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STOCKHOLM SCHOOL
OF ECONOMICS

Industry event | Family offices and entrepreneurial investments - 17 Mar 2026

Family offices play a distinctive and increasingly influential role in entrepreneurial finance, deploying long-term oriented capital shaped not only by financial returns but also by industry expertise, active engagement, and family-driven priorities. This breakfast seminar examined the drivers and consequences of direct entrepreneurial investments by family offices, and what these investment practices imply for founders, co-investors, and the broader innovation ecosystem.
Start time: 2026-03-17 at 08:00
End time: 2026-03-17 at 10:00
Location: Stockholm School of Economics
Family offices are important engines of entrepreneurship through their investments in entrepreneurial companies, yet they operate differently from other types of investors. When family offices invest directly in entrepreneurial ventures — rather than through funds, institutions and other companies — their investment decisions are generally shaped by a broader set of considerations than financial objectives alone, including the family’s industry expertise rooted in operating businesses, willingness to be actively involved as mentors to founders, long-term investment horizons, and family-driven priorities such as legacy, learning, and contributing to society and future generations.
 
In this breakfast seminar, we explored what are the drivers and consequences of direct entrepreneurial investments made through family offices. The session began with insights from ongoing research at the Center for Family Enterprise at SSE on how and where family offices invest, and what their investment practices imply for founders, co-investors, and the broader innovation ecosystem. We then convened a panel of family office principals, executives, advisors as well as entrepreneurs to discuss what family offices uniquely contribute to entrepreneurial companies, what investor families seek in return, what entrepreneurs seek in family offices as investors and how the family offices long-term vision shapes investment choices over time.
 
Researcher presenting: Dr. Myung-Seon (Lydia) Song, Center for Family Enterprise, House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics.
 
Panelists: Helene Mörtberg, CEO and Founder, Mirai, and CEO, CoFounded Capital, Jesper Eliasson, CEO and Co-founder, Bodil, Martin Wattin, Executive Chairman, Inbox Capital, and Carl Christensson, Head of Ownership Advisory, SEB
 
Moderators: Mattias Nordqvist, Stockholm School of Economics, and Stina Norrhede, SEB
 
Please see the speaker profiles below.
 
This event was designed for family office professionals, business families, investors, advisors, founders, entrepreneurs and students interested in the intersection of family-led investments, entrepreneurship, innovation, and society. It offered a unique opportunity to learn from research and engage in dialogue with researchers and practitioners actively investing through family offices. The seminar was co-organized with SEB, Division Wealth & Asset Management. 
 
The Center for Family Enterprise is generously supported by SEB, Salenia, Ferd, Virala, Topsoe and HMP Foundation. This activity would not have been possible without their support.

Timing

08:00 - 08:30 | Arrival, breakfast and networking
08:30 - 10:00 | Program (incl. research insights and a panel discussion, followed by a Q&A

Research insights

Myung-Seon “Lydia” Song

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Family Enterprise, Stockholm School of Economics

Myung-Seon “Lydia” Song is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Family Enterprise. Her research lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship, family business, and mergers and acquisition, specifically focused on the direct entrepreneurial investments of single family offices. Under this overarching theme, she studies how family businesses and single family offices interact and subsequently affect the direct entrepreneurial investment practices of single family offices.

Thus far, her projects have yielded a book chapter in the De Gruyter Handbook of Business Families, two nominations for the Best Ph.D. Paper Prize at the 2022 and 2023 Strategic Management Society conferences, invitations to multiple top-tier conferences, and media coverage at NUS. She completed her Ph.D. in Strategy & Policy at the National University of Singapore and earned her M.A. in Strategy & Environment at Rice University, and M.S. and B.A. in Business Administration at Ewha Women University. Prior to academia, she worked at Deloitte, U.S. Small Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Development Department, and participated in a marketing project with Hyundai Motors. Additionally, she assisted in two South Korean government policy research projects.

Panel discussion

Helene Mörtberg

CEO and Founder, Mirai, and CEO, CoFounded Capital

Helene Mörtberg is the CEO and founder of Mirai, a multi-family office that supports its clients in everything from asset management to strategic and operational family administration. She is also the CEO of CoFounded Capital  - an investment company focused in investment sin tech start ups.

Helene has extensive experience in asset management and family office operations, having served as the CEO of the Hamburg-based single-family office company Mayfair and held several senior roles at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Paris, and Singapore.

Jesper Eliason

CEO & Co-founder, Bodil

Jesper Eliason studied at the Stockholm School of Economics and has spent the past decade working in real estate investments, including roles at Newsec and the private equity real estate fund Brunswick Real Estate. Today, Jesper is a co-founder of Bodil, alongside fellow Stockholm School of Economics graduate Johan Lanner. Bodil’s mission is to expand homeownership by introducing a new model for residential financing, focused on single-family homes.

Martin Wattin

Executive Chairman, Inbox Capital

Martin Wattin is a Swedish entrepreneur and investor, serving as Executive Chairman of Inbox Capital, a family-owned investment firm focused on technology-driven growth companies across the Nordics and Europe.

He led the firm as CEO from 2015 to 2023, during which Inbox established itself as an active and long-term investor in high-growth businesses. Under his leadership, Inbox has participated in investments in companies such as Klarna, Revolut, Acast, Vinted, and Truecaller, among many others, alongside a range of early-stage fintech and SaaS ventures.

Martin is deeply involved in strategic development and value creation within portfolio companies, often serving in board and advisory roles. His professional background combines hands-on entrepreneurship with extensive experience in private equity and technology investments.

Before pursuing a career in investments, Martin founded and served as CEO of Contur Software AB, a company that developed software to help research organizations protect their intellectual property and patents. Contur was acquired by the NASDAQ-listed company Accelrys in 2011.

 

Carl Christensson

Head of Ownership Advisory, SEB

Carl Christensson is responsible for Ownership Advisory at SEB Private Wealth Management and Family Offices. He is involved in ownership transformations, M&A, capital raisings in the private and public market. He has long experience in banking with focus on Corporate Finance and early-stage investments from SEB Venture Capital and Growth Equity investments in Cinder Invest. In addition, he was the Head of SEB International and before that responsible for establishing SEB activities in Shanghai and Hong Kong.  

Moderated by

Stina Norrhede

Head of Professional Family Office, Sweden, SEB

Stina Norrhede is heading the team that covers Family Controlled Investment companies at SEB, within the Wealth and Asset Management division. The team provides institutional coverage for the largest families in the Nordics. The dedicated unit offers one point of entry to SEB’s to the vast network and resources across the entire SEB franchise, supreme investment opportunities, tailored financing solution and access to a unique client community.

Stina has plus 25 years’ experience in the financial markets, with senior positions ranging from Wealth & Family Office Business, Investment Banking, FICC and Markets.

Mattias Nordqvist

Professor and SEB Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Business, SSE House of Innovation
Mattias Nordqvist, PhD., holds the SEB Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Business. He is a Full Professor in Business Administration at the House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) and the Founding Director of Center for Family Enterprise. Mattias teaching, research and outreach activities concentrate on entrepreneurship, strategic renewal and governance in private companies, in particular, family businesses. He focuses on both start-ups/new ventures and established companies. Current research projects focus on new venture creation and governance, sustainability in large family-controlled businesses, entrepreneurship and strategic renewal in family businesses as well as the organization and role of family offices.
Mattias is ranked among the top 25 most cited and published researchers within the social sciences in Sweden by the leading weekly news magazine Fokus. He has been listed as one of the world’s leading researchers and academics within the family business field in several international rankings. Mattias teaches at master, executive and PhD levels. He regularly serves as board member and as an advisor to companies and other organizations. He often appears in media in relation to his core topics and is a sought after key note speaker.
House of Innovation Entrepreneurship Family economics Innovation Seminar

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