Investors want more 'resilience' startups – but say the pipeline is thin

Tuesday morning's event brought together investors, entrepreneurs, and other key players in the impact space to discuss the theme: Investing in and building resilience companies in food, forestry and agriculture.

During a panel discussion, representatives from leading Swedish investors – Andreas Hörnfeldt (Head of New Business at Sweden's largest forest owners' association), Johanna Rahm Juhlin (Head of Investments at LRF Ventures, the farmers' association in Sweden), and Rebecka Kornfeld (Senior Associate at stately owned venture capital firm Industrifonden) – all voiced strong interest in solutions that can make food production, farming, and forestry in Sweden more efficient, resilient, or innovative.

"Pipeline is limited"

Södra backs forest startups with ticket sizes of around €1m per company. Its portfolio includes Nordic Forestry Automation (NFA), which has developed an AI system to support thinning decisions in forestry, and Nordluft, which is building drone-based solutions for forest management.

"We like our niche, but the challenge is that the pipeline is limited," said Andreas Hörnfeldt. "We invest in companies that are a good fit for our portfolio, rather than trying to fill a quota."

He noted that the forestry sector urgently needs to become more resilient and find better alternatives to fossil-based products by switching to wood-based solutions.

Lots of hubs – not always best at connecting them

LRF Ventures, which focuses on sustainable food systems, is actively seeking new partnerships with startups working to make agriculture more robust and climate-smart.

"We aim to be a long-term partner. Often, we serve as a bridge between early innovation funding and later-stage venture capital," said Rahm Juhlin. "We'd love to reach more startups. There are loads of hubs and innovation networks out there, but we're not always the best at connecting with them."

Open to dual-use

Industrifonden also invests in food and forestry-related companies, although it doesn't have a specific sector mandate. According to Rebecka Kornfeld, the fund prefers to invest in companies that already have customers and where the technical risk is relatively low.

"We take a deep dive into the business model and scalability before we invest," she said.

Founded by the Swedish government in 1979, Industrifonden is now an independent venture capital fund focused on emerging technologies in life sciences, deeptech, and transformative tech — essentially, any innovation that improves industries or daily life.

Kornfeld noted that Industrifonden is increasingly open to "dual-use" technologies, which can serve both civilian and military purposes.

"Defence tech used to be a no-go for us, but the dual-use label has opened up new opportunities. It's definitely an area we're exploring," she added.

"Stick to our niche"

But where exactly do we draw the line between resilience, defence tech, and dual-use? And how much do buzzwords like these actually shape the market?

"We stick to our niche, regardless of trends," said Rahm Juhlin. "But food security is absolutely a matter of national defence."

Hörnfeldt highlighted Södra's long-term approach by explaining the naming of its investment arm. The decision to call it Södra Ädla – rather than the trendier "Södra Ventures" – was intentional, reflecting tradition and long-term thinking.

"As for defence tech, it's not really a big topic for us. We haven't had to take a position on it – even if our forestry drones could theoretically be used for military purposes," said Hörnfeldt. "We're in this for the long haul. Our forest owners think in 70- to 80-year horizons, so we have to do the same."