Hans Otterling, the Swedish venture capitalist who helped usher Spotify into global relevance through its first major funding round, is bringing a rare sense of optimism to global investment. Also a general partner at Northzone, Otterling recently relocated from London to Cape Town, backing his belief in the continent’s potential with action and a $200m investment vehicle.

Alongside Klarna co‑founder Niklas Adalberth, Otterling co‑launched the Norrsken22 Impact Fund in 2022, targeting growth‑stage tech start-ups across Africa. The fund focuses on sectors such as fintech, education, health care, and logistics, with a team entirely based on the continent. “We didn’t want to run this from London or Stockholm. If we believe in Africa, we need to be in Africa,” Otterling told Kieno Kammies for Innovate Africa.

Otterling is no stranger to backing game‑changers. Since joining Northzone in 2006, he has been instrumental in attracting international investors to Spotify and Klarna. That instinct for spotting transformative potential now informs his outlook on Africa, where more than 60% of the 1.4-billion population is under 25, and mobile internet adoption is soaring. 

The Norrsken22 strategy treats Africa’s well‑documented challenges, such as infrastructure gaps and fragmented regulation, not as red flags but as catalysts for innovation. The fund has backed at least six companies across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt so far and aims to support up to 20 by the end of 2025. It supports growth‑stage start-ups with capital and advisory expertise to scale sustainably.

With Cape Town as his new base, Otterling’s bet on Africa is more than financial. It’s personal. “This is the most exciting place to be building the future,” he said. In a world growing more cautious, his optimism offers a fresh and compelling counter‑narrative.

He bet on Spotify and won, now his sites are on Africa

2026 is going to be a year of expansion at Innovate Africa. We have grown beyond being a media brand or a storytelling platform. We will leverage our networks to connect the right people driving true business value. Storytelling is our foundation.  We will help you meet the innovators building real solutions across Africa, and the market shifters who are changing the rules by doing what others won’t.

If you are a corporate or small business looking for funding or market access, we can help. If your organisation struggles to innovate at speed, we can help you work like an entrepreneurial team and build a repeatable way to test, learn, and deliver. If you need stronger business storytelling, we help you prove your story through what you do, not what you claim. And if you need capital to scale, we can support you through our Summit.Deals partnership and our own investor network.

Here’s to 2026. A year where you are seen, heard, and understood, and where the work leads to better business outcomes.

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He bet on Spotify and won, now his sites are on Africa

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