Norwegian.AI to launch €100 million fund to invest in artificial intelligence

A new investment fund tipped to be NOK 1 billion (€100 million) called Norwegian.AI was revealed today, which will invest in artificial intelligence in Norway.

NOK 100 million (€10 million) has been committed to the fund already, according to the announcement at Katapult Future Fest.

The fund’s founding partners are: Tharald Nustad (head of Nordic Impact), Edvard Engeseth (cofounder of Nurx), Kristoffer Roil and Alexander Hagerup (cofounders of Vic.ai) and Anders H. Lier (cofounder of Katapult Accelerator, chairman of EXP Group).

“Norwegian.AI will focus on creating financial rewards while contributing to solving big environmental and social problems. With exponential technology we can exponentially make our world a better place. NOK 100 million are already committed and we invite more people to join the fund,” said Lier.

The UK has commanded most of the AI investment in Europe with Germany and France following suit. The founders claim that with the right support and investment network, Norway can compete with these other countries on AI.

Norway risks being left behind in the AI sector, said cofounder Hagerup, but pointed to the country’s highly-educated population as an advantage. “We have to seize the opportunities we can and transition from a great but slumbering oil nation to an exponential technology nation,” he said.

Norwegian.AI runs an accelerator program in Oslo and New York while the founders of the fund are also running a competition to find Norway’s best AI company with the first prize of around NOK 10 million (€1 million).

Follow the developments in the technology world. What would you like us to deliver to you?
Your subscription registration has been successfully created.