The European Commission has chosen Swedish investment firm EQT to manage its new €5bn Scaleup Europe Fund after a closely-watched race among the region’s top firms like the UK’s Atomico and France’s Eurazeo.
The fund is set to invest in European deeptech startups working on technologies like quantum computing and AI. EQT partners Ted Persson and Victor Englesson are the proposed co-heads of the fund's advisory team, with EQT's Christian Sinding proposed to chair the investment committee, EQT said in a press release.
Around €2.5bn of the fund had been committed as of the end of last year, €1bn of which is coming from the European Innovation Council (EIC) and another €1.5bn from private LPs like Novo Holdings, CriteriaCaixa, Santander/Mouro Capital, APG Asset Management and Sweden’s Wallenberg family.
The competition to manage the fund had previously been whittled down to EQT and London-based firm Atomico. The long list included Eurazeo and Vitruvian. Bloomberg was first to report that EQT had won the mandate.
Applicants were required to have managed at least €500m in assets and to have launched at least two funds, among other qualifications.
EQT had long been viewed as a frontrunner in the process, and the firm even faced some scrutiny earlier this year after concerns were raised to the EU’s startup commission over a former Commission adviser, Lars Frølund, who joined EQT as a part-time external advisor from the Commission.
A company spokesperson told Sifted at the time that “EQT strictly adheres to all applicable disclosure and governance rules,” adding that Frølund is one of hundreds of external advisors.
Update, May 18, 2026: This article has been updated to add in the EQT partners which are proposed to lead the fund.
