Northvolt was Europe's flagship battery champion, backed by Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs, BMW, and BlackRock, and capitalized with over $13 billion in debt and equity. Yet between 2022 and 2025, it became the largest industrial bankruptcy in modern Swedish history, shocking the industry and investors alike. We took a look back at SESAM’s controversy data to see if there were any early warning signals.
The Warning Signs
In September 2022, the first public reports of production delays emerged at Northvolt's Skellefteå gigafactory. By the end of 2023, less than 1% of the planned 16 GWh capacity for 2024 had been delivered. Then came the fatal workplace accidents linked to electrical experiments, and in June 2024, BMW canceled a €2 billion contract. By September, 1,600 employees had been laid off, the cathode expansion was abandoned, and the CFO was replaced.
The Fallout
The consequences were swift. A Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. in November 2024. The resignation of founder and CEO Peter Carlsson. Over 5,000 jobs lost. Major write-downs across the cap table, from sovereign-backed pension funds to global automakers. In March 2025, Northvolt filed for bankruptcy in Sweden, the largest industrial failure in the country's modern history. The reputational damage extended well beyond the company itself, reaching investors, suppliers, and the broader European battery ambition.
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The world of private equity has been fertile ground for the adoption of alternative data, including AI-driven insights from firms like SESAMm, an expert in Natural Language Processing (NLP).
Could SESAMm’s technology provide Carlyle with the tools to identify a better class of investment opportunity?
When SESAMm’s CEO Sylvain Forté met the man in charge of data at The Carlyle Group, at an industry conference, the opportunity arose to put SESAMm’s data to the test.
“I remember the first day I met Sylvain and he said, I can tell you if your company is trending positively or negatively on the internet,” recounts Matt Anderson, Chief Data Officer of Carlyle, at a recent PE Insights webinar, in which EQT and Apollo were also speaking. Sensing potential in the data, he decided to give it a go.
SESAMm’s NLP platform generates quantitative and qualitative analytics on a wide array of entities – from public and private companies, to brands, products and individuals, by running cutting edge algorithms across billions of web-based articles.
Their data lake is not limited to news stories from the New York Times or Wall Street Journal, but spans a whole variety of global sources – social media, blog posts, professional forums, customer reviews and more, in over 100 languages.
Using this ability to interpret unstructured text from a huge slice of the internet, SESAMm’s team created insights designed to help Matt’s deal teams evaluate target companies.
The challenge was getting investment professionals to buy into the value of alternative data for private companies, so SESAMm condensed everything into easily-digestible reports. They included time-series and charts measuring companies on a variety of key metrics versus their peers, including ESG risk, e-reputation, competitive positioning, sentiment, positive and negative themes and other critical KPIs.
Fig 1. An Example of one of SESAMm’s deal slides, in this case for brewery Brewdog (Not a Carlyle portfolio company).
By regularly presenting SESAMm’s analytics reports to investment committees, Sylvain and Matt hoped to gradually convince deal teams that alternative data could have a positive impact on the investment process.
“It was about sharing the data in the form of slides directly with deal teams in a way that was automated on our side but easily consumable as part of the pre-deal decision process”, said Forté.
“We saw the need to convince people and show, time after time, that it really works, that this data is really valuable and can give an edge”, added Forté.
Fig 2. A deal slide showing competitor analysis.
“In some instances it helped us to not make investments or avoid allocating resources to things that were marginal or moving in the wrong direction, and that was really valuable”, said Anderson.
To further prove the value of the data, Matt asked Sylvain to create analytics reports on a selection of Carlyle’s historical target companies. The idea was to see if SESAMm’s scores and analytics were predictive of the deal outcome, whether positive or negative.
“If we put a number on how positive SESAMm feels about some of these deals between one and ten, with one being, ‘avoid at all costs’ , and ten, ‘go for it’, what would it have told us?”, said Anderson.
After running the back test, the results showed a clear correlation between SESAMm’s analysis, and the deals that performed well and those that fell through.
“Looking at the results, I think that people would have really paused an investment committee around some of the conclusions”, commented Anderson.
“Having a view of the themes being surfaced, the plateaus in certain trends, and the sentiment charts heading in a negative direction was eye-opening for our leaders and deal teams – because they had to actually live through those deals. So seeing that kind of data, and what it can help you avoid was really insightful.” Says Anderson.
Ultimately, the integration of SESAMm’s analytics reports into Carlyle’s investment process was so successful that they were rolled out across all global investment teams. The two companies have developed a strong partnership based on the proven value of alternative data in the private equity investment process.
To find out how SESAMm can support your investment decision-making, to request a demo or for any other questions regarding our data do not hesitate to contact info@sesamm.com.
In our latest research, “Unmasking Greenwashing with AI” our ESG and Research & Analytics teams provide a comprehensive analysis of greenwashing trends using AI-powered text analysis.
Notable increase in mentions of greenwashing, with a 3.3x rise since 2021.
This increase suggests both a real growth in deceptive sustainability practices and a rise in public awareness.
Greenwashing represents 55% of all reputational laundering, underscoring a major shift towards environmental deception.
Surge in climate lawsuits with over 3x increase in climate change lawsuits since 2020, highlighting legal risks for misleading practices
It underscores the financial sector’s dual role in both contributing to and fighting against greenwashing through its investment practices
As the summer draws to a close, it's the perfect time to reflect on the exciting developments we've had at SESAMm over the past few months. From insightful webinars and ebooks to new product features and industry recognitions, we've been busy making strides in the world of ESG and AI. Before we transition into the busier months ahead, take a moment to catch up on our latest updates and explore the resources we've curated for you. Whether you're lounging by the pool or gearing up for the fall, we've got something that will pique your interest.
This ebook provides an in-depth look at the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, offering practical insights for businesses to align with new regulatory expectations on sustainability.
Explore how ESG controversies differ between public and private companies. This study highlights key areas where private firms lag in transparency and governance compared to their public counterparts.
This webinar dives deeper into the findings from our comparative study, featuring expert opinions on addressing ESG challenges in different sectors.
Product Features
Heatmap: ESG Controversy Risk Exposure
Introducing our new ESG Controversy Risk Exposure Heatmap, which provides an easy, visual way to assess an entity’s reputational risk profile. With a comprehensive overview of ESG risks, you can quickly zero in on areas of concern and prioritize your next steps. Test it out for yourself with a free trial.
Text Summarization: Efficiently Identify ESG Risks
Our new Text Summary feature allows you to quickly get to the heart of the matter by creating on-the-fly summaries of news articles and documents with just the click of a button. Ideal for those needing to swiftly assess ESG-related risks.
This article highlights real-world applications of AI in detecting greenwashing, showcasing how companies are leveraging technology to maintain credibility.
Join us as we examine AI's capabilities compared to traditional risk management tools. Our webinar on September 25 will highlight how AI more efficiently detects and predicts ESG controversies. We will also showcase a detailed case study on the Boeing scandal, providing invaluable insights into AI's predictive prowess within the aerospace industry.
Events in September Here are some events we’ll be attending in September. Here is a chance for us to catch up and meet in person. Check them out, and let’s meet soon. Click here for more details.
Reach out to SESAMm
TextReveal’s web data analysis of over five million public and private companies is essential for keeping tabs on ESG investment risks. To learn more about how you can analyze web data or to request a demo, reach out to one of our representatives.
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