Lena Forsgren

Lena Fridlund Forsgren is a Umeå-based venture investor who has spent more than 20 years in and around the software and telecom industries, in Sweden and Silicon Valley, before and during her investing career. She is trained as a civil engineer (Master of Science) with a specialization in industrial economics and computer/data engineering, having studied at Luleå University of Technology.

She has worked in venture capital since roughly 2013, when she joined Almi Invest as an Investment Manager; before that she was an Investment Manager at Innovationsbron (a predecessor public seed-investment body later merged into Almi). Since 2016 she has served as Investment Manager at Partnerinvest Norr (Partnerinvest Övre Norrland), the regional co-investment fund jointly owned by Almi Invest and Norrlandsfonden that invests in scalable growth companies across Norrbotten and Västerbotten.

In her role she sources and leads seed and early-growth investments, takes board seats in portfolio companies, and works hands-on with founders on business development and follow-on financing. She is also a recurring voice on how founders should pitch — she has presented on "succeeding with your pitch" at Åre Business Forum, and is listed among the forum's investor faculty.

• Stage & structure: Seed and early growth. Initial investments are usually ~1–4 million SEK, capped around 10 million SEK per company over a 3–7 year horizon. Partnerinvest "always co-invests with private partners" and rarely takes more than ~50% of a round — so a founder needs a lead or syndicate partner alongside them.
• Sector-neutral but tech-leaning: The fund is explicitly sector-neutral "provided the business model is scalable and has international potential." Lena's own emphasis is tech companies in ICT/software and the industrial sector, reflecting her engineering and telecom background.
• What makes her say yes: A cohesive entrepreneurial team with complementary competencies, a scalable and sustainable business model, and national/international market potential from a base in northern Sweden.
• Regional mandate: Companies must be anchored in Norrbotten or Västerbotten — the fund exists to build the northern-Sweden startup ecosystem.
• In her own words on a recent climate deal: "ClimateView is a prominent and award-winning climate fintech company in our region with a fantastic team... with this capital, the company will be able to help more cities."