Investing in sustainable competitive advantages
SEB Venture Capital, which invests in privately-held companies with growth potential, currently has SEK 2.4 billion in assets under management.
Our main investment areas are emerging companies within technology and life science as well as more mature growth companies in most sectors.
Since we started in 1995, SEB Venture Capital has made 95 investments and divested 60 of them. Buyers include major industry players such as Motorola, Nortel, Intel, Astra Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Biovitrum. A number of our ventures have gone public during or after our time as owner.
We invest in sustainable growth – preferably in companies with unique products, services or market positions - that offer a sustainable competitive advantage, with an international potential. In most cases, these are important prerequisites needed to create long-term profitability. Another key investment criterion is a skilled and committed management team that is, or wants to be, co-owners of the company.
To us, partnership is always important. A requirement for any investment is the formulation of an ownership plan, which describes consensus between us and the other shareholders regarding the company's long-term goals.
Our investment horizon is typically four to seven years, a time-frame during which we strive to change the ownership structure of the company – through an industrial sale, a financial sale or an IPO.
Our main investment area is the Nordic region, but we also make technology investments in the UK and growth investments in the Baltics.