Responsibility, legacy, and long-term value creation:
Q&A with CEO Kasim Kutay and CFO Nigel Govett

In this interview from Novo Holdings' 2025 Responsible Investment Report, CEO Kasim Kutay (KK) and CFO Nigel Govett (NG) reflect on how foundation ownership shapes the company's long-term approach to responsible investment. They discuss the role of innovation, value creation, and why sustainability and impact remain integral to Novo Holdings' investment philosophy across health, planetary health, and financial markets.

In a year marked by growing uncertainty around sustainability agendas, how does this affect Novo Holdings’ role as a long-term responsible investor?

KK: ”We remain very committed to planetary health investing, both through technology-driven solutions and investments in infrastructure and renewables. Our commitment towards responsible investing is as strong and as steadfast as ever.”

NG: ”For us, sustainability and impact are not trend agendas; they are part of our culture. We have a fundamental belief that strong sustainability and impact practices can enable and enhance returns. These priorities are not a box-ticking exercise; they are there because of who we are, our reputation as an investor, and the role we play in society.”

Novo Holdings’ tagline is “Investing to benefit people and the planet”. What does that mean in practice?

KK: ”Our tagline must be understood in the context of our purpose, so when we say that we are investing to benefit people and the planet, we do it for two reasons. The first reason is associated with our portfolio where a significant allocation is dedicated to human and planetary health, both within life sciences, and in our Capital Investments vertical where we are invested in infrastructure and renewables. The other part of the story is the fact that all the returns generated go to one place and one place only, namely, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic work and its grant-giving on human and planetary health.”

NG: “In practical terms, the way we boil this down is that it is nonsensical to pursue half of the ambition by investing in people and their health without taking the next logical step to ensure that the planet remains a sustainable place to live. I think it is a very logical step that we look to prioritise both parts of that agenda as investors.”

How does the Foundation ownership shape the way Novo Holdings approaches responsible investment?

KK: ”Responsibility has always been an integral part of the purpose and the vision of the Novo Group. We did not begin to focus on corporate responsibility at some point a few years ago when it emerged as a broader theme for many corporates. If you take a Novo Nordisk annual report from 20 years ago, you will see something called Triple Bottom Line reporting. Triple Bottom Line is a business principle that balances financial performance, social responsibility, and environmental responsibility.

There is also considerable alignment between the Foundation’s grant-giving areas and Novo Holdings’ investment priorities. Most of the Foundation grants are focused on medical research, and we invest half of our portfolio in life science. Two other areas where we meaningfully complement each other are in our planetary health efforts and in our shared focus on the quantum space. Our strong alignment enables us to benefit from each other’s capabilities to stimulate the best investment decisions and grant-making decisions.”

NG: “I think Foundation ownership serves as our North Star, but it also provides us with a lens into the innovation and into the greatest needs that are out there. It provides us with traction into the very early stage innovation that needs to happen before business cases become investable. It matches us into some of the best research, some of the best conceptual thinkers that are out there in our ecosystem, so in a sense it can be viewed both as a pipeline and as an enabler function. And, importantly, our ownership structure provides consistency, which can serve as a stabilising factor in both an investment environment and a geopolitical environment that are rapidly changing.”

What does being a responsible investor mean in practical terms to Novo Holdings?

NG: ”The answer, for us, is rooted in value creation. We are a sophisticated institutional investor that is not doing this purely for impact. It is hugely important and hugely impactful. But when you marry impact with our belief that it advances financial returns, you get two positive momentum factors that define why we do things. In practical terms, this translates directly into how we engage with our portfolio. It is imperative that we discuss these topics at the highest levels of our organisation and with the boards and leadership teams of our portfolio companies. The sustainability and impact piece, being part of our engaged ownership model, really is one of the value creation levers that we have. We aim to make businesses better when we leave them than when we invested in them – financially, from an ESG perspective and market positioning. This is integral to our value creation strategy.”

KK: ”For me, being a responsible investor is an obligation and that obligation is to help make the world a better place. At Novo Holdings, we deploy substantial capital and we have an obligation to put that to work in a manner that generates attractive financial returns, and at a minimum does not cause harm or contribute to nefarious activities or insidious trends. On the contrary, we aim to make a positive contribution to humanity and to society through our investments. It is really as simple as that.”

Where do you see the greatest opportunities for innovation and long-term impact over the next decade?

KK: “It is a broad opportunity set. In relation to our green transition allocation strategy, I think a significant part of it is related to AgTech and aquaculture, where some of our biggest assets in planetary health are already concentrated. These are areas in which we have developed strong expertise and where I expect we will continue to focus. We are also very attuned to new and exciting technologies that enable and accelerate the green transition, including technologies that contribute to the circular economy.

On the human health side, we have made some great investments in gene therapy, which excites me a lot. I think cell and gene therapy is going through a bit of a rough patch for a number of reasons, but it holds so much promise for the management, treatment, and cure of disease. I think we are only at the tip of the iceberg in terms of the potential for cell and gene therapy, and I believe that is what will keep so much of the innovation alive on the human health side.”

NG: ”Beyond the specific investment opportunities, I think it is equally important that we continue to build and evolve an ecosystem where innovation can thrive in the first place. At Novo Holdings, we are long-term investors, which allows us to support companies and entrepreneurs throughout their innovation cycles.

Much of the innovation coming through today is being driven by founders looking for stability, long-term alignment, and investors who understand the problems they are trying to solve. If we want to continue driving innovation, whether that is making products more sustainable or solving challenges such as the energy crisis, it cannot simply be about backing the biggest winners. It is about speaking the founders’ language and supporting them for the long term.

I think parts of the market are currently missing that perspective, and if we are not careful, we risk stifling innovation and setting us backwards. As long as we continue to provide consistency and long-term support, I believe we will remain well positioned to work with some of the best companies and founders in our industry.”

Find the 2025 Novo Holdings Responsible Investments Report here.