Unleashing growth in Europe’s technology champions: Meet the EQT Growth team
When EQT Growth was founded in 2020, our team was united by three key beliefs: (1) that digital transformation is ubiquitous, disruptive and accelerating, (2) that doing good is good business, and (3) that Europe is creating some of the most globally innovative companies. It’s this passion for technology and Europe, together with our absolute commitment to sustainability, that drives EQT Growth.
Europe’s technology sector is going from strength to strength. It is producing a growing number of $1 billion tech companies, with approximately 70 in total, out of which 27 or so were minted in the first quarter of 2021. The aggregate value of these companies increased nearly five times from 2014 to 2020, from $89 billion in 2014 to over $400 billion in 2020. And yet, historically late-stage funding has been dominated by non-European investors — in fact, 90% of deals over $100 million in 2019 involved non-European investors. The time is now for European investors to take the lead and catalyse Europe’s leading tech companies to the world stage.
EQT Growth’s mission is to unleash growth in Europe’s technology champions, while being the most reputable investors and partners to founders and management teams. We do this by exploring thematic growth opportunities at the point companies are beginning to scale, investing in a range of technology and technology-enabled businesses across Europe. At EQT Growth we take a thematic approach to identifying winners, broadly focusing on companies in four sectors: Enterprise Tech, Con/Prosumer Tech, Health Tech and Climate Tech.
We are also purpose-driven, ensuring that all our portfolio companies have a positive global impact, in alignment with the UN’s SDGs, and are positioned for long-term success. EQT Growth leverages the broader EQT platform to bring operational and industrial expertise to the table, for example, through our in-house Digital Bus Dev team and our Capital Markets and IPO readiness teams. We also benefit from EQT’s global network of over 500 advisors, all of whom are domain specialists and have operating scaling expertise. Working in 24 offices globally, from San Francisco to Shanghai, the global EQT team has unparalleled experience of supporting entrepreneurs from Seed stage all the way through to IPO and beyond.
EQT Growth has already made investments into two of the Nordic’s most exciting tech innovators: Wolt and Epidemic Sound. Wolt is a leading global food delivery marketplace, operating in more than 23 countries and over 150 cities, and EQT is supporting Wolt on its accelerated expansion journey as well as new product adjacencies. Epidemic Sound is a market leading platform for restriction-free music that collaborates with musicians all over the world. We’re backing Epidemic Sound’s expansion in both existing and new international markets, as well as supporting their accelerated customer acquisition and investments in the core user experience. There’s much more to come so watch this space…
Our fast-growing team brings together over 125 years of technology and investing experience, with deep networks in local markets and unique expertise in scaling technology companies. We’re led by Marc Brown, who joined EQT Growth from Microsoft, where he oversaw their M&A and strategic investment activities, leading more than 185 acquisitions (including LinkedIn, GitHub and Minecraft) and 80 strategic equity investments (including Flipkart, Databricks and Graphcore). Marc is joined by Carolina Brochado, former partner at Softbank’s Vision Fund and Atomico, who has experience across several investment disciplines, including private equity, venture capital, growth and early stage startups.
Joining Marc and Carolina are EQT veterans Victor Englesson, Dominik Stein, Johan Svanström and Henrik Landgren. Victor and Dominik are both Partners and join from EQT Private Capital’s TMT team, where together they have invested nearly €10 billion in the sector. Johan and Henrik are also both Partners and they join from EQT Ventures, EQT’s dedicated VC arm. Prior to EQT Ventures, both Johan and Henrik were operators — Johan most recently led Hotels.com at Expedia and has led teams within the technology sector for the past 20 years, while Henrik built Spotify’s global analytics team. In total, the EQT Growth team currently stands at 14 people, with the team based across Europe — from Spain through to Sweden.
EQT Growth is powered by Motherbrain, EQT’s proprietary AI-based Investment Platform designed to identify trends, enable data driven insights and work-flows, and source potential investment opportunities. It’s this combination of a diverse and experienced team with the power of Motherbrain that makes EQT Growth’s investment approach so effective.
It’s a truly exciting time for all of us here at EQT Growth. Europe’s technology scene is booming and we can’t wait to continue to unleash growth in the region’s champions. We hope you will follow us along on the journey!
