Vargas was founded as an incubator to identify, validate, finance, launch and scale impact companies that address high‑emitting, hard‑to‑abate sectors. From the outset, its ambition has been to directly and indirectly support the reduction of global emissions.

The journey began in 2014, when Stefan Jansson, a former executive at Northstar, approached Harald Mix to provide seed financing for a new start-up in the battery industry. The business idea was to provide smart and sustainable lithium-ion battery energy storage systems for the telecom industry. Polarium became Vargas’ first venture, and has since evolved into a leader in the energy storage industry, serving telecom, residential, industrial and commercial customers.

Over the following years, Vargas’ model took shape, combining close customer partnerships, industrial competence, scaling and financing expertise to build next generation industry challengers from the ground up. This approach formed the foundation for addressing a new industrial challenge: Europe’s dependence on Asian battery cells and the growing need for low‑carbon, high‑quality batteries. Together with Peter Carlsson and Paolo Cerruti, Vargas co‑founded Northvolt in 2016 with the ambition of developing what would be the world’s greenest lithium-ion battery cell and helping establish a European supply of batteries.

With a firm conviction that systemic change in hard‑to‑abate industries can be achieved when technology, capital and industrial expertise are put to work, Vargas extended its efforts beyond electrification alone. As one of the largest global polluters, the steel industry offered a major opportunity for decarbonisation. H2 Green Steel, now Stegra, was launched in 2021 under the leadership of Henrik Henriksson to decarbonise the steel industry through large‑scale, green hydrogen‑based steel production.

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