EUVC #216 Agate Freimane, Norrsken VC

Today we're happy to welcome Agate Freimane, Founding Partner of Norrsken, one of Europe's leading impact venture capital funds born out of Norrsken Foundation, which hosts events, operates co-working spaces, and runs accelerator programmes across the Nordics, Iberia, and Eastern Africa.<br />Their fund is dedicated to investing in early-stage startups focusing primarily in climate tech and they've led the investments into almost 50 companies, highlights including Northvolt, Einride, 1komma5 and Matsmart.<br /><br />Jump to the parts that matter to you 🎧<br />00:00:00 - "Tear down this wall"<br />00:01:04 - Disclaimer and Introduction<br />00:03:10 - Journey into venture<br />00:12:00 - Impact Investing in Europe<br />00:15:24 - The Decline of Opportunity Funds and LP Appetite<br />00:17:52 - Shifting Topics in the Impact Space<br />00:18:27 - LP Appetite & The Challenging Environment <br />00:22:09 - The Drive for ESG Reporting in Europe<br />00:24:49 - The Challenge of Impact as a Business Model<br />00:28:19 - The Importance of Finding the Right Problems<br />00:31:02 - Agate’s Core Learnings in Life <br />00:36:12 - Building Team and Culture as a VC Firm<br />00:38:23 - Assumptions and Feedback in Team Building and Culture<br />00:39:38 - Capital Deployment and Small Bad Bets<br />00:40:31 - Ego in VC & Professional Development <br />00:45:19 - Regrets and Priorities<br />00:45:35 - Top Tips for Fundraising In Europe