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I co-founded Scale Capital, a European venture capital firm backing B2B and deeptech…
Articles by Lars
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Why Nordic startups fail to raise VC money in Silicon Valley
Why Nordic startups fail to raise VC money in Silicon Valley
While this statement is only partly true, it is fair to say that Nordic startups remain largely unsuccessful…
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Lars Jensen shared thisCome join the discussion on the founders and critical technologies that makes our continent regain its strength and resilience. https://lnkd.in/ec7JUH_pLars Jensen shared this𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. 𝐈𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. Some of the biggest European venture outcomes of the next decade are being built right now. The question is whether European investors will recognise them - and back them - before the opportunity becomes obvious. At 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐁𝐁𝐐 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, we’re bringing together investors from across Europe to discuss what conviction actually looks like in a decade shaped by AI, strategic independence and rapidly shifting markets. Joining the conversation: Madelene Larsson - Partner, Giant Ventures Oliver Holle - Founder & Managing Partner, Speedinvest Matthieu Vallin - Partner, BREEGA Moderated by Lars Jensen - Founding Partner, Scale Capital They’ll dig into: → Where Europe’s next category-defining companies are emerging → How investors identify opportunities before consensus forms → What European venture needs to get right in this critical decade 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐂 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞’𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 📍 BBQ Stage 🗓 26 August | 13:54–14:29 Europe has the talent. The technology. The capital. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. You can now see the whole agenda on Brella app & on our website https://lnkd.in/eQj82VwR
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Lars Jensen shared thisEuropean defence and resilience depends on tech, but also on capital, ownership and dependencies - as discussed in this chronicle in Børsen (in Danish).Lars Jensen shared this“Europe's security depends on our tech companies” 🛡️🇪🇺 Our founding partner, Lars Jensen, wrote in Børsen over the weekend on defence technology, physical AI, capital, and who ends up owning Europe's security. Venture funding into European defence, security and resilience grew 55% last year, against 16% for the broader market, according to a report from Dealroom.co and NATO Innovation Fund (NIF). But when Helsing and STARK raised earlier this year, American funds led the rounds. "If the companies that deliver Europe's satellites and unmanned systems end up under foreign control, we will have used our own money to make ourselves dependent again," Lars writes in the piece. It’s worth noting, however, that we saw early signs last week that European capital is stepping up. The EU's new Scaleup Europe Fund made its first investment as it co-led ICEYE's €1bn round along with the American fund General Atlantic. If you want to read the full Børsen piece in Danish, there’s a link in the comments 🔗
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Lars Jensen shared thisThe second edition of Rewiring Europe is here 🇪🇺 This one is about European defence and what I believe is the most demanding application of AI in the world right now: Physical AI operating in the real world through drones, autonomous ground vehicles, sensor networks, swarm coordination and much more. As a part of this post, I wanted to highlight the fact that we had defence on our exclusion list not that long ago. Just like most of European VCs did. That has changed fast, and for very good reason. Find the link to Scale Capital’s Substack in the comments.
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Lars Jensen shared thisUnder overfladen - hvilke investeringstendenser buldrer frem i start up-miljøerne? Godt tema for dages udgave af Millionærklubben, hvor vi talte om "Europa First" og investering i forsvar og kritisk infrastruktur. Tak til Bodil Johanne Gantzel og Michael Friis for de skarpe spørgsmål, og det gode input fra lytterne. Lyt med her: https://lnkd.in/eHKFDUHx
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Lars Jensen shared thisDen Europæiske energiomstilling kunne godt bruge noget "China-speed" og et amerikansk vækst-mindset. Vi har talenterne, teknologien og en brændende platform. Det, vi mangler, er viljen til at handle på det, der allerede er i fuld gang med at blive bygget 🫠Lars Jensen shared thisThe European AI debate is often focused on the wrong thing ✋ In Finans today, Lars Jensen argues that while the conversation is about chatbots and language models, the software that will actually run Europe's critical infrastructure is being built right now – by European companies with real customers and real revenue. The capability is here, but the speed is missing. Lars points to three examples of companies already building that layer within the energy space (Heimdall Power 🇳🇴 / Dexter Energy 🇳🇱 / Jua 🇨🇭) and lays out three concrete proposals for what could shift things in Europe. Swipe through for a few key quotes or read the whole thing via the link in comments (in Danish) 👇
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Lars Jensen shared thisRewiring Europe 🦾🇪🇺 Let's think about where AI actually matters for European industries and where we can't afford to get wrong - energy, defense, digital infrastructure and climate to name a few. The stuff that's physical, expensive, and where our dependency on others keeps getting tested. Working with founders across Europe I keep running into the same thing. The technology is ready, the urgency is real, but the system around it moves like it has all the time in the world. So I decided to start writing about it. "Rewiring Europe" is a bi-monthly column where I dive into a specific sector, look at what’s going on, and provide my take. This first edition is about an issue that is extremely hard to ignore at the moment: Energy 🔋 Find the full write-up on Scale Capital’s Substack via the link in the comments.
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Lars Jensen shared thisTwo days in Lofoten with around 100 founders and investors, incredible people from across the Nordics and the US, hosted by Mesh Community 🇳🇴 While sea eagle safari, hiking, ice bathing, surfing and fjord kayaking reads more like an expedition than a work event, these activities help skipping the layers of small talk to get into what actually matters for people attending - building scaleups in Europe, and exploring the massive opportunities in deeptech and AI. How we build in Europe and scale globally. As for the adventurous activities, Scale Capital hosted the fjord kayaking. Huge thanks to the crew who paddled out with me: Felicia Ottosson, Jeanette Dyhre Kvisvik, Ahsan Ahmad, Mads Emil Dalsgaard, Tom Even Mortensen, and my kayaking partner Niko Karstikko 🛶 Special thanks to Anders Mjåset and Aya Fabricius and team for putting it all together. Looking very much forward to the Copenhagen events later this year. Photos Rune Svenningsen et al.
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Lars Jensen shared thisEurope First 💪Lars Jensen shared thisEurope's next growth wave is forming, and it looks nothing like the last one 🌊🌍 The rules are changing fast. Energy, security and digital infrastructure have moved from background policy topics to the front line of economic and geopolitical strategy. At this point, we must all agree that Europe can't afford to sit this one out. Over Easter, Lars Jensen had his say in Børsen about where we believe Europe's next generation of category-defining companies will emerge. In short, it’s in the intersection where strategic necessity and commercial scalability meet. This is why we back companies like ARX Robotics, developing autonomous systems for modern warfare. Blykalla, working on small modular reactors to reshape how Europe produces clean energy. And Sparrow Quantum, building the chip at the heart of quantum computing, grounded in 25 years of research at the Niels Bohr Institute. Lars puts it pretty eloquently in the newspaper: "In Europe, we need to take calculated risks, dare to fail and dare to dream big. We need to keep our strategically critical companies on European hands, and that means avoiding ownership and acquisition by foreign powers, including the US. That requires capital, a lot of capital, which European governments, pension funds and foundations need to make available as soon as possible. It will be good business, it will be good for Europe and good for its people… if we dare.” Read the whole thing right here 👇 https://lnkd.in/e73gavaG“Europas næste vækstbølge ligger i energi, infrastruktur og sikkerhed”“Europas næste vækstbølge ligger i energi, infrastruktur og sikkerhed”
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Lars Jensen liked thisLars Jensen liked thisAnd that’s a wrap! 🎬🇬🇧 We’ve just finished the fifth and final stop of the MeetingPackage Roadshow in London. Five cities in five days: Stockholm, Oslo, Cologne, Amsterdam and London. It’s been a brilliant week of honest conversations with hotel teams about Groups, Meetings & Events—and the work they’re ready to leave behind. Thank you to everyone who joined us, asked questions and shared what’s happening in your hotels. And a huge thank you to the MeetingPackage team for making this roadshow happen. We’re heading home with plenty to think about—and even more energy for what comes next. 🚀 #MeetingPackage #Hospitality #HotelTechnology #MeetingsAndEvents
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Lars Jensen liked thisLars Jensen liked thisVi har investeret 500 mio. kr. i europæisk milliardfond – vores største investering i forsvarsteknologi nogensinde. Hvis Europa skal holde på sine bedste forsvarsteknologiske virksomheder, kræver det nemlig risikovillig kapital i en anden skala, end markedet selv leverer i dag. Derfor går vi nu sammen med Danica og investerer i DTCP Defence Fund I, som skal investere i 20-25 vækstvirksomheder inden for blandt andet kunstig intelligens, autonome systemer, cybersikkerhed, droner, satellitter og sikker kommunikation. Som en del af investeringen åbner DTCP sit nordiske hovedsæde til København. Det rykker international vækstkapital endnu tættere på danske virksomheder og binder Danmark tættere ind i det voksende europæiske forsvarsteknologiske økosystem. Læs mere om fonden i dagens Børsen 👉 https://lnkd.in/eksJSypn
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Lars Jensen liked thisLars Jensen liked thisToday marks an important milestone for DTCP: we are very proud that DTCP Defence has successfully completed the first closing of its dedicated 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱, 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 €𝟰𝟱𝟱 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 in commitments and establishing a specialist investment team. With the support of Deutsche Telekom, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, EIFO, Danica, SmartCap and other investors, the fund brings together long-term European capital to invest in technology companies strengthening Europe’s defence, security and resilience infrastructure. "𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘥𝘦-𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦-𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦’𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴: 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴,” says our Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer of DTCP Growth, Thomas Preuss The fund has already completed its first investments in Six Robotics and Kraken Technology Group, with a third investment underway. The dedicated DTCP Defence investment team focuses on mission-critical technologies across AI, autonomous systems, cyber defence, secure communications and space technologies. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eVk-eRGb #DefenceTechnology #Security #EuropeanTechnology #GrowthEquity #DTCP Thomas Preuss, Ole Aguirre, Georgia Watson, Claudius Laskawy, Joel-Oskar Raisanen, Jonas Byok, Filippo Vidoni, Vicente Vento
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Lars Jensen liked thisWhen I was the one in the field, this software did not exist. We had drones. Each one came with its own operator, its own controller, its own training, and none of them talked to each other. A country has to be able to buy drones in large numbers, from whoever builds the best one and has the supply chain capacity, without starting over on training and integration every time. That only works if the software is shared across airframes. That software layer is where the next wave of defence technology is happening. Drones that work together, reconnaissance feeding strike, several of them under one operator, get more out of every airframe than any single one could deliver alone. Building that layer and keeping it in service are two different disciplines. Inventing fast is one. Producing, updating and fielding software across thousands of drones, with the reliability soldiers need, is another. Six is building a software factory to do both, for the Norwegian Armed Forces and the allies they operate with. It is built by people who know what it costs when it does not work.Lars Jensen liked thisThe Norwegian Army is building a capability that lets a unit see further and strike faster than its size would suggest. We are building it with them. We built this film the way we build the system, with the people who use it. Norway buys its drones from several manufacturers. The work lies in making them act as one force, and in changing that force as fast as the threat does. Armies command their people through battle management systems. Their machines need the same kind of layer. That is the layer we build. A robotic management system that lets soldiers task reconnaissance and strike as one capability, whichever airframes they carry, with a human making the critical decisions. A capability like this has to belong to whichever nation fields it. When the first swarm was handed over, Colonel Kai Solem, who leads unmanned systems in the Norwegian Army, said that swarm technology gives each operator more eyes and more effectors, and that a higher degree of autonomy will be the great force multiplier regardless of domain.
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Lars Jensen liked thisLars Jensen liked thisThe MQS journey started around a kitchen table in a shared flat, with Mark writing quantum chemistry code. It almost sounds like a different reality, just before Covid, when few people had heard the term "WFH" and meetings happened in person by default. And importantly, there were no AI agents around that kitchen table 🤖 For our latest founder spotlight, we spoke with Mark Nicholas Jones, co-founder of Molecular Quantum Solutions (MQS), about building a deep tech company and getting ready for the day quantum computers are good enough to take over its calculations. He also talks about a habit of figuring things out yourself, which goes back much further than MQS. As a teenager, Mark got hooked on Linux and on the idea of not depending on anyone else's systems. Today that same instinct shows in how MQS runs, on European infrastructure right down to its internal tools. ➡ Swipe through for a few highlights, and read the full interview on our website via the link in the comments.
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Lars Jensen reacted on thisLars Jensen reacted on thisDen 1. oktober åbner jeg døren til min private klinik centralt i København Efter min hjemkomst fra Schweiz har jeg fundet mig godt til rette i Danmark og er begyndt i flere nye og meningsfulde faglige sammenhænge. Samtidig har jeg savnet det terapeutiske arbejde og det særlige rum, der kan opstå, når et menneske får mulighed for at sætte ord på det, der er svært. Når man selv har skullet begynde forfra flere gange og skabe et nyt liv i forskellige lande, lærer man også noget om at miste sit tilhørsforhold, finde fodfæste igen og leve med flere steder i sig. I Schweiz opbyggede jeg en klinik for både danskere og mennesker med et internationalt liv. Her arbejdede jeg især med sorg, alvorlig sygdom og de udfordringer, der kan opstå, når familie, relationer og følelsen af hjem findes på tværs af lande. Jeg har også flere års erfaring med samtaler med teenagere og håber, at klinikken kan blive et trygt sted for unge, som står i en svær eller sårbar periode. Jeg tilbyder individuelle samtaler på dansk og engelsk. Derudover samarbejder jeg med virksomheder, foreninger og organisationer om supervision, undervisning og workshops med fokus på blandt andet sorg, følelsesmæssige belastninger i arbejdet, omsorgstræthed og faglig bæredygtighed. En særlig tak til min supervisor, Mai-Britt Guldin, som har fulgt mig gennem de seneste år og lært mig så meget om sorg og om nænsomt at møde mennesker, når livet gør ondt. Så tænk gerne på mig, hvis du møder et menneske, som kunne have glæde af et samtaleforløb hos mig. Henvis gerne videre, eller ræk ud, hvis du har lyst til at drøfte et muligt samarbejde. Jeg glæder mig til at åbne døren til dette nye kapitel.
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Lars Jensen liked thisLars Jensen liked thisWe've applied 7 times to YC: This time we finally got in!! It really takes a village. Thanks to everyone who's been rooting for us, bought what we're building, and pointed us in the right direction. Super proud of the team, and the work Benjamin Bekken and Tron Hauga has put down. Now it's acceleration-time baby! The current improvements we see in both video and image models is insane. To help small business harness that tech to build financial freedom is going to be really freaking cool.
Experience
Education
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Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business
Magna Cum Laude (Top 5%)
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The Babson College MBA program is rated #1 in Entrepreneurship for 32 consecutive years (U.S. News & World Report).
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Honors & Awards
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PurePharma has been awarded "Gazelle" in 2014, 2015
Borsen.dk
Each year the Danish business newspaper Børsen awards the prestigous “Borsens Gazelle award” to the fastest growing companies in Denmark. Recipient companies must have at a minimum doubled revenue in terms of sales or gross profit during a four year period.
Languages
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English
Full professional proficiency
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Danish
Native or bilingual proficiency
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German
Professional working proficiency
Organizations
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VL83 - New York
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VL114 - Networking group for Danish executives in the Bay Area
Member
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The Royal Danish Army
Artillery Regiment
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Jakob Rybak-Andersen
New semiconductor investment from us at PSV Hafnium. We are proud to share that we have led a EUR 4m investment in Swedish Solinide Photonics alongside Navigare Ventures, Chalmers Ventures, Turbine Capital, Norrsken Evolve, and Almi GreenTech Invest. Solinide is a photonics company headquartered in Gothenburg and spun out of Chalmers University of Technology. As AI clusters scale past terabit-per-second chip-to-chip bandwidth, the efficiency of the light source has become one of the key constraints. To put it differently, data movement is the hidden energy tax in every data center. Solinide is attacking it at the source — shifting data transport to light itself, with a novel wavelength multiplier that brings optical communication down to the chip level. Solinide develops super-efficient microcomb light sources for Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) in AI and hyperscale computing. A single chip generates 28–128 evenly spaced laser wavelengths, replacing the arrays of individual lasers at the heart of today’s optical interconnects. The silicon photonics market is forecast to grow from $3 billion in 2025 to $10 billion by 2030, driven by the adoption of Co-Packaged Optics across hyperscale AI infrastructure. We are very pleased to support the Solinide team on this journey, together with a super strong Swedish investor syndicate.
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Wikborg Rein
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AI Tech Supports
Skycore Semiconductors Raises €5M Seed Round to Power Next-Gen #AI Data Centers Copenhagen, Denmark — Skycore Semiconductors, a Danish startup specializing in Power Integrated Circuit (IC) technology for AI data centers, has raised €5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, with participation from First Momentum Ventures, Mätch VC, and Balnord. Founded in Denmark, Skycore has developed a silicon-validated Power IC platform designed for high power density and efficiency, addressing critical power-infrastructure challenges in emerging 800V high-voltage direct current (HVDC) architectures. Skycore’s solutions enable compact, flat form factors that deliver exceptional power performance—helping overcome one of the biggest bottlenecks in scaling AI compute infrastructure. The company currently holds six patent families and is advancing development of 800V HVDC power architectures for next-generation AI facilities. “Scaling AI compute infrastructure requires a fundamental shift in data center power systems,” said Pere Llimós Muntal, CEO and Co-founder of Skycore Semiconductors. “Our Power IC platform provides extreme power density and efficiency, enabling the HVDC architectures that will define the next era of AI infrastructure.” The company’s eight-person team plans to expand strategically while bringing its Power IC solutions to market in collaboration with strategic partners. Skycore is preparing its first commercial products and aims to meet the growing demand for efficient, scalable power solutions in AI data centers. Skycore’s long-term vision is to become a global leader in Power IC technology for high-voltage architectures across AI data centers and other high-power applications. Team- Pere Llimós Muntal CEO Dennis Øland Larsen CTO Thomas Souvignet VP of Engineering Guifré Vendrell Pausas Head of Hardware #AIInfrastructure #Semiconductors #PowerIC #HVDC #DeepTech #EnergyEfficiency #DataCenters #Cleantech #StartupFunding #SkycoreSemiconductors
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Jarek Pilarczyk
Our newest portfolio company Skycore Semiconductors, a Denmark-based fabless semiconductor company developing Power IC technology for next-generation AI data centers, has raised a €5M seed round. As Balnord, we’re joining the round led by APEX Ventures, alongside First Momentum Ventures and Mätch VC. Skycore is solving one of AI’s biggest infrastructure challenges — power. Their silicon-validated Power IC platform delivers extreme power density and efficiency for 800V HVDC architectures, enabling the AI factories of the future and forming a critical component of Europe’s AI infrastructure and technological autonomy. What I really like about Skycore is how unobvious combinations can lead to real breakthroughs - here, the fusion of power electronics and chip design expertise at DTU - Technical University of Denmark has unlocked a new class of semiconductor technology. Great to partner with Ion Hauer, Dr. Maximilian Ochs, and Dr. Tim Gegg, to support Skycore's great founders: Pere, Dennis, Thomas, and Guifré on this journey. Together with my colleagues from the Balnord team (Marcin, Gabrielė, Hubert, Aleksander, Wojciech), we’re looking forward to being part of it.
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Gustav Eilertsen
Fortum + Google 🚀 announced its singel larges investment into Europe. A strategic partnership to support sustainable growth and electrification in Finland. The collaboration combines long-term clean power supply, new energy investments and the development of future energy solutions, reflecting a broader shift taking place across the industry. The timing couldn't have been better. Since this week, Fortum Innovation & Venturing joined founders and industry experts in London as a program partner for the kickoff of the European cohort of Google for Startups AI & Energy Accelerator, bringing together 16 startups developing solutions at the intersection of AI and energy. One message came through clearly throughout the discussions this week in London: AI and energy are no longer separate conversations. As AI adoption accelerates, demand for clean, reliable and flexible power is growing alongside it. At the same time, AI is helping optimise energy systems, improve asset performance and unlock greater efficiency across the value chain. This growing interdependence creates opportunities far beyond technology alone. It requires collaboration across the ecosystem, from startups and hyperscalers to industry, investors and energy companies. That's where we see an important role for Innovation & Venturing. By combining strategic insight, venture building and investments, we work to identify, build and back opportunities that can accelerate electrification and help shape the future energy system. A big thank you to Google for Startups, the founders and all industry partners contributing to the discussion. We're looking forward to following the journey of this year's cohort. #EnergyInnovation #Electrification #AIAndEnergy #Startups #AcceleratedWithGoogle #Fortum #Google Mikael Ronnblad Annemari Kirppu Natasha Sabel Tapio Poutiainen Kristina Hoff Wanderås Anton Gustavsson Saana Melén Sofia Stenqvist Veronica Hagborg Peter Portman
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Nscale
We’re proud to share that we’ve raised the largest Series C round in Europe at $2 billion. This round values Nscale at $14.6 billion. The round was led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries with participation from Astra Capital Management, Citadel, Dell Technologies, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, NVIDIA, and Point72. This milestone fuels our global buildout of vertically integrated AI infrastructure across Europe, North America, and Asia. Today, we also welcome three new Directors to our board: Sheryl Sandberg, Sue Decker, and Nick Clegg. Each brings substantial global depth across technology, policy, operations, and governance to an already world-class collection of business leaders. Hear directly from our Founder and CEO, Josh Payne, on what this funding round enables in the announcement video below. Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/eXbxKFpt
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Translink Corporate Finance
Translink Corporate Finance acted as the advisor to Tornby Byggmaskiner, a Swedish general rental company, in the sale to Renta, a portfolio company of IK Partners. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dn2aN4-Q #TranslinkCF #CorporateFinance #MergersAndAcquisitions #BusinessServices #CrossBorder #SellSide Fredrik Ullberg, Hannes Hedberg, Hanna Kölerud, Jari Lauriala
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