Northvolt, the Swedish battery giant, has been given a vote of confidence by one of its VC backers, which says it's “very optimistic” about the startup, despite it recently shedding 1,600 workers.
Agate Freimane, general partner, Norrsken VC, a Swedish impact investor, was speaking on the Tech.eu podcast along with Pablo Pedrejon, partner at Madrid-based impact VC fund Seaya.
The pair discussed their latest impact funds and the opportunities and challenges of impact investing.
Asked about Northvolt, in light of it shedding 1,600 jobs, Freimane said:
“It is still really, really important to emphasise just the insane size of this project.
“It’s literally one of Europe’s biggest infrastructure projects. Like the European infrastructure, especially the European EV structure almost single-handedly depends on the success of Northvolt.
“It’s an insanely big undertaking, so of course they are going to hit their bumps along the road and hence they have been making the headlines.
“I still want to be very optimistic and say that ‘show me one tech company that has really succeeded at the levels that Northvolt has and hasn’t hit headlines from time to time?’
“So I think my key takeaway here is that we really need to understand what an incredible role they play in kind of transitioning the whole European infrastructure.
“Quite frankly, without Northvolt, we are never going to meet our EV transition targets. It’s clear as night and day.”
The EU has banned the sale of new CO2-emitting cars from 2035, although some EU governments are calling for a repeal of the ban.
The EU’s move to cleaner cars is part of its promise to cut planet-heating pollution 65% from 1990 levels by the end of the decade, and hit net zero by 2045.
Northvolt cut 1,600 jobs in response to “headwinds” blowing through the electric car industry.
The company is seen as Europe’s most promising contender to China’s battery producers.
Northvolt, which has raised $11bn since it was founded in 2016, is currently trying to raise $600m, according to Swedish media.
Norrsken backed Northvolt as part of its $2.75bn 2021 fundraise.
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