News January 26, 2022: anch.AI, IRRIOT, Dreams, PlasticFri, Klarna, Acast, Spotify and more

Here are today's news from Sweden's startup and tech sector, plus some interesting reads, exclusively for subscribers of Swedish Tech News.

Financing rounds

• anch.AI, former AI Sustainability Center (Stockholm, ethical AI governance platform for businesses): $2.1M in a seed funding round led by Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV), with participation from Terrain Invest and angel investors (English, Swedish / DI Digital paywall).
• IRRIOT (Stockholm, wireless irrigation IoT automation platform): SEK5.5M (€550K, $600K) from LRF Ventures, the Federation of Swedish Farmers (English, Swedish).
• Swedish VC firm EQT Ventures led a $6M seed round raised by Dutch fiat-to-crypto gateway aggregator Onramper (English).

News from Swedish startups, the tech sector and VCs

• Stockholm-based fintech Dreams is splitting up into 2 companies: Dreams Technology targets large banks with a B2B SaaS-based digital finance platform. Dreams' consumer business, now called Dreams Sustainable, is being placed in a joint venture with BNP Paribas (Swedish / DI Digital paywall).
• Short profile article about PlasticFri, Stockholm-based startup that aims to replace billions of plastic products with plant-based equivalents (English).
• Klarna launches a physical card in the UK (English).
• Podcast company Acast is launching globally with Acast+, its subscription tools "created to support podcasters across most podcast listening apps" (English, Swedish).
• Spotify and payment provider Stripe are partnering to drive subscription monetization for podcast creators (English). In other Spotify news, musician Neil Young threatens to remove his catalogue if vaccine misinformation spread by the largely popular Joe Rogan podcast isn't being removed (English).
• Pernilla Nyrensten, founder and CEO of Borås-based e-commerce company for outdoor clothing RevolutionRace, ranks #3 when it comes to female-led exits in Europe since 2005 (by known exit value) (English).
• Sabina Wizander, who recently joined Creandum as partner, outlines how the Swedish VC firm sees the development of the Metaverse (English).

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond

• For now, there is little evidence of a pandemic-induced surge in automation (English / Economist paywall, alternative URL).

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That's it for today.