Norrsken To Invest $348 Million in European Startups Using “AI for Good”

The Swedish non-profit Norrsken Foundation announced on Wednesday that its investment arm will commit €300 million—around $348 million—to European startups using “AI for good.” The funds will be allocated to projects addressing challenges in climate, health, education, food, and society.

In an open letter, Norrsken—established in 2016 by Klarna’s co-founder Niklas Adalberth—acknowledged that AI represents a “godlike intelligence” capable of significant breakthroughs with an impact comparable to the Industrial Revolution. However, the foundation emphasized the need to develop new technologies that can “fix what truly matters” and take a different approach from today’s commercial trends.

“The Industrial Revolution brought explosive economic growth, but it also laid the foundation for the environmental crises we face today,” states the letter. “That’s why we’re committing €300 million from our Norrsken VC, Norrsken Launcher and Norrsken Accelerator funds to European startups using AI for good: to solve challenges in climate, health, food, education, and society.”

Norrsken highlighted that only last year, AI startups raised $110 billion in VC funding, which is around one-third of VC investments in the world. It noted that investors worldwide clearly believe in AI’s potential, but it criticized what it sees as a narrow current focus, such as AI-powered tools for sales and marketing.

“The world doesn’t need another sales agent,” states the document. “AI can now optimise entire energy systems, accelerate drug discovery, detect diseases earlier, and decode biology faster than ever. It can power precision agriculture and dramatically reduce food waste.”

The foundation considers that AI technology holds the power to solve problems that have been affecting our society for many years, and that we are living a historic moment for innovation.

Norrsken recently participated in a funding round to support the startup evroc in its mission to build data centers and advance European technological sovereignty.