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Good morning!
Happy summer to my Icelandic readers (yesterday was first day of summer). I've been working on several projects – private reporting and analysis, for one – and several I'm excited to tell you more about a little bit down the road. In the meantime, Northstack.is has gotten a facelift.
Fresh governmental money into the innovation ecosystem
A month ago, the Icelandic government unveiled their financial plan (fjármálaáætlun) from 2020-2024. This document, which Icelandic media for some reason doesn't dig all-that-deep into, has insights on where the government is planning to invest or cut in the coming years, and gives an indication of yet-to-be announced initiatives and decisions.
Concerning the innovation & startup ecosystem, there was an interesting line to be found, deep in the document (page 109). It says (translation: me)
"Then, in connection with the new sovereign wealth fund (þjóðarsjóður), we expect an increase in grants to innovation of 500m ISK in 2020, 1.5bn ISK in 2021, and 2bn ISK between 2022-2024."
Not included, is how that money will be used, or through which vehicles or institutions.
My sources do tell me that the money will not be added to our current institutions, and that it will likely be investment based rather than grant based. Expect more details in the Innovation Strategy from the Innovation Committee. I'll of course keep you all up to date.
Recent fundings and interesting tidbits
And a question for you!
I've been covering VC in Iceland since 2015, digging into the LP's, the investment activity, availability of capital and so forth. I've noticed that there's a lack of similar coverage for Private Equity, and have been thinking about adding that to the topics. So there are two questions:
- Would you be interested in a Private Equity & Venture Capital (in Iceland) focused newsletter with similar, and more, depth as I've been doing with Northstack? (I'm thinking monthly)
- Would you pay for it? And if so, how much – and if not, why not?
Please hit reply to let me know!
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