NGP Capital bags $400 million from Nokia to invest in growth companies

Global growth stage investment firm NGP Capital has raised a new venture investment fund of USD 400 million from Nokia. The new fund will invest in promising, growing companies, with a focus on edge cloud, cybersecurity, digital industry and digital transformation in the U.S., Europe, and China.

It is the fifth fund that NGP Capital has managed for Nokia. The recent investment brings the fund’s total committed, but uninvested capital, to more than USD 550 million, and total commitments from Nokia since the fund’s inception (in 2005) to more than USD 1.6 billion.

Talking about where all the investment would be utilised, Bo Ilsoe, Managing Partner of NGP Capital said: “The new fund is the next step for NGP Capital and builds on the experience we have from investing since 2005. Our efforts will focus mostly within the areas of edge cloud, cybersecurity, digital industry and digital transformation. Target investments will be evaluated on product market fit, unit economics and technology leadership. Companies with advantages obtained through applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, low code, cloud native, blockchain technologies and more will be prioritised.”

Bo Ilsoe has also stepped up from Partner to Managing Partner of NGP Capital.

NGP Capital’s current investment portfolio is split between 27% in Europe, 38% in the US and 35% in Asia. NGP Capital’s portfolio companies had approximately $2.5 billion in revenue in 2021, with an average growth of 40% YoY. Those companies employ over 10,000 people, and at present there are 1,800 open job positions across the NGP portfolio.

Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer of Nokia said: “A commitment to innovation is an integral part of Nokia’s strategy. Sustainable technology leadership requires us to anticipate, shape, and invest in the next technology windows. Our relationship with NGP provides a powerful avenue to explore external opportunities that support the execution of Nokia’s vision of the 5G era and beyond.”

Since 2005, NGP Capital has invested in 107 companies and has exited fully or partially from 62 investments. NGP currently holds a portfolio of 51 investments. 17 NGP Capital portfolio companies have been or are valued in excess of $1 billion.