The Nordic hardtech community

For everyone building hard things in the Nordics.

Hardtech is innovative, complex and physical. Nordic Hardtech exists so the people who build it, fund it and enable it can find each other.

177
Investors mapped
1243
Ecosystem companies
37
Podcast episodes
8,000+
Newsletter readers

The funding map

ALL 177 INVESTORS →

Every Nordic investor with documented hardtech investments, plus the grants and public instruments that fund the other half of the road from lab to factory, with their deadlines.

Katalysen Ventures

Investment CompanySE

Stockholm-listed venture developer founded in 2016 that puts knowledge, hands-on support and capital into early-stage owner-led companies, often through its Venture Targeter turnaround framework, in exchange for equity and warrants. Core holdings span bioanalytics, diagnostics, event tech and digital asset compliance, with a wider portfolio of roughly 20 smaller stakes across the Nordics, DACH and beyond.

Backed:QuTEM, S4DX, iReality, Manico, Skawen, ConexBird, WebbEss

People Ventures

Venture CapitalDK

People Ventures is an operational venture capital firm based in Copenhagen that invests its own people and capital alongside money into founders, backing pre-seed and seed stage tech companies across the Nordics, with a recent focus on digital health and enterprise software.

Backed:Understory, Onomondo, sani nudge, Cortrium, Spiio

Equinor Ventures

Corporate VentureNO

Equinor Ventures is the Stavanger, Norway-based corporate venture capital arm of Equinor, investing since 1991 in early-phase and growth companies developing renewable energy, low-carbon and energy-transition technologies, with a portfolio concentrated in Europe and North America.

Backed:RayGen, Hysun, Oxford PV, EcoLectro, Beyonder, Corvus Energy, Heimdall Power, Protostar Group (44.01), Infravision, Revterra, Upwing Energy, Sapphire Technologies, Solid Power, H2Site, Electric Hydrogen, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Green Li-ion, HySiLabs, Captura

Longswan Ventures

Venture CapitalSE

Longswan Ventures is a Stockholm-based early-stage investor that invests in Nordic pre-seed/seed companies in the hardtech, defence and security domain.

Backed:Freya Industries (Freya)

Backing Minds

Investment CompanySE

A VC firm investing in overlooked markets and underrepresented founders, aiming to expand access to capital.

Backed:Cemvision, NitroVolt

Sune Alstrup

Business AngelDK

Sune Alstrup is a Copenhagen based tech investor and DanBAN Lead Angel with a background in eye tracking and deeptech, having founded and exited The Eye Tribe to Facebook/Oculus. He invests personally as an angel in early stage deeptech and hardware startups, with tickets typically in the tens of thousands of euros.

Backed:Hybird Energy, Doublepoint, Nextmind, Sonarworks, Obital

Kost Capital

Investment CompanySE

Kost Capital is a Copenhagen-based venture capital fund investing in early-stage European companies across the food and bioeconomy sector, backed by Denmark's export and investment fund EIFO as sole limited partner. It writes pre-seed and seed checks of 250k to 1M euros into ingredients, nutrition platforms and enabling process technologies, working alongside its sister venture studio Kost Studio.

Backed:Orbisk

Volvo Cars Tech Fund

Corporate VentureSE

Volvo Cars Tech Fund is the corporate venture arm of Volvo Cars, based in Gothenburg and founded in 2018. It makes minority investments, typically EUR 1 million to EUR 5 million at seed, Series A and Series B, in mobility technology such as batteries, sensors, robotics, power electronics and sustainable materials. Its Nordic holdings include Altris, Varjo and Eliq, and it exited Forciot in 2025. Its latest recorded deals are Riiico (June 2025) and Breathe Battery Technologies (May 2025).

Backed:Altris, Forciot, Varjo, NEURA Robotics, StoreDot, Leadrive, Niron Magnetics, BComp, Luminar Technologies, FreeWire Technologies, UVeye, Viospatia, Spectralics, Breathe Battery Technologies

Nordic Foodtech VC

Venture CapitalFIDK

Early-stage venture capital firm investing in deep foodtech across the Nordics and Baltics, backing startups building new technologies for food and agriculture.

Backed:NPHarvest, Kuva Space

Scaleup Europe Fund (managed by EQT)

Public FundingInvestment CompanySEEU

Scaleup Europe Fund is a EUR 5 billion growth fund managed by EQT, targeting European technology scaleups from Series B through pre-IPO in sectors including AI, quantum, space, clean energy and biotech. It was founded by the European Commission alongside investors including Novo Holdings, Allianz, APG, EIFO, CriteriaCaixa and Santander/Mouro Capital, and made its first investment in August 2026, co-leading ICEYE's EUR 1 billion Series F round.

Backed:ICEYE

Revalence Ventures

Venture CapitalSE

Revalence Ventures is a Stockholm based venture firm investing in founder operated technology companies from seed to Series A. Its confirmed backing spans fintech, retail tech and defence tech, including Klarna, Apprl and the Norwegian defence simulation and training startup Levato.

Backed:Nordic Air Defence

Norrsken

Venture CapitalSE

A non-profit foundation and impact VC investing in startups that address global challenges through entrepreneurship and technology.

The ecosystem

ALL 1243 COMPANIES →

Who builds, supplies and enables hardtech across the Nordics, from garage startups to industrial giants. Browse by role, phase and vertical.

Fremtidens Industri (FI)

EnablerSpaceMaritime & OceanNO

FI – Future Innovations (Fremtidens Industri AS) is one of Norway's leading innovation companies, connecting industry and research to accelerate solutions across sectors from ocean and space to energy and defence.

Zeropoint

ProductSemiconductors & PhotonicsAdvanced MaterialsSE

Offers memory compression technology to enhance performance and energy efficiency in data centers and smart devices.

CAD-Resurs AB

SupplierServices & EngineeringSE

CAD-Resurs offers PCB design services, supporting companies with electronic CAD resources for product development.

Morrow Batteries

ProductEnergy Storage & BatteriesNOAcquired by Lyten

Morrow Batteries ASA is a Norwegian battery cell developer and manufacturer established in 2020, headquartered in Arendal, Norway, focused on LFP and high-voltage LNMO-X battery technologies for energy storage and electric vehicles.

Capitainer

ProductHealth & MedtechSE

Capitainer AB is a Stockholm-based Swedish medtech company that develops intelligent solutions for self-sampling of blood, plasma and urine, including the qDBS dried blood spot system for home sampling.

Starship Technologies

ProductRobotics & AutomationFIINTL

Starship Technologies builds autonomous, six-wheeled sidewalk delivery robots that carry food, groceries and packages on demand, with humans able to take remote control at any time.

Stockholm Makerspace

EnablerServices & EngineeringScience ParkSE

Sweden's largest independent, member-driven makerspace in central Stockholm, offering shared workshop space and machinery (3D printers, laser cutters, CNC, welding) for members to build and prototype projects.

MedicPen

ProductHealth & MedtechSE

Creates automated medication dispensing systems to enhance patient compliance and safety in medical treatments.

Elektronikproduktion i Kinna AB

SupplierServices & EngineeringSE

Provides PCB manufacturing, assembly, and electronic production services.

Bactiguard

SupplierHealth & MedtechSE

Bactiguard is a global MedTech company developing safe and biocompatible technology to prevent medical device-related infections.

Rivus

ProductEnergy & GridSE

Rivus develops organic flow batteries for large-scale energy storage, offering metal-free and eco-friendly solutions to support the energy transition.

Wayout International

ProductManufacturing & Industrial TechSE

Wayout makes sustainable beverage micro factories, offered for lease to clients that see the opportunities in locally producing water and beverages with a minimal eco footprint.

One sharp email, every two weeks.

Hardtech news from the Nordics and beyond, new raises, events worth travelling for, and the deadlines you should not miss.

Raising for something innovative, complex and physical? Apply in five minutes. We curate, and your round reaches the readers of the newsletter, including the investors on the map.

The podcast

ALL 37 EPISODES →

Conversations with the founders and funders of Nordic hardtech.

EP 15

Ola Wassvik & Flatfrog: Att äga vägen till skalbarhet [SWE]

Ola Wassvik , medgrundare av Flatfrog , gästar podden och berättar hur bolaget tog en optisk multitouch-teknik från ett labb i Lund till en global marknad. I dag används Flatfrogs lösningar i allt från klassrum till styrelserum – men bakom framgången finns en annan avgörande faktor: patenten. Med över 300 patent i ryggen använde Flatfrog IP som ett strategiskt verktyg för att skydda sin teknik, sä

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EP 19

Jonas Genchel och Zparq: Poddmotorn från KTH som ska driva nästa marina skifte [SWE]

#19. Poddmotorn från KTH som ska driva nästa marina skifte Jonas Genchel , vd och medgrundare av Zparq , gästar podden och berättar hur bolaget utvecklar elektriska poddmotorer från grunden – med egenutvecklad drivlina, styrsystem och batteriteknik. Ambitionen är att göra båtbranschen tystare, grönare och smartare. Zparq föddes ur forskning på KTH och har sedan starten 2020 byggt ett team, säkrat

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EP 36

Monica Bellgran – Produktionsänglar & Sveriges bortglömda konkurrensfördel [SWE]

36. Produktionsänglar & Sveriges bortglömda konkurrensfördel Monica Bellgran , vicerektor för innovation vid Mälardalen Universitet och medgrundare av Produktionsänglar , gästar podden för att prata om en av hardtech-världens mest underskattade utmaningar: att gå från prototyp till produktion. Från industrialisering och leverantörskedjor till automation, AI och geopolitik förklarar hon varför så m

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EP 25

Joacim Westlund Prändel – Less is More: How Flic Pushed the Button on Scalable Hardware [ENG]

🤝 This episode is produced in collaboration with Lightbringer – the patent service helping founders move faster. With AI at its core and senior attorneys in-house, they streamline the patent process and set a new standard for how growth-stage teams secure what’s theirs. Episode #25 Less is More: How Flic Pushed the Button on Scalable Hardware What if turning off a light or flipping a music sheet c

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EP 29

Johan Outinen – Elvy & the Energy Subscription Play: 15 Years of Heat, Trust and Risk [ENG]

#29. Elvy & the Energy Subscription Play: 15 Years of Heat, Trust and Risk Johan Outinen , CEO and co-founder of Elvy Energy , joins the pod to explain why households should lock in their energy for the next 15 years, and how simplicity can unlock the transition. Elvy Energy is rewriting the rules of home energy with flat-rate subscriptions that cover installation, insurance, maintenance, and even

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EP 33

Leo Ballesteros – Atonemo & When to Ignore the Market (At First)

#33: When to Ignore the Market (At First) Leo Ballesteros , founder of Atonemo , joins the podcast to share a brutally honest take on what it actually takes to build a consumer hardware company from scratch. From feature overload to ruthless simplification, this episode is about learning by doing. Every single day. Atonemo is building consumer electronics at the intersection of hardware, software

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EP 2

Pär Hedberg och Sting: Startupmaskinen som aldrig stannar

#2. Startupmaskinen som aldrig stannar Pär Hedberg , grundare av inkubatorn Sting , gästar podden och delar insikter från 20 år i svensk startupfront. Vi pratar om varför deeptech kräver en annan sorts investerare, hur man skapar tillväxtbolag i serie och varför varje team behöver någon som gillar fakturering. Sting har sedan starten 2001 blivit en av Europas mest respekterade inkubatorer, med röt

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EP 34

Max Villman – From Cockpit to Cap Table: Inside Nordic Defense Tech

#34. From Cockpit to Cap Table: Inside Nordic Defense Tech Max Villman , former Swedish fighter pilot and now defense tech investor at Gungnir , joins the Nordic Hardtech Podcast for a grounded conversation on what really matters in modern defense innovation. With first-hand experience from the cockpit and deep exposure to today’s European and Ukrainian defense tech ecosystems, Max shares what fou

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EP 17

Alexander Osika om Glorb, SNRGY och att kickstarta hårdvara på riktigt [SWE]

#17.Om Glorb, SNRGY och att kickstarta hårdvara på riktigt Alexander Osika , vd och medgrundare av SNRGY Studios , gästar podden och berättar hur teamet tog Glorb – ett smart ljuskonstverk – från idé till marknad. Med bakgrund från Plejd och Einride, och med en passion för produktdesign, har Alexander blivit en av Sveriges mest spännande hårdvarubyggare. Här delar han resan bakom Glorb – från prot

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EP 1

Stefan Ytterborn och Cake: Från hype till haveri

#1. Från hype till haveri Stefan Ytterborn , grundare av elfordonsbolaget Cake , gästar premiäravsnittet av Hårdvarupodden (numer Nordic Hardtech Podcast). Vi pratar om hela bolagsresan – från vision och hype till konkurs – och om vad andra kan lära sig av en resa som gick snabbt, snyggt och slutade tvärt. Cake satte en ny standard för elfordon. Men att bygga hårdvara, skala globalt och finansiera

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EP 20

Ted Elvhage: Rymdkapital & Expansion Ventures – The Nordic Case for Space [ENG]

Episode 20 – The Nordic Case for Space Ted Elvhage , founder of Rymdkapital and Expansion Ventures , joins us to talk spacetech, hardtech investing, and why Europe needs to catch up. From early bets like Pythom Space to advice for angel investors—this is a fast, sharp dive into one of hardtech’s most complex frontiers. Rymdkapital is a Sweden-based investment firm focused on early-stage spacetech

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EP 8

Helene Winberg och Frontside: När fabriken växer av sig själv [SWE]

#8. När fabriken växer av sig själv Helene Winberg , vd och delägare av Frontside , intervjuas live på Evertiq Expo i Göteborg. Vi pratar om hur man skalar svensk kontraktstillverkning utan PR-maskin och hype, men med djupt fokus på kvalitet och kompetens. Frontside har producerat elektronik i Mölnlycke sedan 1990. Under ett tioårigt generationsskifte tog Helene över ledarskapet i familjeföretaget

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Insights

ALL INSIGHTS →

What we have learned about building, scaling and funding hard things in the Nordics.

INSIGHT

Beta-perioden är över - vad nu?

Under våren har vi spelat in fem avsnitt av Hårdvarupodden för att testa konceptet.

READ →
INSIGHT

The Unscalable Edge: why hardtech wins by starting slow

Argues that hardtech's early, unscalable phase builds the real-world knowledge that later makes scale possible.

READ →
INSIGHT

Livepodd i Göteborg på Evertiq-mässan

Torsdag den 19 september besöker podden Evertiq-mässan i Göteborg för att intervjua två intressanta bolag live på scenen: Airolit och Frontside. Jag (Jonas) står även på mässgolvet för samtal.

READ →
INSIGHT

Now Launching: Nordic Hardtech

READ →
INSIGHT

Print, Charge, Scale: Then Go Again

How Exeger's Giovanni Fili built a flexible solar cell platform and factory from scratch against the odds.

READ →
INSIGHT

When infrastructure thinks like nature

Flox's CTO explains how edge hardware, acoustics and AI guide wildlife away from roads, railways and airports.

READ →
INSIGHT

Deep Tech Needs to Go Deeper (Except Here)

A guest column argues Europe should focus on defensible niches like physical AI, quantum applications and precision biomanufacturing instead of chasing China everywhere.

READ →
INSIGHT

Robotics That Count: 10 Bold Builders to Watch in the Nordics

A curated field guide to ten Nordic robotics companies showing where autonomy meets industry today.

READ →
INSIGHT

The Hardtech Christmas List: What Nordic Founders Really Want

A December reflection on the unglamorous but essential conditions Nordic hardtech founders actually need to keep building.

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INSIGHT

Under the Surface: How the Nordic Blue Hardtech Wave Is Rising

Nordic hardtech founders are turning to the ocean, building autonomous dredging robots, tidal kites and subsea sensors to drive a new blue economy.

READ →
INSIGHT

Gothenburg Rising: where legacy meets innovation

An analysis of how Gothenburg's industrial legacy and collaborative culture are fueling its rise as a Nordic hardtech hub.

READ →
INSIGHT

Built in Sweden? Only if you survive the manufacturing gap first

Monica Bellgran explains why Swedish hardware startups bring in industrialization too late and what that risks.

READ →

Partners keep this open

The funding map, the podcast, the events and the newsletter are free for the whole ecosystem, made possible by partners who build Nordic hardtech with us.

LIGHTBRINGER

AI-driven patent filing for tech companies. Protect what you invent, at software speed.

OFFER: Free intro call with Lightbringer's patent team → LIGHTBRINGER.COM ↗
SISP

Swedish Incubators and Science Parks, the national infrastructure for innovation environments.

SISP.SE ↗
RECURO

Growth partner for tech and media companies, from strategy to execution.

RECURO.COM ↗
PARTNER WITH US

Kept accurate by the community

Anyone can suggest an investor, flag an error, or submit an event, a job or a raise. Every suggestion is checked and prepared before it goes live. Nothing publishes unreviewed.

One sharp email, every two weeks.

Hardtech news from the Nordics and beyond, new raises, events worth travelling for, and the deadlines you should not miss.