The venture is looking to take advantage of the continent’s fast-growing startup sector, which raised a record $5 billion in 2021, according to Lexi Novitske, a general partner with Norrsken22. That will happen as firms develop outside major hubs and expand into French-speaking parts of Africa, she said.
“We are just starting to see the very early successes come through and those successes are creating a whole wave of companies,” Novitske said in an interview. “We raised $110 million and our target is $200 million. We may go beyond that target because it feels like we have quite a bit of momentum and demand.”
Norrsken22 is a joint initiative between Hans Otterling, a partner at Northzone Ventures, and Niklas Adalberth’s Norrsken Foundation. Its aim is to support companies seeking to scale up rather than provide early-stage capital. Among backers are 30 founders of so-called unicorns, companies that have achieved a pre-market valuation of at least $1 billion.
