The Swedish foundation wants to invest in European firms that can solve the greatest challenges of our time, and will look to find startups that are tackling climate, health, food, education, and society more broadly.
Norrsken Foundation is committing €300m from its Norrsken VC, Norrsken Launcher and Norrsken Accelerator funds to invest in European startups using AI to find solutions to major challenges in climate, health, food, education, and society.
The Norrsken Foundation, a non-profit impact organisation, was founded in 2016 by Niklas Adalberth, the founder of payments services giant Klarna, to support the impact ecosystem. It manages assets of more than $750m (€639.6) across several venture capital and investment funds.
“Artificial intelligence is the most powerful tool humanity has ever created. Yet, so far we are mainly using it to optimise clicks and automate emails. Helpful, yes. But we’ve barely scratched the surface of what this technology can do. AI is not just another productivity boost; it’s a real chance to fix what truly matters,” Norrsken Foundation said.
AI as a source of good
Last year, AI startups raised more than $110bn in venture capital funding, a growth of 62% on 2023, according to Dealroom’s AI Summit 2025 report.
“AI has placed godlike power at our fingertips. The question is what we choose to do with it. The world doesn’t need another sales agent. We need bigger prompts,” Norrsken said.
Recent breakthroughs in AI have “changed the equation”, Norrsken said. It added that the new technology is now capable of reducing food waste through precision agriculture, optimising entire energy systems, speeding up drug discovery and detecting diseases earlier.
“The most valuable companies are the ones that solve what truly matters. And no other problems are as massive or as urgent to address as these. Clean energy, healthcare, education, and food systems – the first trillion-euro companies will be built by problem engineers solving global challenges at scale,” Norrsken said.
