NORWAY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Nicolai Julsvoll, Øyvind Mork Karlsen and Jørn Hove, Thommessen
The Recent Evolution of Norway’s Venture Capital Landscape The Norwegian venture capital scene has seen rapid growth in recent years. Oslo is the major hub, with a significant and expanding ecosystem of innovation spaces, accelerators, hubs and investors. Key industrial, educational and finan - cial centres such as Trondheim, Stavanger and Bergen also have a notable presence of start- ups and investors. Major investors are often not limited by geography or sectors, owing to the limited size of the country and market. Norwegian early-stage companies, predomi - nantly structured as private limited liability com - panies ( Aksjeselskap , or AS), operate under the Norwegian Private Limited Liability Companies Act (the “Companies Act” ). Any reference to “company” in this article will be a reference to a private limited liability company. Further, for the sake of ease, start-ups, scale-ups, growth companies or other early-stage companies will be referred to as early-stage companies if not otherwise stated. The Norwegian venture capital market Apart from early-stage companies, key players in the Norwegian start-up ecosystem and ven - ture capital market are angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and incubators/ accelerators. Incubators and accelerators Several organisations in Norway market them - selves as incubators and accelerators, helping start-ups and early-stage companies with key aspects of starting and scaling their businesses – for example, by way of advisory boards and mentoring, business development, office facili - ties – and also financing by way of direct invest - ment or access to angel investors or venture capitalists. Certain incubators invest by way of
their own fund structures and have substantial early-stage portfolios. The incubators are typi - cally centred around key institutions for higher education in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim and also provide networking for prospective entre - preneurs, helping match founders, investors, advisers and related ideas. Certain key incubators provide templates and resources that are often used by start-ups, nota - bly shareholders’ agreements and SLIP (Start- up’s Lead Investment Paper) – akin to the Ameri - can SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) – agreements, ensuring similar documentation in many Norwegian venture deals. Some major ear - ly-stage investors also use their own standard - ised and investor-friendly templates for invest - ment agreements, as well as for shareholders’ agreements for their portfolio companies. Venture capitalists and private equity Norway is home to a significant amount of ven - ture capitalists (including seed funds), family offices and private equity firms. Certain venture capitalists are sector-focused and dedicated to investments in companies in a certain phase. However, the limited size of the market leads some venture capitalists to target opportunities in different stages of development and to invest in venture funds instead of making direct invest - ments. Recent years have also seen an influx of cor - porate venture capital by way of venture capital subsidiaries of foreign and domestic blue-chip companies. Typically, the venture capital subsid - iaries will invest in or collaborate with start-ups within sectors relevant to the parent company or group in order to drive growth and gain access to new technology and business development.
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