Frude Iglebaek

Frode Iglebæk is a Trondheim-based entrepreneur, corporate-finance advisor and investor. In 2005 he co-founded Impello Management AS, a networked corporate-finance and innovation-commercialization firm in Trondheim, where he serves as a founding and managing partner. Impello advises on M&A, capital raising, valuation and strategy, and since its founding has run more than 100 transaction assignments and hundreds of consulting/management-for-hire projects; it is also known for its annual "Impello Report" mapping the Trondheim technology cluster (500+ tech companies and roughly 10,000 employees). The firm's advisory business has since been absorbed into Azets (the former impello.no site now redirects to azets.com).

His professional background spans roughly two decades in the consulting industry as a serial entrepreneur, with deep experience in project financing and the commercialization of R&D and technology-based business concepts originating from NTNU, SINTEF, Statoil (Equinor) and small-and-medium enterprises. He was educated in NTNU's Industrial Ecology environment, which underpins his focus on energy and sustainability-driven technology.

Since 2023 Iglebæk has been CEO and co-founder of Cartesian AS (branded Cartesian Energy), a spin-off from SINTEF Energy that develops the "Thermal Box" — a modular thermal-energy-storage battery using phase-change (biowax) materials to store surplus heat and release it on demand for large heating and cooling systems. He was recruited into the venture by SINTEF TTO investment manager Asle Jostein Hovda, a former colleague, and works alongside CTO/founder Alexis Sevault. Under his leadership Cartesian has grown to a small team, begun installations across Norway, Denmark, France, Czechia and the Middle East, and won the Nordic Innovation Award 2025 and Design Plus 2025.

• Backs seed and early-stage technology companies, with a strong tilt toward energy technology, cleantech and deep-tech spin-offs from Norway's research base (NTNU, SINTEF).
• Combines the roles of operator, advisor and angel — his conviction shows in putting personal capital to work: at Cartesian, most of the small founding team, including Iglebæk, invested their own money into the company.
• Values founder-market and personal fit: he describes the partnership with co-founder Alexis Sevault as working because they "share a worldview," with similar personalities and a technological leaning.
• Motivated by mission-scale problems — he frames his current work as tackling "the world's biggest challenge – providing the world with enough green energy."
• Through Impello, his lens is grounded in commercial rigor (valuation, capital structuring, M&A readiness) rather than pure vision — useful for founders needing to translate research into a fundable business.