News April 15, 2024: Locka, SmartCraft, Verified, GRC Watch, Saveggy, Opper, Emission Twin, Figgy, SweGaN, WODPacer, Payer, Dendrite, PowerMate, Almi Invest, Napper, Forloop, and more

Here are today's news from Sweden's startup and tech sector, exclusively for you as subscriber of Swedish Tech News PRO.

📢 New feature alert: Whenever I mention an upcoming tech event in the newsletter, I will now also add it to this (currently experimental) web page. Essentially, it's a no frills event calendar. Let's see if this will develop into anything useful.

Mergers & acquisitions

• Locka (Örebro, SaaS platform acting as digital bridge between real estate projects and customers) is being acquired by Norwegian company SmartCraft, a "leading Nordic provider of software solutions for craftsmen and the construction industry", in an all-cash-deal worth SEK24M (€2.1M, $2.2M) (English). Locka was formed in September of last year through the merger of the three Swedish proptech companies wec360°, Sightline and Libitum.
• Verified (Stockholm, B2B SaaS provider of AML and KYC solutions, founded 2012) acquires GRC Watch, a Stockholm-based due diligence & KYC platform founded in 2015. Terms were not disclosed (English). Last year, Verified aquired Pliance and Assently and raised SEK350M in funding from Verdane. GRC Watch was founded by Linda Hellström and Susanna von Langsdorff. The company announced a SEK7.4M funding round in 2020 from Almi Invest, DHS Venture Partners, and private investors, but has likely raised a bit more from angel/private investors. 📊 For 2022, GRC Watch reported net revenue of SEK3.8M, and a loss of -SEK4.2M.

Funding news

⬜️ publicly traded

• Saveggy (Lund, plant-based edible vegan coating for fresh fruits & veggies, founded 2020): €1.76M ($1.9M) from Unconventional Ventures, LRF Ventures, existing investor Almi Invest GreenTech, and industry angels (English). This is Saveggy's second equity funding round, following a SEK8M round raised around two years ago. In the past, the startup also secured multiple seven-digit-SEK grants.
• Update on the pre-seed funding raised by Opper which I covered on January 18 in the "unannounced funding" section: The funding is now official. Co-founder and CEO Göran Sandahl confirmed to me the amount of €1.6M, raised from Emblem, Luminar Ventures, and angel investors. Opper also now emerged from stealth mode, and Göran Sandahl published a blog post outlining the startup's mission to accelerate the adoption of Generative AI, by creating "a simple, modern API platform and associated tools that empower developers to easily turn ideas into reality". ℹ️ Company details added on January 3 to the early-stage startup tracker page, and to the "new startups" Google Sheet.
• Emission Twin, formerly The Ontology Way (Malmö, SaaS digital twin solution that helps businesses accelerate their net zero journey, founded 2020): SEK3.6M (€310K, $330K) from RadCap and angel investors including Jeanette Andersson, Magdalena Gräff, and Joana Fernandes, among others. The startup aims to raise a larger round later this year, and has international ambitions (English, Swedish / Impact Loop paywall). This follows a first SEK2.5M funding round raised a year ago (under the company's previous name). Emission Twin was recently voted "Malmö's Startup of the Year" (Swedish). Funding news continue below...