Norway-based research organisation Sintef has launched a NOK500m ($61m) seed fund called Venture V that will look to help commercialise local research.
Sintef put up $13.5m for the fund through its venture capital arm, Sintef Venture. The European Union-owned European Investment Fund (EIF) committed $19m and Norway’s municipal pension fund Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP) provided $9.3m.
The fund’s other backers include Reitan Kapital, the corporate venturing arm of retail group Reitan, diversified conglomerate Orkla, financial services firm SpareBank1 SMN’s Invest subsidiary, pension fund manager MP Pensjon and charitable foundations Gjensidigestiftelsen and Sparebankstiftelsen.
Venture V will invest in early-stage spinouts from Sintef and its partner, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
The vehicle will be managed by Sintef TTO, the research agency’s tech transfer office, and will focus on sectors such as life sciences, clean energy and information and communication technology.
Sintef’s earlier funds include the $34m Venture IV, which was launched in 2014 with participation from Sintef, EIF and SpareBank1 SMN.
Alexandra Bech Gjørv, chief executive of Sintef, said: “The commercialisation of research results and the development of new companies and jobs is part of our mission, which the government expects us to deliver on.
“Access to capital in the seed development phase is important and especially challenging. We are delighted to have partnered with long-term investors that see the potential in our research.”
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.