Nordic energy company Fortum has joined Norrsken Evolve as a limited partner, investing through its innovation and venturing arm. The commitment follows the final close of Norrsken Evolve's oversubscribed €62 million fund this summer.

Norrsken Evolve is a pre-seed fund that helps accelerate founders building Europe's sustainable and resilient future. The fund has backed over 80 companies to date, 75 per cent of which have gone on to raise follow-on investment.

Electrification is reshaping industries, energy systems and societies around the world. The one energy source the continent can produce at scale, on its own soil, is clean electricity, and building an economy around it will depend on new technologies, business models and partnerships.

Early-stage companies are developing many of these today.

The partnership brings together Norrsken's position in the Nordic and European startup ecosystem with Fortum's decades of expertise in energy systems, electrification, industrial decarbonisation and energy markets.

For Norrsken Evolve's portfolio companies, Fortum provides access to specialised sector expertise and an extensive footprint across the Nordic energy ecosystem. Delivering reliable energy to more than two million customers, Fortum's core operations are in low-carbon power generation, customer services, and heating and cooling.

"The future energy system will be built through faster innovation and closer collaboration between entrepreneurs, investors and industry. Through this partnership, we strengthen our connection to the next generation of companies developing solutions for electrification, flexibility, industrial decarbonisation, and other critical energy challenges," says Gustav Eilertsen, VP, Innovation & Venturing at Fortum.

"Europe has the talent and the technology to power its economy on clean electricity, and our founders are building the companies that will make that happen. What Fortum brings is the operational depth that financial investors cannot: real knowledge of how energy is generated, moved and sold. Their backing is strong validation of our thesis, and a genuine asset to every founder we invest in," says Johan Attby, General Partner, Norrsken Evolve.