Norrsken Foundation, a Swedish impact-focused non-profit, has announced a €300m commitment to invest in European startups that harness artificial intelligence to solve pressing issues in climate, health, food, education, and broader societal domains. The capital will be deployed through the foundation´s Norrsken VC, Norrsken Launcher, and Norrsken Accelerator funds, targeting early-stage ventures positioned to deliver meaningful, scalable solutions.
Founded in 2016 by Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of payment services company Klarna, Norrsken Foundation manages more than €639.6m in assets. The organisation seeks to empower founding teams solving global challenges rather than optimizing technology for marginal efficiency gains. With recent advances in artificial intelligence fundamentally changing what is possible, Norrsken believes the technology is at a point where it can shift industries, reduce food waste through precision agriculture, optimise energy systems, accelerate drug discovery, and enable earlier disease detection.
Venture funding for artificial intelligence startups has soared, with over €100bn raised in the past year according to Dealroom´s 2025 summit report—a 62% increase over 2023. Norrsken wants to steer such immense ´godlike´ technological power toward meaningful, global impact. The foundation envisions the world´s first trillion-euro companies emerging from startups addressing essential needs in clean energy, healthcare, food, and education, rather than traditional sales and marketing tasks. By backing these ‘problem engineers’, Norrsken positions itself at the forefront of a new wave of mission-driven, artificial intelligence-powered innovation in Europe.