Norrsken has entered the East African startup market. The foundation is now open for startups and ventures in East Africa to have access to investment as well as mentorship for their businesses.
Nature and The Size of Norrsken’s Fund
Originally from Sweden, Norrsken Foundation is a coworking space and investment fund based in Stockholm. The new tech fund and entrepreneurship hub opened today in Rwanda will support ventures across the region.
- Norrsken’s location in Kigali, Rwanda is former École Belge campus. The startup will be making seed investments of between $25K to $100K for early-stage startups in all sectors starting this year, Norrsken CEO Erik Engellau-Nilsson said in a press release.
- However, Norrsken’s size is still being determined and Norrsken Kigali will extend the fund to larger series-stage investments from $100K to $1 million in the future.
- Norrsken’s foundation’s move into Rwanda is strongly connected to the organization’s focus on the power of tech entrepreneurs to solve problems and generate capacity.
“We believe the single most important thing we can do here is to help people get wealthy, because if that happens, more investors will start to look at this region and see there are business opportunities and bring more capital,” said Engellau-Nilsson.
“The aim is to build the biggest hub for entrepreneurship in East Africa.
Startups that receive Norrsken funding from its Kigali center will receive mentorship and support of the overall Norrsken organization and network. That includes unicorn founders, leading tech founders, and developers. We also look to expand that network to local accelerators and incubators.” said Engellau-Nilsson.
Why This Launch Is Important For East African Startups
This launch of Norrsken’s Kigali center is so important and significant for startups in East Africa because this is Norrsken’s first launch outside of Sweden. The organization is hoping to open up 25 markets globally over the next decade.
Formed in 2016 by Niklas Adalberth, the founder of Swedish payments solutions unicorn Klarna, Norrsken aims to support impact-driven, early-stage ventures. Engellau-Nilsson was an executive with Adalberth at Klarna from 2013 to 2017.
“We wanted to use our experience and tech to solve real problems instead of finding another way to do things like deliver burrito’s faster,” said Engellau-Nilsson.
Norrsken has already invested in 17 ventures, including three Africa-focused startups- agtech company Wefarm, digital publisher Kognity, and weather forecasting firm Ignitia. Over 340 entrepreneurs and 120 companies currently work out of Norrsken’s Stockholm location.
Why Rwanda?
Norrsken said it chose Rwanda as the base for its East Africa because of the country’s progress over the last decade on infrastructure, increasing internet penetration and improvement in its business environment.
Rwanda’s ease of doing business has significantly improved in 2019. The country ranked higher than any African country on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business list — 29th, even before Spain.
Even with a relatively small population (12 million) and tech scene, the government of Rwanda has prioritized tech events and development in the country. This includes becoming a leader on drone delivery and regulatory systems, working most notably with San Francisco based UAV startup Zipline.
Of the East African countries from which Norrksen will source investments, Kenya stands out as one of the continent’s top hubs for tech startup formation, VC, and exits.
How To Pitch For Norrsken’s New Fund
Startups or ventures in East Africa desiring to pitch for Norrsken’s new fund may do by clicking the informational and contact link Norrsken posted for its Rwanda hub today.
“If there are entrepreneurs who want to reach out to us, we’re ready to go,” said Engellau-Nilsson.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.