Gothenburg, Sweden – Karlatornet, 2024
As Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg stands out for its sustainability credentials, entrepreneurial ethos and ability to cultivate innovation. It also serves as the headquarters for global organizations such as Volvo, Polestar, AstraZeneca and Ericsson.
In October, Gothenburg was ranked second out of 40 countries by the Global Destination Sustainability Index for its approach to tourism, social inclusion, supply chain due diligence and environmental performance.
But beyond the city’s green credentials, it’s a unique landscape made up of investors, innovators, scientists and companies that help soften the curve of the challenging climate finance landscape and the wider green tech space.
Research by PwC estimated that global investment flows in climate technology financing fell by 29% from $79 billion to $56 billion from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023. The firm also recorded a contraction in climate technology financing from venture capital and private equity investments from 9.9% to 8.3% within the same timeframe.
However, amid this harsh climate, Sweden was ranked as the fourth country for climate technology funding in 2023 after the US, China and the UK, according to dealroom. This is not surprising, given that it was the first country to pass an Environmental Protection Act in 1967 and currently ranks sixth in the global Environmental Performance Index.
Gothenburg – A place to gather, collaborate and dream
To choose who are the important stakeholders that make up this innovation ecosystem and to better understand how investors are collaborating with businesses in Gothenburg, I spoke with Sofia Hjelmberg. Hjelmberg leads investor relations for GU Ventures, a fund focused on building ideas in the technology and life sciences fields. She is also responsible for organizing GoWest, a major annual venture capital forum held in the city that brings together investors, startups and scale-ups. GoWest is set to be held at Karlatornet, the tallest building in the Nordics, later in January.
“At times like these, connection is key.” said Hjelmberg in an interview. “GoWest’s main goal is to facilitate matchmaking at different levels and bring projects and ideas to the Gothenburg ecosystem. This is made up of Chalmers University, the private sector with companies such as Volvo and the public sector including EIT, the EU’s innovation body. she said.
Climate-focused sessions at GoWest will explore how to drive impact through investment, what climate technology looks like in a Trump world, plus an unveiling of a new Swedish climate startup map for 2025 by Swedish Incubators and Parks Scientific.
“Sustainability is at the top of the agenda for everyone, especially politicians. Change comes from above, but it is the industry that facilitates it.” she added.
Hjelmburg noted why the city is ranked so highly for its approach to sustainability, “In Gothenburg, people are masters of collaboration, everyone is just a phone call away. We understand that if we all come in, we will have the right exposure and partnerships given the presence of the automotive and life sciences industries.”
Incubating and financing sustainable solutions
Ann-Sofie Ekberg, CEO of Volvo Cars TechFund, testified to the importance of events like GoWest to gather and gather minds to solve some critical challenges in deep technology, life sciences and sustainability.
Based in Gothenburg, Volvo Cars TechFund makes strategic investments and provides access to the global market for innovative ideas in the mobility and technology sectors. Since its inception in 2018, the fund has made 21 investments, typically in Series A or B financing rounds with a value between €1 million and €5 million.
In our conversation, Ekberg shared more about the fund’s current portfolio, which is tied to three key pillars of Volvo’s broader mission: personal, sustainable and safe mobility. This ranges from Dcbel, a company focused on home energy charging, and Luminar, which is innovating around high-performance light sensors for vehicles. The portfolio also includes Syre, a company with ambitions to scale textile recycling into textiles, which raised $100 million in a Series A investment round last year.
“One of our most exciting investments in 2023 was in a British company, Breathe. It helps Volvo with faster charging software and battery optimization.” Ekberg said. There are many companies within the portfolio that demonstrate how the fund is scaling ideas to support the broader energy transition.
Ekberg and her team are actively engaged with portfolio companies. She detailed their role, including training and development until a given company is mature enough to receive requests for quotes and work independently alongside Volvo’s engineering and procurement teams.
“Over the life of a company, we wear our ownership hat, sitting with the boards of these startups and scale-ups to make sure they have everything in place to support their growth and financial performance.” commented Ekberg.
In Gothenburg, I asked Ekberg what makes the city unique. “As part of the ecosystem, at Volvo Cars we want to make our home base innovative and sustainable. Plus, by partnering with GoWest, we can share how we are an investment organization to encourage more funding and seeding of ideas in the region.”
An ecosystem of ideas rooted in education
As well as being home to the headquarters of Volvo, AstraZeneca and Ericsson, Gothenburg is home to Chalmers University of Technology. In our conversation, Hjelmburg highlighted how the work of GU Ventures and GoWest has been shaped by developments at the University and how this can fit into the value chain of global companies in the area, especially when it comes to science and engineering.
One thing that emerges from my interviews with the city’s many founders is that Gothenburg is a place where ideas are born.
A prime example is Vividye, a company that serves the textile and cosmetics industry with its technology that can eliminate harmful chemicals and microplastics from dye production processes.
Both co-founders of Vividye, Johanna Nissén Karlsson and Gustav Larsson, are alumni of Chalmers University. “Gothenburg has many initiatives that encourage innovation and everyone is really engaged.” Larsson told me. “For Vividye, we need expertise in surface chemistry, plus research and development, and there are many good chemists in Sweden.” he said.
Elsewhere, another Chalmers University graduate is Syre CEO Dennis Nobelius, who grew up in Gothenburg. I wanted to get his take on the city, “It’s a natural part of Scandinavian culture to be sustainable.” he said.
“It’s easy to start something in Gothenburg. People are interested, people are connected and people are used to working across companies and industries.” Nobelius remarked.
Anders Breitholtz, founder of Papershell, an organization that advances material innovation and transforms paper into cellulosic components for biogenic products, echoed Nobelius’ thoughts in a conversation with me. “Gothenburg is a place where scientists and artists cross-pollinate and superposition their knowledge to create solutions.” he said. “It’s the solution-oriented mentality of many players in the city helping each other succeed.” Breitholtz added.
Ultimately, it is this mindset of Breitholz references, brought together by academics, global corporations, investors and entrepreneurs that has created an environment where ideas conceived to solve environmental and social challenges can flourish.
