Growing through responsibility

I joined Urban Partners as an investment intern in 2024, and after those first six months, I really wished to stick around. I got the lovely chance to do so by rotating across teams as an analyst. The greatest crash course imaginable. Each move has been like looking at the same thing from a different angle.

It started in Stockholm with the Investment team, then a similar role at our then newly acquired portfolio company Klövern, followed by six months with the Nordic Credit team. Now I find myself living in Copenhagen working in fundraising as part of Capital Formation. It's fair to say I've had quite a few internal email addresses at this point.

The thing about switching roles often is that you're always the new person. It's humbling, and the learning curve is exponential.

Somewhere along the way, I've realised that what I find most interesting is how cities evolve, how you can read the story of a society through what it builds. A year of art history at university probably didn't hurt. However far technology takes us, we'll still need somewhere to live, meet and be, and being close to that in some way is what makes this work feel important.

What's been interesting about the shift from investments to capital formation in particular is how the scope changes. In the investment teams you go deep on micro locations, market analysis, and really doing all you can to understand the asset. In Capital Formation you zoom out. An investor half across the world doesn't always want to know which micro location in Stockholm is up and coming, they want to understand why the Nordics and Northern Europe are attractive as a market. Same underlying knowledge, yet a very different conversation.

Every team I've landed in has been generous with their time, sharp, and genuinely good fun to be around. That's not a given, and it makes more of a difference than any job description would suggest.

Moving to Copenhagen has been its own chapter, new city, new rhythm (yes, I am now biking to work), same culture. There's always been a willingness to bring you in properly and let you contribute, even from the very start. I've never felt like I was just watching from the sidelines. Which is what I did for most of my soccer career.

It started with an application from my student flat on a late January evening. I'm very glad I sent it.