Sonanz - Investing in Growth Markets

Focus

Essential Sectors in Growth Markets

Sonanz is a fund manager with a thematic focus on sectors that are essential for the future of society: financial services, renewable energy, sustainable food & agriculture and affordable healthcare. We invest in businesses that adopt new technologies to cater to the specific demands in Growth Markets.

The need for essential products is massive among emerging consumers but remains largely underserved. Companies that meet this demand will generate competitive returns to investors as well as value for society.

Local businesses are ideally positioned to supply customers with the right services. In our view, the best way to reach and support these companies is to invest with the best investment teams on the ground. Sonanz has developed relationships with a large number of specialised fund managers that are beyond the reach of most investors today.

Great importance is placed on environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards to avoid exploitation of people and planet. At Sonanz, we are motivated by the positive impact generated by the portfolio companies and monitor it by tracking relevant indicators.

Our first fund, a private equity fund-of-funds with a focus on early- and growth-stage companies in Asia, Africa and Latin America, was launched in 2017.

Team

Private equity: After many years of successful private equity investing, we know its strength and weaknesses. The private equity model is ideally suited to support small and medium-sized companies in Growth Markets.

Growth Markets: 80% of the world’s population earn less than $10/day and there is an enormous unmet demand for essential services for low-income people. Our hands-on experience from investing in both advanced and emerging markets has taught us the skills necessary for long-term success.

Academic research: We have pioneered the academic research in social finance, which addresses the financing issues of organizations addressing societal challenges.

Andreas Nilsson
Founder & Managing Director

Mr. Nilsson founded Sonanz in 2015. He has more than twenty years of experience from the private equity industry and has led many successful investments for EQT and UBS. His investment experience ranges from frontier and emerging markets to advanced economies and includes early-stage investments as well as leveraged buyouts. He has also acted as advisor to the first private equity firm in Bangladesh.

Andreas Nilsson
Founder & Managing Director

Mr. Nilsson earned a PhD in finance from the Stockholm School of Economics and spent two years as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Business School. The topic of his doctoral dissertation was “The Financing of Nonprofits and Social Enterprises”. He holds a MSc from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Nina Freudenberg
Director

Ms. Freudenberg has been with Sonanz since the inception in 2015. She started her career in 2011 as a management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. During her time at BCG, she focused on the healthcare sector. Prior to Sonanz, she spent time in Bangladesh, where she led consulting projects for portfolio companies of Brummer and Partners, a private equity firm in Bangladesh. Ms. Freudenberg holds a MSc in international health policy and economics from the London School of Economics and a BSc in European Public Health from the Maastricht University.

Nina Freudenberg
Director

Ms. Freudenberg has worked with Sonanz since the start and actively helped shape the investment strategy. Her responsibilities include sourcing of investment opportunities, due diligence and performance monitoring.

Sven Söderblom
Venture Partner

Mr. Söderblom joined Sonanz in 2019 having been a Senior Advisor to Sonanz since the inception in 2015. He has 20 years experience from PE and VC fund investing, of which 15 years specialising on Growth Markets in senior positions at CDC in London and Arcano Capital in Madrid. His experience is a combination of conventional commercial investing as well as development finance in a range of stages, sectors and market segments throughout Growth Markets.

Sven Söderblom
Venture Partner

Mr. Söderblom is currently an independent Investment Committee member of a number of Growth Market focused funds, including Synergy Capital, South Suez Capital and the Dutch Good Growth Fund. He holds a BCs in Economics from Stockholm University and an MBA from IESE.

Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board consists of exceptional persons providing us with hands-on support. All members are leading experts in their respective fields and share a strong interest in helping Sonanz reach its goals.

Malin Lindfors-Speace
Ethos International

Founder of Ethos International, a Swedish-based consultancy firm providing services to large corporations on human rights, labor rights, environmental and anti-corruption issues

Malin Lindfors-Speace

Founder of the street newspaper Situation Stockholm as well as similar newspapers in Russia, Ukraine and South Africa

John Nevado
Nevado Roses

Founder of the Farmers For Good network, which aims at sharing and promoting fairer and better industrial farming practices in developing countries

John Nevado

President of Nevado Roses, a producer of organic and Fair Trade roses in Ecuador

Elected Young Global Leader at Davos World Economic Forum

Khalid Quadir
Brummer & Partners Bangladesh

Co-founder and Managing Partner of Brummer & Partners Asset Management (Bangladesh) Limited, which manages Frontier Fund, the first private equity fund in Bangladesh

Khalid Quadir

Co-founder of Gonofone, a founding partner of GrameenPhone, the largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh

Founder of bracNet, a Bangladesh wireless broadband operator which was later acquired by KDDI of Japan

Arisla dos Santos
Private equity fund investor

Global private equity fund investing for one of Europe’s largest asset management ﬁrms
7 years at von Braun & Schreiber Private Equity Partners, a German private equity fund-of-funds manager

Arisla dos Santos

5 years at Banco Itáu (the largest private bank in Brazil) focusing on the selection of Brazilian hedge funds and the management of the bank’s private funds-of-funds