Summary

Investing in inclusion builds lasting value

Ferd Social Entrepreneurs (FSE) invests in social innovation and companies that contribute to reducing exclusion. Our primary focus is on investments that enable more people to complete education and participate in the workforce in Norway and the Nordic region. 

The Norwegian government and NAV identify social exclusion as one of the most costly challenges facing society. Approximately 700,000 people of working age are currently outside employment and education, and too many young people fail to complete upper secondary school. This has significant consequences for individuals, communities and society as a whole. 

Many Must Contribute to Succeed

The need for new and better solutions is substantial, and responsibility cannot rest with the public sector alone. To include more people in education and employment, broader collaboration is required across public authorities, business, civil society and investors. 

As a private social investor, we contribute to the development and scaling of solutions that deliver measurable social impact. With nearly 20 years of experience, we invest in people and companies developing solutions where existing systems fall short. Beyond capital, we provide expertise, networks and long-term support. 

Three Strategic Focus Areas

Our work is structured around three strategic pillars: 

Social innovation 

We develop and strengthen new solutions to societal challenges, creating lasting systemic change and positive outcomes for vulnerable groups. This includes our place-based effort, the Oslo Initiative, as well as investments in companies and outcome-based contracts.

Social impact investing 

Through investments in mature Norwegian and Nordic companies and funds, we support solutions that are already proven and ready to scale. Our capital helps expand these solutions and strengthen the surrounding market

Early-stage support through Impact StartUp 

Through our accelerator, Impact StartUp, we strengthen early-stage companies by providing targeted capacity-building, networks and financing. The ambition is to give more founders a strong platform to succeed and generate lasting social impact. 

Innovative Financing

We apply a range of financial instruments tailored to company needs and development stage, including grants, Startup’s Lead Investment Papers (SLIPs) and equity investments. Through flexible financing solutions, we aim to mobilise additional capital, foster collaboration, and generate greater societal value. 

We have also developed the FSE Impact Note, an equity instrument specifically designed to meet the financing needs of early-stage companies delivering social impact. 

Impact Measurement at the Core

Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) is the structured approach we use to define, measure and improve the social impact across our portfolio. We work closely with portfolio companies to build robust measurement systems and actively use insights to guide development and strengthen long-term outcomes. 

Market situation

Tight budgets and growing needs

Norwegian municipalities continue to face tight budgets and difficult priorities. At the same time, challenges related to social exclusion are becoming increasingly visible, particularly among children and young people. The need for preventive measures and smoother transitions between education and work is clear, yet public-sector financial flexibility remains limited 

In 2025, parliamentary elections brought youth exclusion high onto the political agenda. The government has signalled a clear ambition to increase labour market participation and reduce dropout rates from education and employment. This points to a growing need for solutions that combine early intervention, close follow-up and cross-sector collaboration. At the same time, there is an increasing emphasis on using available resources more effectively and strategically. 

Demand for new solutions 

These developments closely align with our strategy and priorities. We see a rising need for actors capable of testing new models, developing more targeted interventions and scaling solutions that demonstrate measurable impact. 

An evolving market 

A challenging geopolitical environment continues to affect the investment climate, including in Norway. Nevertheless, interest remains strong in investments that combine social impact with financial sustainability. Private investors, foundations, and institutional actors play an increasingly important role in complementing public funding. We also observe a gradual professionalisation of the market, with rising expectations around impact measurement, governance, and long-term value creation. 

Taken together, these trends reinforce our strategy of supporting high-quality social solutions through long-term capital, competence, and partnerships. 

Portfolio 

One of the highlights of 2025 was our investment in the Swedish fund Utfallsfonden. At year end 2025, FSE’s portfolio comprised ten direct investments, five fund investments and four outcome-based contracts.

Direct Investments

auticon is an international provider of IT consulting services that employs individuals on the autism spectrum as consultants. In 2023, the company merged with the Norwegian company Unicus, forming the world’s largest IT consultancy where most employees are autistic.

Fagskolen Diakonova provides higher vocational education in healthcare, leadership, logistics, and finance and accounting. The school aims to enable more people to qualify for employment in the health and care sector.

Forskerfabrikken works to increase children’s understanding of how science and technology shape individuals, society and nature. Through hands-on learning and nationwide programmes, the company fosters curiosity, scientific literacy and engagement in STEM subjects among children across Norway.

Gammel Nok delivers staffing solutions, practical services and home-based care to both private and public sector clients, provided by employees aged 50 and above. The company employs more than 400 senior workers, is headquartered in Asker, and has expanded operations to the Hamar region and Østfold.

GET Academy offers young people outside the labour market a vocational education programme that equips them with sought-after skills as software developers. Over a 20-week intensive training programme in coding and programming, followed by one year of work placement with close mentoring, participants gain relevant qualifications and work experience.

KLAR has developed a digital learning tool that introduces multilingual learners to the professional language used in education and working life. The aim is to enable more students to complete vocational upper secondary education and transition successfully into employment. KLAR serves county authorities, upper secondary schools, adult education providers, and vocational training institutions.

Lifetools has developed the digital communication tool KnowMe, which helps individuals with communication challenges to express themselves and be understood. The solution leads to measurable improvements, including increased participation, self-expression and social inclusion.

Ludenso uses augmented reality (AR) to create more engaging and personalised learning experiences through digital textbooks. The company collaborates with more than 25 international publishers and is currently piloting an AI assistant that allows students to ask questions directly within their textbooks.

Mindmore works to improve brain health by providing digital cognitive assessments measuring key aspects of cognitive function, including memory, short-term recall, language comprehension, concentration, reaction time, processing speed and problem-solving ability.

Motitech offers an innovative motivational tool encourages physical activity among older adults and people with dementia, designed to prevent falls, improve health outcomes and enhance quality of life.

Fund investments

Autism Impact Fund invests in companies developing new diagnostics and treatments for individuals with autism, neurodevelopmental disorders, mental health conditions and other complex chronic illnesses.

Mikrofonden describes itself as Sweden’s largest and smallest social investor. The fund provides seed and growth capital to associations, cooperatives and socially beneficial enterprises, enabling them to scale and build long-term resilience.

Den Sociale Kapitalfond Invest I and II aim to create employment opportunities for vulnerable groups in Denmark, generating both financial and social returns.

Utfallsfonden invests in social outcome contracts and companies addressing critical societal challenges in areas such as mental health, unemployment and elderly care.

Outcome-Based Contracts

In 2025, we continued to follow up on the four outcome-based contracts previously entered. The agreement with Fremtind and lyk-z aims to support more young people in transitioning from disability benefits back into employment. In Øvre Eiker and Lillehammer, the municipalities are working with SOS Children’s Villages to pilot a new service called Family Partner, designed to strengthen family support and prevent long-term exclusion.

In four municipalities in Vestfold and Telemark, in partnership with Back in the Ring, the objective is to reduce repeat offending among young inmates. In Lier, the active phase of the contract with Trygg av natur was completed in 2025.

Impact StartUp

Our subsidiary, Impact StartUp, plays an important role in strengthening Norway’s early-stage impact ecosystem. Through a combination of a national digital incubator and a hands-on accelerator with investment, Impact StartUp helps founders turn strong ideas into viable companies with lasting societal impact. 

From Idea to Viable Company

Since 2018, Impact StartUp has assessed more than 500 early-stage companies and built deep insight into what impact-driven founders need to succeed. The digital incubator gives entrepreneurs access to practical tools, expert guidance and a national community of over 200 founders. This early support helps companies clarify their business model, strengthen their impact logic and prepare for growth.  

Impact StartUp also conducts screening of early-stage companies for Ferd Social Entrepreneurs, ensuring that promising initiatives receive relevant support and financing at the right stage. 

Closing the Capital Gap

Many impact startups struggle to access capital in their earliest growth phase. They are often too commercial for grants, yet too impact-driven for traditional venture capital. To address this gap, Impact StartUp launched a new investment collective in 2025, with an ambition to invest NOK 30 million in 30 early-stage companies over three years.

The collective provides early capital combined with shared competence, helping companies move from pilot to sustainable growth.  The investment collective brings together experienced investors from across Norwegian business and philanthropy, including: Flere ender, KRE Invest, Snefred Invest, Vestnorsk Handelskompani, Wilstar Social Impact (A. Wilhelmsen Group) and Ferd Social Entrepreneurs.

Accelerator With Investment

Ten companies completed the accelerator the fall of 2025 and received NOK 1 million each in investment, alongside tailored support on strategy, sales, impact measurement and investor readiness.

The 2025 accelerator cohort brought together companies working across education, health, inclusion and sustainability, including:

Innsikt.AI – Trains professionals to conduct best practice interviews and communication with children in vulnerable situations.

Folkelig – Uses food-based learning and community programmes to reduce social health inequalities among children and families.

Baremark – Develops bio-based playground surfaces that eliminate microplastics, lower emissions and create safer outdoor spaces.

LICC – Creates safe entry points into the labour market for young people, using ice cream carts to build work experience, confidence and community.

ADA Response – Builds digital tools that improve coordination and shared situational awareness during crisis response.

Minus – Extends the lifetime of quality furniture through design and production of furniture that they rent out to companies as a circular subscription model.

Educational Storytelling – Use film and real-life stories to build insight, confidence and practical skills among professionals working with people in vulnerable situations.

Hvild – Helps leaders prevent sick leave by combining advisory services, digital tools and the world’s first menopause insurance.

Æira – Provides virtual clinical training that helps medical students and healthcare professionals practice safely using realistic patient scenarios.

Sulacare – Provides an innovative device that makes catheter insertion safer for women, reducing infection risk and freeing up valuable time for healthcare professionals.

Together, the cohort reflects the breadth of societal challenges where new solutions are needed, and where early investment and close follow-up can make a critical difference.

The Oslo Initiative

The Oslo Initiative is Ferd’s place-based effort to reduce inequality and expand opportunity in Norway’s capital. Through long-term partnerships and active collaboration, the initiative strengthens organisations, social entrepreneurs and local initiatives supporting children and young people across Oslo.

The initiative is based in four boroughs: Alna, Grorud, Stovner and Søndre Nordstrand. These areas experience particularly strong socioeconomic disparities. The work is carried out in specific neighbourhoods and local settings, including Ellingsrud, Mortensrud, Romsås and Stovner. This local focus is deliberate. Inequality is felt most strongly at community level, and effective responses need to be shaped close to where people live their daily lives.

In practice, the Oslo Initiative builds on existing efforts and local structures. The focus is on strengthening what already works, supporting local actors and helping successful approaches grow and connect. At the same time, the initiative takes an active role where established systems constrain impact or reinforce barriers. In these situations, we engage directly to develop and apply innovative solutions. By bringing together organisations, schools and public agencies, the initiative improves coordination, increases impact and supports long-term sustainability.

Since its launch in 2022, the Oslo Initiative has grown from supporting 12 organisations to working with 21 partners. In 2025, we collaborated with organisations to strengthen youth employment, promote educational equity and widen access to opportunities in sport, culture, arts and music.

Private engagement in social development

Despite Norway’s strong welfare system and commitment to social mobility, many young people still face limited opportunities determined by local conditions. Over time, this can weaken social cohesion and trust. In response, Ferd established the Oslo Initiative, based on the belief that private capital and expertise can play a constructive role in social development beyond traditional investment models. Through long-term partnerships, Ferd contributes to the strengthening of local capacity and broadens access to opportunity.

Targeted programs addressing systemic gaps

Alongside the place-based work, the Oslo Initiative has developed five targeted programmes designed to address systemic gaps and test new approaches where existing systems are under pressure:

Building sustainable sports clubs in communities affected by inequality

Using arts and culture as strategic investments in place-based development

Investing in youth employment to create pathways to skills, confidence and network

Supporting in entrepreneurship to create pathways to opportunity

Investing in inclusive education to ensure opportunity for every child

Organisation

In 2025, the team at Ferd Social Entrepreneurs consisted of seven employees. We strengthened our expertise in preventing school dropout and increasing labour market participation among vulnerable groups, the two societal challenges we have chosen to prioritize. These are areas where we have long experience and consider critical to building a more inclusive and sustainable society. We will continue to work actively within these priority areas in the years ahead.

At the same time, we further developed our work on innovative financing solutions for social investments, with the ambition to mobilize more capital and generate greater social impact.

Outlook

Continued Development

In 2026, we will continue to support our social entrepreneurs through close follow-up of each company, as well as through shared learning platforms. At the same time, we will strengthen our work on Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) to clarify the link between activities, measurable results, lasting change, and societal impact. All portfolio companies have dedicated IMM plans, which are actively used to steer more effectively towards targeted social outcomes.

We will also be clearer in articulating our ownership agenda and the expectations we place on our investments, both in terms of social impact, governance, and long-term development.

Collaboration for Better Solutions

We hope that the challenging financial situation in the public sector will contribute to increased attention to social impact and more targeted use of public resources. There is significant potential in how public procurement power can be used more strategically to create social value and stimulate innovation.

In June 2026, we are planning a conference on social investments. The conference will highlight different forms of collaboration and financing models, with the aim of increasing knowledge, engagement and investment appetite across both the private and public sectors.