Sweden-based financial services firm SEB has formed a SEK900m ($97m) external venture capital fund called Fairpoint Capital to invest in developers of digital industrial technologies in the business-to-business (B2B) space.
The firm already has a corporate venturing arm, SEB Venture Capital, which focuses on information technology, life sciences and financial technology developers. Its portfolio includes financial data platform Tink and enterprise software developer Apica Systems.
SEB is providing SEK500m for the fund while the rest will be supplied by unnamed institutions in the Nordic region. It is concentrating on B2B services and is avoiding consumer, healthcare or fintech companies.
Frederick Johansson, who helped launch SEB Venture Capital in 1995, is chief executive of Fairpoint, while three other SEB Venture Capital alumni – Ulf Lewander, Filip Petersson and Andreas Pennervall – have taken investment director positions.
Johansson said: “We will work with technology, which benefits many of the bank’s customers. There is great value for the bank’s advisers and client executives in sharing experiences and knowledge from the fund’s investments and, conversely, to give us tips on exciting companies that may be of interest to invest in.
“We will focus on technology that is coupled to the fourth industrial revolution based on connected, smart and autonomous systems. This involves areas like the internet of things, artificial intelligence and self-learning systems that can strengthen the competitiveness of industry.”
