Sabina Wizander
Sabina is one of our Partners based in Stockholm. She is especially passionate about climate, health, and green energy investing.
I was quite a geek growing up. When my sister was playing with Barbies, I always built things like boats, cars, houses, everything I could find at home. My mum always said I would become an engineer – and because of that I definitely didn’t want to become an engineer. I loved math from a very young age and I was always torn between rebelling against this path and actually loving it. At age 13, I did a special math program that confirmed me wanting to follow my passion and made me study engineering.
Sabina and Simon
While I was sure to continue my career in academia at the beginning of my studies, I was completely put off after my master's. Pivoting from thinking of doing a math Ph.D. and not knowing what I should do with my education led me to McKinsey. I moved to San Francisco and quickly realized that tech was the place I needed to go as this is where the real impact on the world would happen.
Sabina with Johannes Schildt at Techarena 2024
I started at Creandum as an Investment Manager and loved it from day one. I’ve always been driven to have an impact on the world, and I believe that you can create the most impact by building global businesses that solve significant problems. Being in the position to support outstanding entrepreneurs in bringing their vision to reality is a privilege I could have only dreamed of when I pursued my degree in engineering aiming to build impactful things. But at some point, I had the feeling I would hit a glass ceiling as an investor if I didn’t do more of the real stuff myself.
Fredrik and Sabina with the Kry team, enjoying a ‘serious’ meeting
When we invested in Kry, I wanted to become an even more crucial part of their journey of changing healthcare than only as an investor. I loved the founders, I loved the mission and I felt that it was time for me to follow my gut feeling and join the operator side. In retrospect, this was one of the most impactful, passionate, and challenging times of my life. I learned that looking at things from a board level is like playing chess – while being an operator is like being in the mud, fighting to reach the next goal is way more complex than considering the next chess move. I learned that for investors it’s not about the amount of advice given but the weight of advice you give – and that from an operator’s view, not everything is as straightforward to execute on. I’ve experienced the rollercoaster of building a company firsthand, pushing my team and me to our limits.
AK, Sabina, Staffan, and Katarina on a casual Friday
Sitting in the investor seat again I have more empathy and a better understanding of the challenges that founders face. I’ve seen what it takes to succeed, and I don’t sugarcoat anything I say. I am always on the team of the founders we back and push them to perform at their best.
