Oslo, Norway-based SNO Ventures, a venture capital firm that aims to enhance the Nordic ecosystem by facilitating the sharing of resources, talent, ideas, and experience, announced that it has launched its second fund targeting $100M – to invest in visionary Nordic entrepreneurs.
The new fund will look to invest in Series Seed and Series A companies throughout the Nordic region.
SNO is focused on empowering the next generation of ‘Nordic tech superstars’. Magne Uppman, co-founder and Managing Partner of SNO, says, “We invest in visionary entrepreneurs and we bring decades of experience in supporting them at every step of their global growth journey.”
SNO Ventures is also planning to expand the organisation into Sweden and Denmark.
How will the new fund be utilised?
The new fund backed by Peter Thiel, will invest in early stage, high-growth Nordic tech companies with the potential to disrupt, create or capture large markets through transformative technology or solutions. Besides, it will also help startups connect the Nordics with the US and broader Europe.
Peter Thiel is a venture capitalist and partner at Founders Fund, which has backed companies including Airbnb, Asana, and ContextLogic. He is also a co-founder of digital payments company PayPal and currently serves on the board of Facebook. Additionally, Thiel also co-founded data-mining company Palantir Technologies.
The first closing of SNO Fund II has already been held, with investments from a group of international limited partners including Peter Thiel, Karl Christian Agerup (co-founder of Northzone), Eilert Hanoa (CEO of Kahoot!), KLP (Norway’s largest pension company), Investinor, and others from throughout Europe and the US.
Karl Christian Agerup, co-founder of Northzone, says, “SNO Ventures fills an important role in the Nordic ecosystem for building valuable international growth companies out of the Nordics. The entrepreneurial background of the investment team, their proven ability to build international networks and their active ownership approach towards their portfolio companies makes them a valuable partner for any growth company with international ambitions.”
Team behind SNO Ventures
The VC firm is led by Magne Uppman, Teodor Bjerrang, Max Samuel, and Kremena Tosheva. The team claims to have deep expertise in founding, building, scaling, and advising companies.
Speaking on the development, Max Samuel, Partner of SNO, says, “The unique cultural, economic and geographic traits of the Nordics contribute to the success of its thriving startup ecosystem. We aim to enhance this ecosystem by facilitating the sharing of resources, talent, ideas and experience throughout the Nordic region, and by leveraging our international networks to support Nordic companies in their global expansion.”
Max Samuel recently joined SNO from Thiel Capital, Peter Thiel’s global investment office.
Peter Thiel, who also joined SNO as an investor and strategic partner, is accompanied by an international group of advisors to the SNO team, including the former executive director of the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program under President Obama, and a diverse group of seasoned founders, investors and startup advisors.
SNO’s most recent investments include PortalOne, alongside Founders Fund, Coatue, Seedcamp, TQ Ventures, and more; Kitemaker, alongside Y Combinator and EQT Ventures; and Confrere, with co-investors Point Nine and Nordic Makers.
