ABOUT SARSIA SEED
Sarsia Seed is one of four national seed capital funds in Norway, and is financed by public and private investors on a 50/50 basis. The funds vary in their areas of investment and geographical location across Norway:
Stavanger: SåkornInvest (www.sakorn.no)
Oslo: Alliance Venture Polaris (www.allianceventure.com)
Trondheim: ProVenture (www.proventure.no)
The total size of Sarsia Seed Fund is 333.5 million NOK of which up to 33 million NOK may be invested into any single company. Because of the partly public funding of the seed funds certain limitations exists to co-investments between them and in relation to some types of government grants.
Sarsia Seed operates on a 100% commercial basis, and all decision pertaining to investments and divestments are taken by the Fund board.
The prospects into which the Fund invests must necessarily be in the form of companies, and the Fund’s life span is up to 15 years.
Sarsia Seed aims, through its investments, to contribute to the value development of companies, with investments being realised upon trade-sales or IPOs within the funds time horizon..
BACKGROUND
Sarsia Seed is part of a larger commercialication and investment cluster located at the VilVite Centre which is a science discovery centre for the promotion of science and technology in Bergen. The combined capital assets under management of the Sarsia group of companies exceed 700 million NOK. The Sarsia group itself is part of a larger venture value chain located at the VilVite Centre.
The origins of the Sarsia group of companies date back to 1996 and stem from the University of Bergen. This commercialisation initiative was consolidated with the foundation of Forinnova in 1999. By 2001, Forinnova had evolved into an early-stage investor, and later went on to become Sarsia Innovation.
The Sarsia group has, over past 10 years, developed in excess of 230 prospects, founded more than 25 companies, in addition to carrying out several licensing deals and trade-sales to industry and venture players, and one IPO. |
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Sarsia Life Science Fund AS is a venture fund targeting life science opportunities in the Nordic region. The fund has 337 million NOK under management (40 mEUR) and is managed by Sarsia Venture Management AS. |
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Sarsia Innovation finances and develops research projects into commercially attractive investment prospects. Sarsia Innovation has been a driving force in the establishment of an efficient and comprehensive commercialisation apparatus in Bergen, and has been instrumental in the establishment of Nyskapningsparken, Sarsia Seed and Sarsia Life Science Fund.
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Bergen Teknologioverføring AS (BTO) is the technology transfer office in Bergen. BTO supports 8 research institutions in Bergen in commercialisation and technology transfer of research results. |
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Nyskapningsparken provides a business incubator with space to house 23 office/work rooms, and offers courses in innovation and entrepreneurship. Nyskapningsparken is a scholastic collaboration between the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, the University of Bergen, Bergen National Academy of Arts, and Bergen University College. |
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Marin Forvaltning AS, which is an investment fund management company with a focus on aquaculture, is co-located with the Sarsia group of companies. Marin Forvaltning is currently managing its second fund of 200 million NOK and focuses primarily on cod fish farming.
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