Business innovation in practice: two examples

The acquisition and carve-out of Northvolt Systems’ Industrial Division in early 2025 is a telling example of how Scania works with M&A. With around 300 employees in Sweden and Poland, Northvolt Systems specialised in industrial batteries for demanding off road applications such as mining, construction and material handling. 

For Scania Power Solutions, this was a perfect fit: robust battery technology for tough use cases that could accelerate electrification for those industrial applications.

“With Northvolt Systems we could immediately see customer synergies, and by combining their base with ours we could offer a more expansive solution. The evaluation drew on Scania’s in-house expertise – Power Solutions, R&D, production and more, all played a role in evaluating the investment – giving us the confidence that this was the right fit,” says Sarah Holford, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) at Ventures and New Business at Scania.

This acquisition has since resulted in the launch of Scania Industrial Batteries, a new organisation headquartered in Sweden and dedicated to off-road and other specialised equipment applications. By integrating the former Northvolt Systems division into the portfolio, Scania can now offer fully integrated battery solutions directly to customers.

When it comes to venture capital, Scania’s investment in Neutreeno stands out as a strong example of how its investment teams work closely with and for Scania’s core business, while also engaging with the external start-up ecosystem.

“We were introduced to Neutreeno through Scania Invest’s network of partnerships across the ecosystem – including other corporate investors, accelerators, leading academic institutions, and financial investors,” says Karl Lindoff, an Investment Associate at Ventures and New Business at Scania.

As the OEM industry as a whole is under increasing pressure to measure, reduce, and ultimately address Scope 3 emissions (emissions across Scania’s value chain including customer usage of our products). Neutreeno, a spin-off from the University of Cambridge with promising technology to meet these needs, quickly caught the team’s interest.

Leveraging the expertise of Scania’s internal sustainability teams, the investment team quickly recognised that any truly disruptive solution in this space must go beyond simply quantifying Scope 3 emissions.

“It was also important for us that the solution should provide granular insights and actionable recommendations, enabling Scania to optimise the company’s value chains and drive tangible decarbonisation efforts. Neutreeno matched all these requirements,” says Lindoff’s colleague My Ewrelius Ryde, another Investment Associate at Ventures and New Business at Scania.

Following a thorough due diligence process, the investment team became convinced that Neutreeno could bring strong strategic value to Scania’s mission of building a sustainable transport system for the future.

“What sets Neutreeno apart is its ability to map up to 90 percent of Scania’s Scope 3 emissions using as little as 10 percent of the supplier data: a remarkable level of efficiency and precision,” says Lindoff.

“This way, Neutreeno represents more than just a strategically aligned investment,” adds Ewrelius Ryde. “It also exemplifies how Scania Invest can generate tangible strategic returns for Scania’s core business, while also contributing to the development of technologies and businesses that will help decarbonise entire industries and securing strong financial returns to Scania.”