Rainer Sternfeld
Managing partner
“I’ve spent my career building digital infrastructure for a more sustainable planet and empowering communities. I get excited when I meet founders who want to do the same, especially if they give developers and creators the tools to build the best expression of their ideas, and a platform to reach their audiences.”
Rainer is an entrepreneur turned investor with 20 years of experience in building technology businesses and products across diverse cultures in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He was the founder & CEO of Planet OS (acquired by Intertrust), and after 8 years in Silicon Valley, he moved to Estonia in 2019 to build NordicNinja and help mission-driven Nordic & Baltic founders scale their businesses globally.
From founding startups to being acquired by a Silicon Valley corporation; from running a family company to a leading role at ABB; from a university robotics engineer to a board member at a worldwide NGO – he’s managed change in organizations big and small.
Over the years, Rainer has been involved in some notable initiatives: serving as a Board Director for the World Ocean Council and a member of the White House Open Data Roundtable during the Obama administration; at ABB, he was in charge of designing the world’s first nationwide fast-charging network for electric vehicles; served as Millennium Leadership Fellow at the Atlantic Council; and in 2019, he co-founded Kood – a free programming school for adults in Estonia. Rainer holds a double Masters from TalTech in Product Development and Mechatronics (Cum Laude).
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
Slush
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,