. And one pattern always holds: we overestimate the short-term hype but underestimate the long-term impact.
Right now, we’re in a full-blown AI gold rush. But if history repeats itself, 80% of today’s AI startups will disappear. The other 20% are the ones solving real problems. Not building incremental tools, but using AI to fix broken systems, meet fundamental needs, and reshape industries with deep, lasting demand.
The biggest returns come from fixing the biggest problems
AI has placed godlike power at our fingertips. The question is what we choose to do with it. The world doesn’t need another sales agent. We need bigger prompts.
Until recently, most global challenges were simply too complex, fragmented, or expensive to solve. But recent breakthroughs have changed the equation. AI can now optimise entire energy systems, accelerate drug discovery, detect diseases earlier, and decode biology faster than ever. It can power precision agriculture and dramatically reduce food waste. Imagine what 100 million virtual healthcare workers could do for overstretched health systems – or what new, AI-discovered materials could mean for net-zero construction.
AI’s potential to unlock more scalable, personalised, and sustainable solutions is only starting to unfold. Startups like Juna.ai are giving heavy industry a radically lighter footprint by making factories operate at maximum efficiency. Quadrivia is fixing the broken healthcare system with AI-powered clinical assistants that free up time for overburdened medical professionals, without needing to hire at an impossible scale. And technologies like Submer’s and Evroc’s are slashing emissions from the energy-hungry infrastructure powering the AI revolution.
These are not edge cases, but edge markets ready to explode. The most valuable companies are the ones that solve what truly matters. And no other problems are as massive, or as urgent to address, as these. Clean energy, healthcare, education, and food systems – the first trillion-euro companies will be built by problem engineers solving global challenges at scale.
€300 million investment commitment to AI for good
The Industrial Revolution brought explosive economic growth, but it also laid the foundation for the environmental crises we face today. We can’t afford to make the same mistake twice. Let’s not move fast and break things this time. Let’s move fast and fix things.
That’s why we’re committing €300 million from our Norrsken VC, Norrsken Launcher and Norrsken Accelerator funds to European startups using AI for good: to solve challenges in climate, health, food, education, and society. Problems that once felt out of reach. Problems that are now fixable.
This is a historic moment for innovation. Let’s make sure we prompt what actually matters.
