Sting-initiated Turbine Capital secures major backing from European Investment Fund and Scania

Turbine Capital was initiated by Pär Hedberg from Sting and founded together with Karin Edström and Anders Ösund, and Sting remains a cornerstone of the fund's identity and model. As Sweden's first VC fund fully dedicated to DeepTech and research-based ventures, Turbine Capital was built to give early-stage founders the capital, patience, and sector understanding their journey truly requires.

A fund powered by Sting
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Sting is not just a name behind Turbine Capital, it is the engine that makes the model work. The fund is backed by six of Sweden's foremost university-affiliated DeepTech incubators, as well as Sting itself, ensuring a strong and continuous flow of promising companies. This network, connecting entrepreneurs, academia and industry, is at the heart of what sets Turbine Capital apart from conventional venture funds.

Pär Hedberg, initiator of Turbine Capital and founder of Sting, describes the ambition clearly: "When leading corporations and university-affiliated incubators join forces, we create more than just a fund, we build a cross-sector collaboration powerhouse for scaling DeepTech innovations."
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Institutional validation at the European level
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The EIF's commitment is a strong signal of confidence, not just in Turbine Capital, but in the model Sting helped create. The fund targets a total size of SEK 750 million, with a focus on commercialising research-based technologies emerging from leading technical universities and research organisations. Priority investment areas include semiconductors, industrial digitalisation, space and climate-relevant infrastructure, all sectors considered critical for Europe's long-term strategic autonomy.

EIB Vice-President Nicola Beer highlighted the importance of the investment: "Sweden is one of Europe's strongest innovation hubs, but its DeepTech companies still face a financing gap when they move from lab to factory floor. By backing Turbine Capital through the EIF, we are putting more patient capital to work in Swedish technology that strengthens Europe's resilience, competitiveness and strategic autonomy."
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Industrial giants line up
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With Scania now on board alongside Saab and Stena, Turbine Capital has assembled an impressive roster of Swedish industrial heavyweights. For Scania, the rationale is clear: "To decarbonise heavy transport and build robust value chains, we need strong DeepTech partners, from materials and energy systems, to software and autonomy. Turbine Capital's focus on research-based companies supports our efforts to scale the next generation of sustainable transport technologies," says Jessica Persson at Scania.

The fund's approach, offering investors access to curated dealflow while giving portfolio companies access to capital, industrial expertise and potential customers, is gaining recognition as a genuinely new European model for corporate-startup collaboration.
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What this means for Sting
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For Sting, this milestone is a testament to the power of its ecosystem and its willingness to go beyond incubation. Karin Ruiz, CEO of Sting, has described Turbine Capital as "the latest initiative by Sting to strengthen the Swedish startup ecosystem, when we see a gap, we aim to fix it."

With a 15-year fund horizon, Turbine Capital is targeting 30–40 early-stage DeepTech startups, helping them grow from cutting-edge research into globally competitive businesses, with Sting's DNA running through every step of the journey.

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