EU Taps Sweden's EQT to Manage Major €5Bn Scale-Up Europe Fund
Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:
The EU has chosen Swedish investment giant EQT to run a new 5bn fund aimed at keeping Europe's most promising deep tech companies on home soil.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) has selected Stockholm-headquartered EQT as fund manager for the Scale-up Europe Fund, following a competitive selection process that drew expressions of interest from December 2025 to February 2026.
The fund is the largest of its kind ever launched in Europe and will direct growth capital at high-potential companies across a range of strategic sectors, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, clean energy, space technology, biotech and medical innovation.
The core goal of the fund is to close a persistent late-stage financing gap that has long pushed European scale-ups to raise capital elsewhere and, in many cases, to relocate abroad altogether.
The new multibillion-euro fund was initially announced back in October 2025, and is designed to build on the choose Europe to start and scale' strategy launched earlier last year.
With an initial goal of 5bn, the Commission eventually hopes to raise 25bn for the scale-up fund, a spokesperson said at the time.
Sweden's EQT is one of Europe's most established global investment firms, and was chosen by the EIC board, it said, on the basis of its track record in growth equity, fundraising capability and commitment to housing a dedicated investment team within the EU.
The firm brings a broad, pan-European presence and a strong institutional infrastructure that the EIC said was well-suited to the scale and ambition of the mandate.
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