Since 2008, the Swedish media Ny Teknik has been nominated every year Sweden’s 33 most promising young technology companies. The technology areas are broad, ranging from energy solutions to pharmaceuticals, from electric aircraft to steel manufacturing. But all 33 companies have one thing in common: they are based on their own technical innovation with the potential to become a leader in their field and reach an international market. We are thrilled to count four companies from our portfolio that we have been supported since the very early stage in 2022 ranking – selected among not less than 300 companies.

Altris has developed a new way of producing a sodium-ion cathode material – both much more efficiently and using only renewable materials and makes it to the ranking for the third year in a row! Last spring, Altris raised €9.6 Million (100 MSEK) in a Series A funding round. The funding secures Altris’ production scale-up of the company’s innovative battery cathode material, Fennac^®, to 2 000 tonnes, enabling 1 GWh of sustainable batteries and further research and development of sodium-ion batteries to take place.

Entering the prestigious ranking for the first time is NitroCapt. The promising company has invented a novel chemical process, SUNIFIX^®, for the production of climate-neutral nitrogen fertilizers in order to contribute to both agricultural sustainability and productivity. The process is competitive with today's fossil-based processes. Earlier this year, the company received public and private funding of close to 3M€ to build their first pilot plant.

Peafowl Plasmonics makes it again to the ranking after a previous nomination in 2020. The company was founded in 2018 to commercialize the world’s first direct plasmonic solar cell, with applications in self-powered dynamic windows and integrated power supply for smart sensors and electronic devices. The patented photovoltaic technology used is the most transparent on the market (over 90% transparent) and can be placed indoors, outdoors, and on almost any surface, enhancing aesthetics and increasing design options.

Percy Roc is another promising start-up, nominated in the Top 33 Swedish start-ups for the first time. The company revolutionizes industrial heating with the use of microwave technology - enabling homogeneous heating of industry materials to promote higher quality while saving time and energy. Percy Roc’s technology for controlled microwave heating can be used in several different industries, such as aerospace, defense, aeronautics, automotive, wind energy and transportation. Currently their primary focus is on the manufacturing of carbon fiber composites, where homogeneous heating makes a huge difference as it dramatically reduces the number of cracks stemming from irregular heating processes.

“We are very happy to see again four of the start-ups we support in NyTeknik 33-list. Many of the companies which have been on this list previously have achieved tremendous success and we are convinced that Altris, NitroCapt, Peafowl Plasmonics and Percy Roc will follow the same path”, says Ingvar Eriksson, Investment Director at EIT InnoEnergy Scandinavia. “The respective teams are driven and talented, they have a great vision and aim for massive impact, so this nomination doesn’t come as a surprise to us - they definitively belong to this list. Still we are excited that they receive the recognition they deserve.”