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Meet the startup that just snagged the first investment from Europe's biggest impact fund – Sifted

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Late last year Stockholm’s Norrsken Foundation launched Europe’s biggest social impact fund for early-stage tech startups. Today the €100m fund announces its first investment.

Norrsken is leading a €2m seed round in Elsa Science, a Swedish startup that has created a digital platform to provide individualised health advice for people suffering with rheumatoid arthritis — a disease that affects about 1% of the world population. 

By investing in companies like Elsa Science, the Norrsken Foundation has explicitly set out to prove that an “impact-first” investment philosophy can also generate market rate returns. The Foundation was launched in 2016 by Klarna cofounder Niklas Adalberth, who quit his role at the digital payments provider to focus on creating a buzz around purpose-driven startups. 

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“Klarna didn’t feel meaningful any longer and I wanted to use my skills to support impact startups instead,” he told Sifted.

The team behind the fund is based out of Norrsken’s hip co-working space in Stockholm and will largely focus on the Nordics, but it will also be looking further afield in Europe.

A “perfect example” for Norrsken

Elsa Science is one of a new wave of startups that are building digital health-tracking tools designed to help people manage chronic illnesses.

Its app lets people keep track of their symptoms, diet and lifestyle, as well as how they are responding to medication. Its users are guided by “Elsa” — a personalised digital assistant, who gives suggestions based on their individual circumstances. 

The goal is to “democratise scientific research”, according to the startup’s cofounder and chief executive Sofia Svanteson, who said that there is a huge amount of research that is tricky for ordinary people to access and act upon.

“It can take up to 17 years before scientific research becomes practical evidence used in clinics and even then it’s only the healthcare providers that have access to this very interesting information,” she said. “We want to use technology to transform this knowledge into something that ordinary people patients can actually use themselves.”

As the first investment made by Norrsken’s new €100m fund, the investment sets the tone for its future. 

Agate Freimane, one of the partners managing the Norrsken impact fund, said the startup is a “perfect example” of the kind of startup they will back in the future. “While the fund will be focused on a broad range of sectors, such as climate change, education, poverty and others, we expect that digital healthcare will be a significant part of the fund as we see a lot of potential in the space at the moment,” she said.

Two layers of impact

A lot of European startups claim to be making social impact but Norrsken has taken a stricter line on its investment criteria. To be chosen, startups need to have “clearly measurable impact” that can be tracked over time.

For Elsa Science, Freimane said she expects to see “two layers of impact”. The first “short term immediate impact” is the extent to which the app’s users see a reduction in their symptoms something that can be measured via the app.

But the impact measurement also goes further than this. The next layer that Freimane wants to see is a reduction in the “cost for society”, measured by a change in the number of sick days that people have to take as a result of the illness.

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Economy

S&P/TSX gains almost 100 points, U.S. markets also higher ahead of rate decision

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TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.

“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.

While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.

Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.

But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.

Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.

“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.

“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.

A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.

It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.

More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.

“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.

In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.

“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.

The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Economy

S&P/TSX composite down more than 200 points, U.S. stock markets also fall

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.

The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Economy

S&P/TSX composite up more than 150 points, U.S. stock markets also higher

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.

The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.

The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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