Jenny Keisu

Executive summary:

Currently serving as the CEO of X Shore, a Swedish technology company that makes electric boats with a mission to change the boating industry through three pillars — sustainability, technology, and design.
I hold both a Master of Laws from Uppsala University and an Executive MBA from Stockholm School of Economics and have studied both at Stanford and Oxford.
I started my career as a business lawyer at the leading law firm in Scandinavia (Mannheimer Swartling) and was involved in some of the largest transactions on the Nordic market for a number of years.
I spent 10 years in private equity, both as General Counsel and Director at the leading European PE firm, Nordic Capital, and later as co-founder, partner, and CEO of Summa Equity, which at inception in 2016 was the first private equity fund to align its investments with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and is Europe’s largest impact fund today.
I built X Shore into a clear leader within the EV-boating space. X Shore recently received the highest possible sustainability rating by the independent auditor CICERO Shades of Green, and earlier this year, the X Shore Eelex 8000 was awarded as one of the best power boats in Europe for 2022.

What is your field of expertise?

My field of expertise is building and scaling businesses that contribute to a more sustainable environment. With Summa Equity, we proved to a whole industry that it is possible to invest in sustainable companies and make great returns, and often even better returns, than in non-sustainable investments. Because of what Summa Equity managed to prove, it is today close to impossible to raise capital without addressing how you work with sustainability in your investments.

Describe your journey to where you are today.

I have a legal background and started my career as a business lawyer in the Nordic area. I held senior positions at Nordic Capital and Mannheimer Swartling. In addition, I was a university lecturer at Uppsala University’s Faculty of Law. I was also one of the founders of the private equity firm Summa Equity. Summa Equity was the first private equity fund in the world to link its investments to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and today Summa Equity is Europe’s largest impact fund. I took over X Shore in 2019 and have built a great company which is the world’s most sustainable and efficient large-scale leisure boating factory in the world, and produces some of the world’s best power boats. In addition to leading X Shore, I am also a non-executive director of Aligro Planet Acquisition Company, a sustainability-focused listed investment company.

What does your company do, for whom, and how does it fit into the bigger picture of solving global issues with clean tech?

X Shore is a Swedish climate tech company that designs 100% electric boats to create a fossil free tomorrow. We combine Swedish maritime craftsmanship with technology, innovation, and sustainability to change the boating industry. We have seen a large shift over the last few years toward electric transportation. The momentum behind electric cars is already beginning to translate to other forms of EVs, including boats. Boating is a popular pastime, but it plays a huge role in the damage done to the environment by polluting our air and oceans with carbon dioxide, oil, and gas. That is why we hope to transform the industry by making beautifully designed, high-performance, smart, and sustainable boats at an attractive price point. By doing so, we are pushing the boating industry to transition and become part of the future sustainable economy. X Shore’s boats are designed with sustainability at the forefront. The Eelex 8000, which was launched in the US last year, is 100% electric and silent, preventing water, air, or noise pollution. X Shore also uses a combination of glass fiber and carbon fiber to balance weight, performance, and environmental impact. The Eelex is also built to last with technology that allows for over-the-air updates to improve the boat over time rather than ending up in a landfill.

What do you think is the most important thing we can be doing in terms of clean tech solutions?

The most important thing we can do in terms of clean tech solutions is continuously improve or change the systems we have in place. As technology changes, we have to reflect on our practices and see where we can adopt new initiatives. Our focus must be on the biggest problem first, which is the climate. In order to make a large impact, everyone needs to take a holistic approach to sustainability. It is not enough to only provide electric vehicles, but we must also become net-zero and produce products in a sustainable way, using sustainable materials. For X Shore, the key is to transform the boating industry, which starts by creating products that are better than the traditional and unsustainable ones. This includes better design, being as good in performance, and being offered at an accessible price. X Shore is helping solve the climate crisis by offering beautiful, high-performing, smart, and sustainable boats at a price that is more affordable and thus enabling the transition. One of our priorities right now is manufacturing and taking the necessary steps to produce our first boat with a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030. In fact, our newest factory X Shore Industries 1 in Nyköping, Sweden, is the world’s most sustainable and efficient large-scale leisure boat factory. We recently announced that CICERO Shades of Green, an independent green bond frameworks accreditor, awarded X Shore with the highest sustainability rating possible (Dark Green)—we are the first manufacturing company to receive this accreditation and are very proud to hold that title. Another important focus for us is renewable energy, such as improving our batteries to make them long-lasting and as eco-friendly as possible.

LinkedIn: Jenny Keisu