Navisalma targets €450m for European deep tech investments

Navisalma, a Stockholm-based venture platform founded by two Einride co-founders and former McKinsey partner Robert Westerdahl, is targeting €450 million for European deep tech investments over three years. The figure is a deployment goal, not capital the firm has closed: Tech.eu and Dealroom report that the larger investment pool had not yet been raised.

Robert Falck is Navisalma’s CEO, while Linnéa Kornehed Falck and Westerdahl are founding partners, according to Trending Topics. Robert Falck and Kornehed Falck co-founded Swedish autonomous-freight company Einride; Westerdahl previously worked as a McKinsey partner.

Has Navisalma raised its €450m deep tech investment target?

No. Reporting says Navisalma plans to seek about €40 million initially, largely for operating costs and some seed investments. Most of that smaller amount had reportedly already been secured or raised from the founders and other investors when the launch was reported in August. The firm did not identify prospective backers for its €450 million target.

The distinction is material. Navisalma has presented a substantial three-year investment ambition, but the reported money available at launch was the initial tranche rather than the full €450 million. Reporting does not set out investment sizes, portfolio construction or follow-on reserves.

What will Navisalma invest in?

The platform says it will concentrate on European frontier and deep-tech businesses, with robotics and energy systems among the examples cited in coverage. Navisalma describes its approach as combining capital, company building and design. That is the firm’s stated operating model, rather than evidence of a conventional closed-end venture fund structure or a demonstrated investment track record.

Its thesis is that European companies should build on the region’s engineering, design, industrial capability and quality standards rather than attempt to reproduce Silicon Valley, Robert Falck said. Westerdahl said the platform intends to work alongside existing owners and investors to help technology companies reach industrial scale. Those are the founders’ claims about how Navisalma will operate.

Navisalma’s first disclosed investment is Abundry, a Swedish energy-technology company that uses AI to improve the performance of energy systems, according to Tech.eu. Dealroom also described Abundry as using AI and decision intelligence to extract more value from existing infrastructure.

The firm says it aims to back 10 new global leaders over the next decade. That is an ambition, not a disclosed portfolio plan. For founders, the immediate practical question is whether Navisalma completes the larger raise and how its stated mix of capital, operating support and design appears in individual investments.

This story draws on original reporting from Tech.eu.