Raising from LPs in the Nordics: How Managers from Outside the Region Get Their First Meetings
If you manage a private fund outside the Nordics and want to meet LPs in Denmark, Finland, Norway or Sweden, start with a video call and plan around holidays that differ from one country to the next.
Private Capital Development (PCD) has arranged one-to-one introductions with Nordic allocators, mostly for managers from the United States. PCD’s co-founder, Randy Mitchell, first brought a delegation of U.S. fund managers to Helsinki in 2011. This page sets out what we see around those meetings.
Who allocates to managers from outside the Nordics
Nordic LPs have enough in common that a manager can approach the region as one market. The institutions that have taken first meetings with managers PCD introduced include:
- Pension funds, including national buffer funds and occupational pension funds.
- State investors and development finance institutions.
- Family offices and family holding companies, many of them multigenerational industrial families, including some of Finland’s wealthiest.
How a first meeting in the Nordics works
- Video first. A virtual first meeting is the norm.
- Four capitals, one trip. If you travel, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki fit in a single trip, and a stop in Gothenburg is not unreasonable.
- Start with Copenhagen. In our experience it is the most important stop of the four.
One region, four calendars
The Nordic countries share a great deal, but not their public holidays. Check each country before you set dates.
- Easter and Pentecost. Maundy Thursday and Whit Monday are public holidays in Denmark and Norway, but not in Sweden or Finland.
- Epiphany (6 January) is a public holiday in Sweden and Finland, but not in Denmark or Norway.
- Denmark ended Great Prayer Day as a public holiday in 2024.
- National days differ: 17 May in Norway, 6 June in Sweden, 6 December in Finland.
- Midsummer Eve is, in practice, a day off in Sweden and Finland.
When to go
- After the summer. From 15 August, everyone is back at work from the summer holidays.
- Mind the ski holidays. The winter school holiday, when many parents are away skiing with their children, falls between mid-February and mid-March, in different weeks by country and even by region. In 2027, for example, it is week 7 in Copenhagen, week 8 in Helsinki and week 9 in Stockholm. A trip across all four capitals in that window will find someone away.
Why the room matters in the Nordics
PCD’s co-founder has been bringing managers to the Nordics since 2011. Randy Mitchell first brought a delegation of U.S. fund managers to Helsinki in 2011, while at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and led U.S. delegations across the Nordic capitals every year through 2014. He returned with emerging-market managers under EMPEA in 2015 and 2016, and with global delegations under PCD in 2018 and 2019. Fund managers from Brazil, Mexico, India, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States have traveled with him across the region.
The largest fund managers are over-marketed to Nordic LPs, who hear from them constantly. What a Nordic allocator values is a manager it would not otherwise meet, introduced by someone it knows. PCD’s introductions come from Randy Mitchell’s own email address, and many of the allocators who receive them are people he has met in person. Not all of them, but many.
Where PCD's role ends
PCD builds a manager's standing with Nordic allocators and arranges the introduction. It does not offer or promote a fund, and it does not solicit investment on a manager's behalf, in the Nordics or anywhere else. Questions about offering fund interests to investors in the Nordics belong with the manager's own counsel there.
If you are an allocator checking that a manager is regulated and licensed in its home market, or a manager preparing to be checked, PCD's Global Directory of Fund-Manager Regulators names the regulator and the public register to consult in each major jurisdiction.
Private capital associations in the Nordics
- Aktive Ejere (Denmark) — aktiveejere.dk. Denmark’s association for private equity, venture capital and business angels, based in Copenhagen. Until 2023 it was the Danish Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (DVCA).
- Finnish Venture Capital Association (FVCA) — paaomasijoittajat.fi. Finland’s private equity and venture capital association (Pääomasijoittajat ry), based in Helsinki.
- Norwegian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (NVCA) — nvca.no. Norway’s association, based in Oslo; not to be confused with the U.S. National Venture Capital Association.
- Swedish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (SVCA) — svca.se. Sweden’s association, based in Stockholm.
The full, verified list of more than 100 associations worldwide is in PCD's Global Directory of Private Capital Associations.
Frequently asked questions
Do Nordic LPs invest in funds managed outside the region?
Yes. Pension funds, state investors, development finance institutions and family offices in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden take first meetings with managers from outside the Nordics.
Should a first meeting with a Nordic LP be in person or by video?
By video, in most cases. A virtual first meeting is the norm.
Can I meet LPs in all four Nordic capitals on one trip?
Yes. Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki fit in a single trip, and a stop in Gothenburg is not unreasonable.
When is the best time to visit the Nordics?
From mid-August, when everyone is back from the summer holidays. Avoid the winter ski holidays between mid-February and mid-March, which fall in different weeks in each country.
Do public holidays differ across the Nordic countries?
Yes. Maundy Thursday and Whit Monday are holidays in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden or Finland; Epiphany is a holiday in Sweden and Finland but not in Denmark or Norway; and each country has its own national day.
Looking at investors in the Nordics?
If you have no relationships there yet, the introduction is the part we do.
Cross-border LP introductionsEducational content only. This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy before publication. It is general information, current as of the "Last reviewed" date shown above, and is not legal, tax or compliance advice. Private Capital Development LLC is not a law firm and is not a broker-dealer. PCD facilitates relationships between fund managers and institutional investors, on a flat-fee retainer.
Private Capital Development, a Benefit LLC, is a Maryland-based firm founded in 2018 that connects private capital fund managers with institutional allocators through personal, one-to-one introductions. Capital Mobilization is the name of its capital-introduction practice.