Luminar Ventures announces a second closing of its now $60M venture fund, and adding Linda Höglund as General Partner
Founded by successful angel investors Magnus Bergman and Jacob Key, together with Stockholm Innovation and Growth (“Sting”), the fund has established itself as a leading seed VC fund in Sweden with 8 investments done in 2018 and more to be announced shortly.
Luminar Ventures has made a $60M second close of its fund, and appointed Linda Höglund General Partner of the fund. Linda has a unique background in leading positions in fast scaling tech companies and unicorns, including Klarna, one of the largest European fintech companies and Grab, the leading ride-hailing platform in South East Asia. She has also been CFO/Deputy CEO at game developer Dice and part of the acquisition by Electronic Arts where she became CFO for the games division in Europe. Linda has since the launch of the fund been part of Luminar Ventures’ investment team and will now become General Partner together with Jacob and Magnus.
“We are thrilled to have Linda on the partnership team. Linda has a long and successful background as entrepreneur and in management positions in global unicorns. She really knows what is required to scale tech companies and has a unique ability to drive execution and strategic direction. Linda has already showed that she is an invaluable member of the team, and she will be a tremendous partner to our portfolio companies preparing for global growth.”, says Jacob Key.
“I am very happy to be joining as a General Partner and to work even more closely with our portfolio companies. With my background in other high growth tech companies I will focus on preparing and supporting our portfolio teams with their further expansion”, says Linda Höglund
“Linda has unique talents that combines her long-term strategic thinking with an exceptional effective hand on execution. She is also a great leader, covering a very broad spectrum and we are super excited that she now steps up as full partner”, says Magnus Bergman.
Luminar Ventures is an active seed venture fund that adds more than just financing to its investments. The team has during its first year run strategic and growth workshops, supported with key talent recruiting, run team culture projects, helped develop growth ready financial models, supported the teams with value adding sustainability work, made introduction to other investors, etc. The operational support has been provided both through Luminar Ventures’ core team and its extended network of strategic partners.
About Luminar
Luminar is a Swedish based venture capital fund focused on early stage start-ups with global scale and ambitions. Founded by experienced entrepreneurs and angel investors Magnus Bergman and Jacob Key, Luminar provides early stage capital, network and hands-on company-building support to leading start-up teams throughout Sweden helping them build the next global success stories.
Sting and KTH Holding AB are both minority owners of the holding company of the fund. They support the fund with a strong deal flow and access to their respective innovation platforms and networks. Luminar has also built up an active network of venture partners across Sweden and within multiple industry verticals.
The Team
The members of the Luminar Ventures are all founders and entrepreneurs themselves in numerous tech ventures. Magnus Bergman, General Partner, was the first investor in Truecaller and an early stage investor in other success stories such as Prezi, Soundtrap, Karma, and others. Magnus also founded the highly respected IT consultant Parallel Consulting Group that was sold to Icon Medialab for around 500 MSEK. Jacob Key, General Partner, has made early stage investments and actively supported companies such as Challengermode, Gavagai, Unacast and FirstVet — with 3 successful exits in Sportamore, Vera&John and Vetzoo. Jacob previously held a Global Business Development position at Warner Music Group, where he was paramount in the transformation of the music industry through strategic partnerships with companies such as Spotify, Soundcloud, Tidal and others. Jacob has also founded Mediatude and Globalmouth, two mobile technology companies.
Linda Höglund, General Partner and CFO has a background as global CFO at fast scaling unicorns, including Klarna in Europe and Grab in South East Asia. She was before this CFO/Deputy CEO at game developer Dice and CFO for Electronics Arts games division in Europe. In 2000 Linda co-founded Bluefactory, one of the first mobile game studios.
Daniel Karsberg, Investment Manager, joins Luminar from his most recent role as Investment Manager at Creathor Venture, where he led its Nordic operations. Daniel was also part of the growth team at Izettle.
Words from the Start up Community
“Magnus was involved in the earliest phase of Truecaller and greatly contributed to the development of our company”, said Alan Mamedi, CEO and co-founder of Truecaller. “Magnus’s understanding of scaling a global tech company helped us enable our early growth and Magnus has been our strategic sounding board ever since”
“Jacob has been instrumental as an investor in our company”, said Robel Efrem, CEO & Co-founder of Challengermode. “Before we launched our product Jacob helped set the right strategy for us to move forward and was also involved in setting up the right partnerships that has increased our impact on the market”
About The Swedish Venture Initiative
The Swedish Venture Initiative is an initiative created by cooperation between Tillväxtverket and the European Investment Fund and financed under European Structural and Investment Funds
About Saminvest AB
Saminvest AB is a Swedish government owned company that invests in privately operated venture capital funds, with a focus on Swedish based investments
