Rainer Sternfeld
Managing Partner
“I’ve gone full circle from engineer to executive to founder to investor. What still excites me most are mission-critical ideas that move humanity forward, and the people and communities that form around them.”
Rainer is an Estonian robotics engineer turned entrepreneur turned investor, with over 20 years of experience building teams, products, and technology companies across the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
He has been building NordicNinja since inception in 2019, a Japanese–European venture capital fund backing high-growth European technology companies at the moment they begin to scale. The fund focuses on critical technologies across deep tech, decarbonization, and digital society. Rainer’s portfolio includes companies such as Varjo, Veriff, VSParticle, LiveEO, Lightyear, Mavenoid, Arbonics, Starship, and Ready Player Me (acquired by Netflix).
Previously, Rainer co-founded Planet OS, a Silicon Valley–based Earth observation company focused on large-scale data interoperability, where he served as CEO until its acquisition by Intertrust in 2017. He later led Intertrust’s Data Platforms division and was involved in initiatives such as the World Ocean Council and the White House Open Data Roundtable. Earlier in his career, he held a senior role at ABB, where he led new industrial initiatives, including the development of the world’s first nationwide EV fast-charging network.
Alongside his operating and investing work, Rainer is an active ecosystem builder, having co-founded the Kood programming school, hosted the long-running Global Estonians podcast, and mentored founders through CDL Digital Society.
Rainer holds a double Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from TalTech (cum laude), specializing in product development and mechatronics, where he also began his career as a robotics engineer.
Investment
NordicNinja leads $23M Series B in Lightyear to build infrastructure for smarter, fairer investing
One of Europe’s fastest growing investment platforms that provides a simple and approachable way to invest money globally.
Investment
VSParticle raises €6.5 million to power material discovery for a greener future
VSParticle, the leading supplier of nanoparticle printing tools – has raised a €6.5 million A2 extension round led by NordicNinja and previous investor Plural to continue its mission to unlock a century of material innovation in the next 10 years.
Investment
NordicNinja invests in LiveEO to scale AI-powered satellite data for actionable insights to help critical infrastructure operators manage climate risks
We’re excited to lead LiveEO’s €25M Series B funding round – our first investment in Germany.
fund
サステナビリティ×デジタルに特化した2号ファンド設立のお知らせ
NordicNinja VCは北欧・バルト地域から英国・オランダを含めた北部ヨーロッパ地域における「サステナビリティ×デジタル」分野に特化した2号ファンドを設立し、ファーストクローズを約200億円規模で完了いたしました。
fund
Announcing new fund II to help founders tackle global challenges
The largest Japanese VC in Europe expands its operations to the UK, Ireland, and BeNeLux countries, while doubling down on the Nordics and the Baltics
Stories
The momentum of European innovation: a discussion with Risto Siilasmaa and Philip Lockwood
During Slush Helsinki we hosted an interesting talk about how entrepreneurship thrives in crisis and what actions are taken to support new innovation, especially deep tech. Find the highlights in the text.
Metaverse
Varjo Raises $40 Million Series D Funding to Build a True-to-Life, Industrial Metaverse
The new Series D Funding will continue Varjo’s mission to build the world-leading true-to-life, industrial metaverse.
ai
Mavenoid closes Series B to continue expand their automated hardware support
$30m fresh funding to bring AI-powered product support to hardware brands.
Interview
INTERLINKING THE METAVERSE
Interview with RPM’s CEO Timmu about their exponential growth, biggest lessons discovered, and where to next with the metaverse.
Interview
Befriending the robots: how Starship is solving the economics of last-mile deliveries by making them autonomous
An interview with Starship CEO Alastair Westgarth and CTO & co-founder Ahti Heinla.
autonomous
Investing in Starship: Automating the last mile delivery bottleneck
NordicNinja joins Starship Technologies’ investment round of $100m as demand for its autonomous delivery service triples in 2021.
Metaverse
Investing in Ready Player Me: Freedom Of Expression Of Your Online Self
Our series A round investment in the freedom of expression of your online self.
The Fund
The story of NordicNinja
Since our launch in 2019, we have answered many times “why NordicNinja was established to the Nordics”. Here we’ve gathered our experiences so far.
Metaverse
The most advanced virtual and mixed reality solutions for professionals – Our investment into Varjo
Why we invested in Varjo, the leader in industrial-grade VR/XR hardware and software.
ai
Your remote identity verification – Our investment into Veriff
Why we invested in Veriff, the world’s leading identity verification platform.
Supply Chain
Data logging for any industry or scale – Our Investment into Logmore
Logmore offers the building blocks for your cargo transparency changing the management of cargo to light and more secure.
Rainer Sternfeld Joins NordicNinja VC as Managing Partner
Raine is one of the leading Estonian entrepreneurs and technology executive now returning from Silicon Valley to help build a bridge between Japan and the Nordic-Baltic region,