Conversations on Liquidity with Frank Hansen of Nordic Secondaries Fund

Recently, Ruckus’ Paul Craven, Principal, EMEA, sat down with Frank Hansen of Nordic Secondaries Fund, the first and only fund in the Nordics to exclusively invest in secondaries. In this conversation, they discuss the in’s and out’s of finding investors, maintaining deal flow, and the nature of secondary investments.

In this clip, Frank talks about how his company chooses the founders they invest in and the unique challenges faced when running a secondary fund. 

Watch the full conversation here

About Frank

Frank Hansen has 15 years of experience as a founder and early-stage investor. 25+ investments in companies such as GoMore, November First, Pleo, Spiir, Tradeshift and Listen To News. Experience as executive director in Deloitte, PwC, and Topdanmark. Holds masters in math and economics and actuarial science. Frank has been active in the secondary market for more than 15 years.

Highlights

• 00:22 – Frank discusses the Danish Fund and talks about the secondary market
• 03:16 – Frank on who his investors are and when they invest 
• 08:10 – Finding investors and keeping a regular deal flow
• 10:00 – Does a happy, financially-free founder cause a fund to perform less well? 
• 13:28 – How Nordic Secondaries Fund helps founders 
• 17:25 – Advice for founders given the investment landscape in Europe 
• 19:12 – The biggest challenges when running a secondary fund 

Quotes

“I think the most important thing about running a secretary is that you need to have a good network in the area where you’re actually investing. You have to talk to the founders of the companies.” – Frank Hansen 

“We believe in focus. So if we are both a primary and a secondary fund then where is our focus when we go into a new investment?” – Frank Hansen