News February 17, 2022: Spotify, Rocker, Vividye, Wolt, Sinch, Wellstreet and more

Here is today's curation of news from Sweden's startup and tech sector, as well as some interesting reads, exclusively for subscribers of Swedish Tech News.

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Mergers & acquisitions

Financing rounds

  • Rocker (Stockholm, neobank): SEK70M (€6.6M, $7.5M) from existing investors (Swedish, machine translation).
  • Vividye (Gothenburg, resource-efficient dyeing technology for textiles): SEK4.1M (€390K, $440K) from Almi Invest, Yuncture Invest, Daremont Invest, Louise Lundin and existing investor Chalmers Venturea (English, Swedish).
  • Swedish investment firm Kinnevik led a €20M Series A round raised by Danish regenerative farming carbon market Agreena (English).
  • Swedish VC firm Alfvén & Didrikson led a €6M Series A round raised by Finnish product video platform Videoly (English).
  • Swedish impact fund Norrsken participated in a €3M seed round raised by German zero-emission delivery service Liefergrün (English).

News from Swedish startups, the tech sector and VCs

  • €7.8B ($8.9B) were invested in Swedish startups in 2021. More than half of that amount represented investments in impact startups, according to a new report based on data from Sweden Tech Ecosystem (Swedish, machine translation).
  • Wolt, Helsinki-based delivery app which is in the process to be acquired by US rival DoorDash, launches a subscription offering in Stockholm. For SEK99/month (around €10, $11), customers can order from 600 restaurants and stores without having to pay any delivery fees. Rivaling apps are reportedly considering similar offerings (Swedish / DI Digital paywall, Swedish #2, machine translation).
  • Hanna Neidenmark, CEO of Stockholm-based neobank Rocker, is stepping down following a canceled public listing last year. Frida Bexelius takes over as new CEO (Swedish, machine translation).
  • VC firm and venture builder Wellstreet launches a new fintech fund with an anticipated total of approximately $40M (English, Swedish).
  • Sinch, Stockholm-based communications platform for mobile engagement, released its financial numbers for Q4 and the full year 2021 (English).

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond

  • Finland-based retail optimization software startup RELEX Solutions raised a €500M funding round led by Blackstone Growth - it's Finland's biggest funding round ever (English).
  • German VC firm Cherry Ventures launches Cherry Crypto, a €30M crypto/web3 investment fund (English).
  • Accel and Index Ventures are by far the most active investors in European unicorns over time (English).

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That's it for today.

Martin Weigert

Martin Weigert

Martin is the founder of Swedish Tech News. Every day he spends many hours gathering and curating the latest from Sweden's startup & tech sector. Contact: m@swedishtechnews.com
Stockholm