Summa Equity founder Reynir Indahl is no fan of the term ‘impact investing’

Reynir Indahl, founder and managing partner of Sweden’s Summa Equity, is not a huge fan of the term “impact investing." 

“I think to have impact investing as a separate category is not right: Every business that an investor invests in is either creating positive or negative externalities, and if they aren't realising that, they should think about it,” Indahl told Tech.eu in an exclusive interview. “If they have negative externalities that do not transition into positive externalities, that business will be dead in a few years, or not valuable.”

However we label it, VCs with at least one impact investing fund are on the rise, and Summa Equity is itself striding ahead in the space. It has around €3.9 billion in AUM, and 25 portfolio companies. Since its third fund closed at a whopping €2.3 billion in January—making it the largest European impact fund to date — they have acquired financial security startup Intix, led a $100 million investment round in smart-energy supplier Tibber, and, co-invested in second-hand auction platform TBAuctions.