Trill Impact Advisory

The IAB operates with explicit veto power: it independently assesses each potential investment against the firm's predefined social and environmental KPIs, and can block a deal before it reaches the investment committee. The board is chaired by Lise Kingo, former CEO of the UN Global Compact, and includes external specialists in climate, health, and social equity. This structure makes Trill unusual among impact PE firms — impact isn't a scoring overlay but a binding governance gate.

Trill Impact Fund I, which closed at €900 million in 2021, operates as an Article 9 SFDR fund — the highest EU regulatory classification for sustainability-focused investment products. The fund targets 10–15 control or co-control buyout positions in Northern European mid-market companies alongside a separate venture allocation for earlier-stage impact technology businesses. The advisory arm also serves select institutional clients on an off-pool basis, but the majority of capital deployment runs through the commingled fund.

There is no ownership or affiliation link. Trill's three founding partners are former EQT professionals: Jan Ståhlberg spent over a decade as a Partner there, Klas Johansson served as co-Head of EQT's Equity business, and Anders Blomqvist was a Director. They left independently and raised Trill's debut fund from LP relationships built over their combined careers, but EQT holds no economic interest in Trill Impact Advisory.

Trill typically acts as lead or co-lead in its buyout transactions, but has co-invested alongside specialist sector funds — notably working with food-and-ingredients investor Novo Holdings on the Oterra carve-out from Chr. Hansen. The venture arm generally leads rounds alone or with other Nordic early-stage specialists. The firm does not operate a broad co-investment club or systematically open deal flow to external managers.

Buyout deals are weighted toward control positions in mid-market companies across Western and Northern Europe — particularly Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and the Benelux countries — with a check size of roughly €50–150 million per platform. Venture capital allocations target Series A and B rounds across the Nordics and DACH with individual tickets from €10 million to €25 million. The strategy deliberately excludes sub-Saharan Africa and most Asian jurisdictions, concentrating on European markets where the regulatory environment aligns with Article 9 reporting requirements.