Ideon Science Park at Sveriges Innovationsriksdag (SIR)/Science Week
At a high-level panel hosted by SISP, with Stina Lantz (CEO, SISP) and Robert Kingfors (CEO, Södertälje Science Park), the conversation centered on one of Sweden’s biggest challenges: how to secure sustainable innovation financing to ensure startups can grow and stay competitive in a global market.
Södertälje, home to both major manufacturing industries and a vibrant startup scene, set the backdrop for the discussion.
Companies are leaving the EU in search of capital, particularly in Asia and the U.S.
“We’re losing companies outside Europe. The capital doesn’t reach all the way in the large rounds,” one speaker summarized.
What Sweden Lacks: Curious Customers and Risk Appetite
The panel, which included Lissa Raasakka (Head of the EIB Group office in Sweden, European Investment Bank), David Sonnek (CEO, Navigare Ventures), Henrik Jonsson, Mala Valroy (Deep Tech Investment Manager), and Magnus Skåninger (CEO, Saminvest) agreed on one key barrier: Sweden lacks strong customer demand to drive commercialization.
“We miss customers who push for commercialization, especially large, curious organizations. Right now, we don’t have enough big companies willing to take that role,” said one panelist.
There was a shared critique of Sweden’s industrial culture:
“We talk a lot about innovation, but we’re industrially boring. We’re not good at procuring breakthrough technology. Sweden has great listed companies, but they’re populated by controllers. Disruptive innovation rarely emerges in those environments.”
Turbine Capital: A New Model for Deep Tech
Pär Hedberg, founder of Turbine Capital, presented a new initiative: a multi-corporate CVC fund created with Saminvest.
The fund acts like a power supplier for large companies, feeding them deep tech startups. We’ve connected with six university-affiliated incubators, including Ideon Science Park and Minc. All startups go into a shared database where corporates can sort and identify relevant opportunities.”
The aim is to strengthen commercialization and create a better flow between startups and corporates.
European corporates buy too little innovation. We hope Turbine Capital can be part of changing that.”
The Capital Gap
Despite Sweden’s impressive track record, the highest number of unicorns per capita, most patents per capita, and a highly educated workforce, funding remains a bottleneck.
Henrik Jonsson (Almi Invest) highlighted the state’s contribution:
We’ve invested 4 billion SEK in 800 startups over 15 years. But we’re small compared to Asia and the U.S. Our VC funds are too small, and many companies end up going to the U.S. for their larger rounds.”
The “Series A and B gap” was a recurring theme. As one panelist put it:
We are anorexic compared to Asia and the U.S. The money simply isn’t enough.”
European Solutions and Slow Progress
Lissa Raasakka (EIB) explained and introduced the new venture debt model, where five-year loans with equity kickers are tied to milestones. However, only 2–3 such deals are made per year in Sweden.
The money doesn’t stretch far enough. Things are happening at the European Commission level, but it goes too slowly,” one panelist warned.
David Sonnek took a more optimistic view:
Now something is happening, because we have the knife at our throat. But we must ask ourselves: why is the first customer for our startups almost always American?”
What Needs to Change?
Panelists suggested several concrete actions to strengthen Sweden’s innovation ecosystem:
- More capital for later stages (Series A and B).
- Nordic or European fund-of-funds to pool resources and attract pension capital.
- A national promotional bank, similar to other EU countries, to provide risk capital.
- Procurement reform so public sector organizations can act as demanding customers again.
- Targeted commercialization funding to transform research into ventures, not just papers.
It won’t help to just pour more money into research. We must put more energy and resources into transforming research into commercial businesses,” said Pär Hedberg.
The panel closed with a reminder: Sweden’s strengths are real, but without bold capital strategies and curious customers, the innovation pipeline risks stalling.
We need a European market, and we need to remove regulatory barriers. Otherwise, we will continue to lose ground,” one participant concluded.
