Scania Growth Capital
Scania Growth Capital backs ventures for transforming mobility and transport
Scania Growth Capital is a venture capital fund managed by our venture capital partner East Hill Equity, which acts as the funds’ advisor. It is one of several Scania initiatives that tap into new ideas in the company's rapidly-changing environment.
Scania has founded Scania Growth Capital to invest in high-growth companies with strategic relevance to its ecosystem of customers and partners in the mobility and transport industries.
Our venture fund invests in companies who support the shift towards a more sustainable transport system, and in ventures that may discover disruptive, transformational technologies and business models in the mobility and transport industries.
Supporting entrepreneurs
The funds are a platform from where Scania can support capable entrepreneurs with a large ecosystem of technologies and skills, as well as broad and deep industry knowledge with the aim of adding great value to the portfolio companies. The portfolio companies will gain access to this large ecosystem and at the same time have contact with a small and agile investment team that will follow them through all the ups and downs along the entire lifespan of the investment period. We believe this gives the entrepreneurs the best of both worlds.
The fund is managed by an external management company, East Hill Equity, which consists of a team with extensive experience in venture investments and deep insights into the mobility industry. Scania Growth Capital's investment activities may include, but are not limited to, companies with products, solutions or services that involve digitalisation, autonomous vehicles, connectivity, hybridisation, sustainable energy and smart factory solutions.
Investment criteria
Scania Growth Capital invests in minority positions in companies with strategic relevance to Scania and its ecosystem in the mobility and transport industries, from seed rounds to later growth stages. Evaluations are broad and may include, but are not limited to, companies with:
- products, solutions or services in areas such as digitalisation, autonomy, connectivity, hybridisation, sustainable energy and smart factory
- an innovative product or a unique market position with potential for significant growth
- capable, commercial and growth-oriented entrepreneurs and management teams
- commercial traction - either through revenue or close customer interaction
Team and structure
Scania has teamed up with East Hill Equity, a team of experienced venture capitalists who have been appointed to manage the investment operations of Scania Growth Capital.
The set-up of Scania Growth Capital is unique. Scania is the majority owner and the investment team has minority ownership in the fund. The investment team manages Scania Growth Capital exclusively and is organised in a separate advisory company, East Hill Equity. This set-up aims to attract a broad range of entrepreneurs, combining the strength of Scania’s ecosystem with the experienced venture capitalist minority owners.
The investment team from East Hill Equity which manages Scania Growth Capital consists of:
Christian Zeuchner is a partner at East Hill Equity and has worked for the past seven years as Investment Director at Fouriertransform, a venture capital company owned by the Swedish Government. Zeuchner has been active in the automotive industry in Europe, Asia and the US since 1993, working for General Motors, and as a management consultant at Roland Berger, Arthur D. Little and Ricardo.
Phone: +46 73 326 90 10
Email: christian@easthillequity.com
Daniel Riazzoli is a partner at East Hill Equity and has worked with investments for over 10 years, including five years at Fouriertransform, a venture capital company owned by the Swedish Government. Before joining Fouriertransform, Riazzoli worked at the Norwegian private equity company FSN Capital and at the British private equity company 3i. He also has a background as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.
Phone: +46 70 559 54 60
Email: daniel@easthillequity.com
Lars-Olof Gustavsson has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Scania Growth Capital, and is Chairman of the Board of external investment company East Hill Equity. He has been active in the Nordic venture capital industry for more than 40 years, and is considered one of the pioneers of the industry in the region. Gustavsson has been responsible for over 50 investments and has held over 30 board positions and is an active angel investor.
The Board of Scania Growth Capital consists of Scania Executive Board members including Christian Levin, President and CEO, Jonas Rickberg, Executive Vice President and CFO, Gustaf Sundell, Executive Vice President and Head of Mobility Solutions, and Dr. Klaus Schartel, General Counsel/Head of Legal at TRATON SE. The Chairman of the Board of Scania Growth Capital is Lars-Olof Gustavsson, who is also Chairman of the advisory company. The Board acts as the Investment Committee and takes the formal investment decisions. Gustaf Sundell holds the role as Managing Director of Scania Growth Capital.
Scania Growth Capital exchange programme
The Scania Growth Capital exchange programme is a partnership with the companies in which Scania Growth Capital has invested, with the aim of supporting Scania’s vision to be the leader in sustainable transport solutions and drive the shift towards a sustainable transport system, while also helping our portfolio companies in their growth journey. It is a professional development programme that aims to develop Scania employees, learn entrepreneurial skills from agile high growth companies and generate value for both Scania and the high-growth companies through stronger partnerships.
In this way we are able to use partnerships as a way of giving our employees the opportunity for professional development through a hands-on learning experience in a different environment. This broadens their perspectives and gives them experience of an entrepreneurial culture. The employees participating in the programme will be on a steep learning curve that will help them contribute to the acceleration and development of Scania’s entrepreneurial muscle.
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Portfolio of investments
Parcelly
Parcelly aims to revolutionise the world of urban logistics. It aims to resolve first and last mile challenges by activating excess or underutilised space in real estate for E-commerce and logistics through its proprietary mobile app technology. Parcelly’s solution integrates retailers and carriers across all industries and of all sizes to a highly scalable and internationally growing platform of ‘logistics hubs’.
Contact: Christian Zeuchner in the investment team +46 73 326 90 10
bex Technologies GmbH
bex Technologies GmbH provides a software platform that solves several pain points within the logistics vertical of last mile construction material which to a large extent is still relatively inefficient today. With a low or non-existing degree of digitalisation, the last mile logistic chain normally involves manual clarification of availability and price via phone and e-mail. This makes transparency difficult and it results is printed paper-based solutions by the external service providers that make the deliveries to the construction sites. With bex’s digital platform, the order process is automated online with a fixed price, the transport is delivered with live tracking, proactive communication and a digital delivery note.
Contact: Daniel Riazzoli in the investment team +46 70 559 54 60
Scantinel
Scantinel Photonics GmbH is a leading LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) start-up and a part of the ZEISS Ventures portfolio, based in Germany. The company develops and produces FMCW LiDAR (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) sensors for next-generation LiDAR systems that are a prerequisite to reach a higher level of automation. The technology Scantinel offers delivers a new dimension of data to future vehicles as the sensors measure distances and velocity to objects in the plus-300-meter range with a high level of integration and solid-state scanning.
Contact: Christian Zeuchner in the investment team +46 73 326 90 10
Roboyo
Roboyo focuses on business process automation through technologies such as robotic process automation, virtual assistants, chatbots and artificial intelligence. Using technologies such as these, organisations can automate digital business processes without affecting underlying IT environments or drastically re-engineering the logic in the processes. This allows their employees to move towards more value-adding activities that help to evolve their businesses.
Scania Growth Capital invested in AKOA, before Roboyo acquired AKOA.
Contact: Daniel Riazzoli in the investment team +46 70 559 54 60
Corebon
Corebon, located outside Malmö in Sweden, has invented a superfast carbon fibre reinforced plastic production process that results in a new higher standard of composite materials, lower cost and minimal impact on the environment. The patented process is based on induction heating, and it enables Corebon to produce carbon fibre components at significantly higher speed than through existing established methods. This production process is applicable to a wide range of products in the automotive, telecommunication, aerospace and robotics industries.
Contact: Christian Zeuchner in the investment team +46 73 326 90 10
Swed-Weld
Swed-Weld is a leading producer of add-on equipment to automated manufacturing cells. The company is based in Sweden and its primary product is feeding machines for welding nuts, which are an important part of the robot cells that are used in modern manufacturing. Swed-Weld also produces welding machines and other types of feeding machines. The company has developed a modular production system that allows Swed-Weld to rapidly develop tailor-made feeders based on customer specifications. The feeders are of high quality, easy to install and maintain and cause very few production stops.
Contact: Daniel Riazzoli in the investment team +46 70 559 54 60
sennder
sennder is the leading digital road freight forwarder in continental Europe, linking large shippers with small carriers. sennder provides a new level of automation, transparency and efficiency to the European €300 billion road freight market, which until now has been dependent on paper, phone and fax and characterized by multi-layer subcontracting. sennder digitalizes the truckload-shipping ecosystem by providing mobile apps to drivers, fleet management tools to carrier managers and logistics management solutions to shippers. By integrating directly with the shippers’ TMS and FMS via APIs and by cutting the multiple middle men, sennder increases efficiency and reduces cost for all stakeholder.
Contact: Christian Zeuchner in the investment team +46 73 326 90 10
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07 Mar 2024
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