Swedish cleantech investors are making moves at home...

.. slowly. And the steps aren't that big.

But things are happening. Recently, Sustainable Technology Partners Nordic invested 15 million SEK in Swebo from Boden, northern Sweden. Swebo is (was) a family owned company, providing plants and equipment for bioenergy generation, with an focus on efficient combustion solutions of non-refined feedstocks.

And the 15th of June, Capman announced that they, together with SEB Venture Capital and Aloe Private Group, will acquire 80% of the shares in KMW, a company delivering medium-to-large scale biomass CHP plants. The company is based in Norrtälje, north of Stockholm.

Both these companies have in common a long tradition, stable development, quality products of proven technologies on a growing international market. They are no brand new "stars", with a hyped technology and high expectations based un uncertain assumptions. The message is quite clear from Swedish cleantech investors, at least so far.
Let's do some predictions. Next targets may include Hotab-Gruppen. 30 years in the combustion market, with turnkey biomass plants for multiple feedstocks. They also have a clear export focus, especially directed towards the Eastern European market. It is family owned, and venture capital influx would facilitate further expansion. Other potential candidates may be Janfire and Petrokraft.

Companies with a shorter history, and expectations rather than a solid sales record, might find it harder to attract domestic investors. That may affect more or less hyped, innovation-based companies. A few examples: Ecoera, Chromogenics and Lignoboost
(Don't get me wrong, I am not judging their products, only their short term possibilities to access Swedish venture capital.)

Another possible future trend may be horizontal integration, takeovers and fusions between the cleantech companies themselves, which was the case when Nibe acquired Iwabo Naturenergi