Pal Erik Sjatil

Pal Erik Sjatil is the Global Managing Partner and CEO at Lightrock, a global private equity partnership that seeks to achieve financial as well as societal and environmental returns. Lightrock invests in sustainable businesses built by purpose-driven entrepreneurs committed to innovation for systemic change at scale. The company has one of the largest impact-focused growth portfolios in Europe, Latin America and India. More recently, Lightrock has also started building out a portfolio of investments across Sub-Saharan Africa. It invests in companies that pursue scalable and technology-driven business models around the themes people, planet and productivity/tech for good. Specific investment sectors within these themes include education, healthcare, access to finance, mobility, transportation, renewables and circular-economy transition. Lightrock investments demonstrably contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Lightrock’s portfolio currently encompasses more than 70 high-growth companies, including Infarm, one of the world's fastest growing urban farming networks with more than 1200 farms installed; PharmEasy, one of the largest omni-channel healthcare platforms in India; DrConsulta, one of the largest healthcare chains in Latin America; and M-Kopa, a global pioneer for pay-as-you-go solar energy services for off-grid customers in rural East Africa. In 2019, CMR Surgical, a developer of surgical robots that will broaden access to keyhole surgery, was the first of Lightrock’s portfolio companies to become a unicorn – followed by several others, such as Lilium, the sustainable aviation company. As an active owner, Lightrock supports its portfolio companies from a board position in their dynamic growth and expansion phase. Prior to joining Lightrock, Pal Erik Sjatil was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, a member of the firm’s Shareholders Council, and the Managing Partner of McKinsey’s offices in Europe. Before assuming that role, he led McKinsey’s office in Norway, was part of the leadership of the Scandinavian offices, led the office complex in Eastern Europe, and was the Managing Partner of McKinsey’s offices in EEMA (Eastern Europe, Russia/CIS, Turkey, the Middle East, and Africa). Pal Erik also held leadership roles in the firm’s Telecommunications, High Tech, and Strategy & Corporate Finance practices. At McKinsey, he served clients in the telecom, high tech, financial services, and oil and gas industries and focused on corporate strategy, operations, and organizational transformations.