Polarium Welcomes Swedish Pension Company AMF as New Investor at a $1B Valuation

Swedish pension company AMF has invested SEK 955M (approx. $100M) which will enable Polarium to further accelerate its rapid growth rate. The investment was made on a $1B valuation, making Polarium the latest Swedish unicorn.

Polarium, founded in 2015, is on a journey to empower a sustainable world with smart modular energy storage solutions built on lithium-ion technology. The fast-growing Swedish company had a CAGR of ~150 percent between 2016-2021 and generated net sales of SEK 1.1B and an EBITDA of SEK 83M in 2021. The equity raised will enable Polarium to maintain its high growth pace, accelerate innovation, and invest across all functions.

“We have been on a rapid growth journey from day one. Helping the telecom sector to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their profitability by switching from diesel generators and lead acid batteries for reserve power to smart lithium-based solutions. With AMF as our partner, we are well positioned to accelerate our growth within reserve power, and springboard that expertise to capture more of the ever-growing market for energy optimization. Today is a huge milestone for Polarium. But remember, we are just getting started,” says Stefan Jansson, CEO and founder of Polarium.

Energy optimization is a new business area for Polarium. With intermittent renewable energy growing as a share of the energy mix, energy storage plays an increasingly important role in balancing supply and demand. Polarium’s energy storage solutions with added energy optimization technology enables end users to optimize their energy usage and costs by storing energy when prices are low and dispatching it when prices are high, sell surplus energy back to the grid, and maximize the use of renewables.

This investment adds AMF to the list of other well-renowned investors in Polarium, such as Vargas Holding, Roosgruppen and Beijer Ventures.

“Polarium is an incredibly exciting Swedish innovation company, with ambitious targets for both growth and expansion. With their smart solutions for energy storage and energy optimization, they have vast potential to play an important part in the global energy transition, contributing to a more sustainable development globally. We appreciate the opportunity to invest in Polarium in this exciting phase and look forward to being part of the company’s continued growth journey as a long-term and active owner,” says Anders Oscarsson, Head of Equities at AMF.

“I am very excited to have AMF joining us on our journey. We share the same vision of using technology to enable sustainable transition on a global level. Only by challenging old truths and by putting innovation, technology, and capital to work can we accelerate decarbonization and support electrification and always-on connectivity, with robust and efficient energy supply,” says Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, Chairman of the Board of Polarium and CEO of Vargas Holding.

The investment from AMF at a valuation of $1B is the latest of several important milestones for Polarium. This year, the company was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Europe by the Financial Times’ FT1000-ranking for a second consecutive year and has initiated two energy optimization pilot projects. First with Telia Company, the leading telecom operator in the Nordic and Baltics, and secondly with the Swedish property owner and fund manager Areim. On April 28, Polarium opened a new factory in Cape Town, South Africa, in addition to their production facilities in Mexico and Vietnam. The new factory will, when fully operational, have the capacity to produce more than 300.000 batteries annually, equivalent to 4 Gigawatt hours.

In connection with the investment, J.P. Morgan SE acted as sole placement agent to Polarium, and Mannheimer Swartling has been legal advisor.

 

About Polarium
Polarium provides energy storage solutions built on lithium-ion technology for the telecom, commercial, and industrial segments. Polarium’s headquarters and R&D center are situated in Sweden, with manufacturing in Mexico, Vietnam and South Africa. Polarium serves customers worldwide through its global sales channels and presence in Indonesia, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa, the UK, and the US. Today, our market-leading solutions are in use on all continents and all climate zones – from the Equator to the Arctic – ensuring that the flow of energy never stops, while enabling our customers to reduce energy costs and carbon footprint. Read more at polarium.com

About AMF
With SEK 800 billion in assets for approximately 4 million customers, AMF is one of Sweden’s leading occupational pension companies, and one of the largest investors on Nasdaq OMX Nordic Stockholm. AMF is owned equally by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and operated on mutual principles, entailing that all profits are returned to the customers.