A number of leading figures from the Swedish e-commerce industry, together with other investors, have joined forces to invest in early-stage e-commerce companies that have completed E-commerce Park of Scandinavia’s successful incubator programme. The initiative is called Future Retail Ventures.
“We’ve been talking about doing this for a long time. Over the years we’ve met many entrepreneurs with strong ideas and great potential that we wanted to support. Now we’ve brought together a collective of investors, and it feels fantastic to finally be up and running,” says Karsten Deppert, co-founder of E-commerce Park.
“If we’d had this fund in place back in year one when we launched the incubator, we would have made more than six times our money in total by now, and that’s a conservative estimate. Not bad for a fund,” says Karsten Deppert.
Investing in people as much as in companies
Future Retail Ventures focuses on investments in early-stage e-commerce companies, with the requirement that they have completed E-commerce Park’s one-year incubator programme.
Behind the fund stands a series of e-commerce profiles such as Ludvig Friberg (CarpetVista), Eric Smith (Uteprodukter), Philip Lexander (Fotbutiken), Amelie Henningsson (Eqvital) and Andreas Wedberg (Räckesbutiken), as well as industry figures such as Erik Urnes (Lindengruppen).
The first investments have already been made
Future Retail Ventures has already made its first investments. Among them are Sugarbeet Co, Dryckbolaget, Mini Ferrum and Làhku Nordisk Brodyr.
The companies operate in different e-commerce segments, but what they have in common is that they are run by entrepreneurs with strong growth potential.
“This isn’t just about investing in companies. We invest in entrepreneurs we believe in and want to support. Our ambition is to contribute and help these companies develop and reach their full potential,” says Amelie Henningsson, investor and board member of Future Retail Ventures.
“A great deal has happened since we took part in the incubator. Demand for our iron supplements continues to increase and our growth has picked up speed. We recently passed the milestone of 1,000 orders per month, which feels really rewarding. For us, it’s also clear confirmation that our new, innovative products meet a real need. Above all, we’re seeing strong interest in natural heme iron as a new alternative to traditional iron supplements. Future Retail Ventures came in at an important stage for us and gave us both new perspectives and contacts that have been very valuable along the way, which we’re very grateful for,” says Daniel Melander, co-founder of Mini Ferrum.
“We’re at a stage where the right support can make a big difference. The combination of capital, experience and access to a strong network means we can grow faster and in a more structured way than we could have on our own,” says Linus Löfgren, co-founder of Sugarbeet.
“What we hear from many founders is that they aren’t really looking for funding. They want people to bounce ideas off, a network that opens doors, and a context where they can share experiences with other entrepreneurs. That’s exactly what we want to create with Future Retail Ventures. It isn’t the capital that matters most, it’s the network and the community,” says Felicia Johansson, Operations Manager at E-commerce Park.
Strengthening the e-commerce ecosystem of the future
The initiative is a natural next step for the entrepreneurial ecosystem that has grown up around E-commerce Park in recent years.
“With Future Retail Ventures we can help more companies develop while strengthening the entire ecosystem around e-commerce and entrepreneurship. It feels great to be part of creating that opportunity,” says Karsten Deppert.
That the fund has its roots in E-commerce Park’s incubator programme is no coincidence.
“For many years we’ve worked to help entrepreneurs start and develop their companies. Future Retail Ventures becomes a natural next step where we, together with some of the most experienced people in our network, can continue to support entrepreneurs when they’re ready to take the next step in their growth journey,” says Karsten Deppert.