The panel on Navigating Scaleup Funding and Risks, moderated by Boel Rydenå-Swartling, featured a panel of women across the financing landscape. Maria Groschopp Dellwik of Nasdaq, Anna Skarborg of P Capital Partners, and Sofia Graflund of EQT Ventures. They shared insights on scaling companies, the current state of capital funding in Europe and Sweden, and how we can bridge the significant funding gap. A standout message? Infrastructure funding should be fun, cost-effective, and safe. But also, when we think about competitiveness, we should also think about quality of life and why many people choose Europe.

In the afternoon, we heard about cleantech on the global stage, with actors representing different markets across the world. As well as a panel diving into building a green industry. The questions we were posed with? What does the cleantech landscape look like in different geographies? What does it take for companies to scale beyond their local markets? Importantly, we also heard from both Qvantum International and Skeleton Technologies, sharing their growth journeys and participating and building a green industry as we speak.

A final message we take with us is that there is a need for policymakers to create a level playing field for green industry markets to work as intended. Since this is not always the case, and because of the realities of the climate crisis, there is the need for public funding 2.0 to help accelerate the green industry in Europe.

We organized a a Masterclass in Fit for Purpose Funding, as part of Sweden Sustaintech Venture Day. With exports across the financing landscape, the day was focused on learning, networking, and understanding how to scale a cleantech company.

Sofia Graflund from EQT Ventures dived into the The Climate Brick framework, pointing out the differences in scaling climate and deep tech companies versus more traditional, software solutions. With the high capex costs many companies face, we need to think differently about the scaling journey.

Anna Skarborg from P Capital Partners shed light on the role non-sponsored credit can play in a scaling journey, and explained how they lend money directly to entrepreneurs without diluting ownership.

Teppo Havo, Danske Bank Growth, gave us a clear walkthrough in the traditional banking approach, versus the banking approach for scaling and growth companies. What do we take with us? The three C’s! Cash, cashflow, and collaterals!

Fredrik Larsson, representing Nefco – the Nordic Green Bank, highlighted the ever so important ”missing middle”, and the role Nefco can play as an actor which can finance Nordic SMEs with a higher financial risk profile than is acceptable for most commerical banks. He also left us with an inspiring message, pointing out how green companies – in the room with us right now – are demonstrating a huge industrial transformation.

Carl-Johan Karlsson Johan from EKN Exportkreditnämnden shared some impressive numbers with us. Sweden’s exports of goods and services make up 46% of the country’s GDP, and 40% of those exports come from SMEs. As he introduced EKN’s Green Credit Guarantee and other tools aimed at boosting start-up funding, it became clear that EKN is a force to be reckoned with.

Isabella Gustafsson Ismodes, representing the Swedish Energy Agency, delivered an inspiring message while explaining their financial support for projects: the SEA actually likes risk! Since they finance projects rather than companies, it’s acceptable if a project fails—there’s still valuable knowledge to be gained. One piece of advice from Isabella: State aid is actually prohibited, but there are exemptions. Familiarize yourself with these exemptions to make application processes easier.

Finally, Albert Wållgren and Henrik Ossborn from Vinge took us on a journey in offtake agreements and their role in debt financing. Our audience of startups left with something close to a to-do list of what to think about before setting up these agreements. Through the eyes of banking lawyers, they provided valuable insights into the bankability factors that need to be addressed, offering much food for thought from a bankability perspective.

A big thank you to Vinge also for hosting us during this educational and inspiring event!