Malin Carlstrom is head of investments for northern Europe at ABB Technology Ventures, Switzerland-headquartered industrial company ABB’s strategic corporate venturing arm with a focus on digitising the industrial sector.
Grant Allen, head of the unit, said: “Malin, like myself, joined ABB from a financial VC with a strong investment background across a variety of sectors. In short order, she has adapted to the pace of deal-making in CVC and adroitly navigated the often complex organisational minutiae of ABB to be both a value-add technology scout and deal-maker.”
Carlstrom’s first investment at the unit was early-stage graphene company Graphmatech in September 2018. She chose this company because the research stemmed from the renowned Ångström Laboratory and the company’s founders were confident they could act on the Nobel prize-winning material. By October 2018, deliveries to customers were taking place and Graphmatech had agreed a joint venture with Canada-based graphite producer Leading Edge Materials.
Apart from her investment duties, Carlstrom helped develop ABB’s innovation hub SynerLeap at its Corporate Research Centre in Sweden. Since its foundation in 2016, SynerLeap has conducted 29 collaboration projects and the pace of implementation has been increasing.
Before joining ABB Technology Ventures in 2017, Carlstrom had been investing in the financial VC industry for 13 years in fintech, legal tech, edtech, marketplaces and mobile applications.
She is also active in the unit’s portfolio companies and holds board positions at several startups, such as Dugga Learning Assessment, Enervalis and Graphmatech.