Swedish Tech Weekly #273

Welcome to the latest from Sweden's startup & tech sector.

I'm Martin Weigert. Swedish Tech Weekly brings you a selection of some of the news I covered in my PRO newsletters last week, and is sent to 2551 subscribers today.

Mergers & acquisitions

• Recorded Future, Sweden-founded and Boston headquartered threat intelligence platform, is being acquired by Mastercard for $2.65B, from majority owner Insight Partners. Mastercard is also buying the remaining minority shares from the founders and employees (English, Swedish / Di Digital paywall).

• Mediaflow (Uppsala; SaaS tools for smart workflows with images, video and branding) acquires deBroome, Stockholm-based SaaS platform to help make every employee and partner a brand ambassador (English).

• Vitec Software Group (Umeå, publicly traded provider and acquirer of standardized software and SaaS solutions for various niches) is acquiring the Belgian energy management software startup Trinergy (English). More on Vitec in the funding section.

Funding news

• Vitec Software Group (Umeå, publicly traded provider and acquirer of standardized software and SaaS solutions for various niches): SEK1.125B (€100M, $110M) before issue costs through a directed issue "to Swedish and international institutional and professional investors, including to certain existing shareholders" (English).

• Blykalla (Stockholm, developer of modular nuclear reactor technology): SEK80M (€7M, $7.7M) in a Series A extension led by 92 Ventures, with participation from Armada (English).

• Wingbits (Stockholm, community-driven flight data platform): $3.5M in a seed funding round led by Borderless Capital and Tribe Capital, with participation from Antler (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on August 23.

• Starhive (Stockholm, AI-empowered app building platform): $3M seed round led by node.vc (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on July 22.

• Katam Technologies (Malmö, SaaS solutions for the forestry sector): SEK23M (€2M, $2.2M) from an undisclosed long-standing Swedish company that trades in forest products, and existing investors including SLU Holding, Almi Invest Greentech, I Love Lund, and Giscom (English, Swedish / Rapidus paywall). ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on August 23.

• Your.Rentals (Malmö and Copenhagen / Denmark, SaaS for short-term rental accommodation owners and managers): €1.7M ($1.9M) from existing investors (English).

• Nygen Analytics (Lund, platforms for advanced single-cell genomics data analytics and acquisition): SEK7.5M (€660K, $730K) from new investors SmiLe Venture Hub and Almi Invest, existing investor Fåhraeus Startup & Growth, and angel investors (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on August 8.

• Mylla (Malmö, online marketplace and SaaS solution to connect local farmers and end consumers): SEK7M (€610K, €670K) from existing investor Backing Minds, new investor Planet Zero, and angel investors, for the nationwide expansion (Swedish, machine translation).

• Squidler (Helsingborg, automated website testing platform for businesses): SEK6.3M (€550K, $620K) in first funding from entrepreneurs and business angels, including Einride co-founder Filip Lilja and InRiver co-founder Johan Billgren (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on September 6.

• Proplab (Helsingborg, platform for simplifying a real estate developer's everyday life): SEK5M (€440K, $480K) in pre-seed funding from Skåne Ventures, Loop Venture, Loop Capital, and angel investors (English). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription on February 27.

• BlueGreen Farming (Härnösand, system for in-store cultivation of spices and salad): SEK2M (€180K, $190K) from Almi Invest, Sparbanksstiftelsen Norrlands Riskkapitalstiftelse, and private investors (English).

• Certainli (Stockholm, component compliance platform for companies developing electronics): SEK2M (€180K, $190K) from existing and undisclosed new investors. ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on September 12.

• Revive (Stockholm, plugin B2B solution enabling retailers to quickly and effortless go into the resell market): SEK600K (€50K, €60K) raised in the show Draknästet (📺 Swedish / pitch starts at minute 20). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription in June 2023.

• Norrsken VC led a €3M seed round raised by Norway-based startup Vind AI, an AI platform for wind park design (English).

• Pale blue dot led a $2.2M funding round raised by Dutch startup Brineworks, developer of seawater electrolysis technology which enables affordable extraction of CO₂ and H₂ from the ocean (English).

• Wellstreet led a €1M pre-seed funding round raised by Germany-based startup Key Ward, which offers a no-code SaaS platform for engineering teams to seamlessly integrate AI and manage complex data (English).

• Volvo Group Venture Capital participated in a $16.6M Series B round raised by US-based startup aifleet, which is building a driver-centric trucking company through technology (English).

• For PRO subscribers: Many additional rounds, as well as more details, valuations, and numbers for many covered rounds (English).

• For PRO subscribers: Google Sheet with funding data, 1000+ rounds added during the past 12 months, updated daily (English).

News from Swedish startups & the tech sector

• Sting unveiled eleven startups joining its fall 2024 Incubate and Accelerate programs (English).

• The voting for this year's Startup 4 Climate competition has opened, featuring 62 Swedish startups speeding up the energy transition (English).

• The Nordic 100 has been published, an annual list recognizing "the 100 most impactful and influential figures in the Nordic tech scene". I'm more than honored to be included in this list.

• Heart Aerospace, Swedish hybrid-electric airplane maker, unveiled its first full-scale demonstrator airplane, built almost entirely in-house at Heart’s Gothenburg facilities (English).

• Voxo Event is a new product launched by Stockholm-based startup Voxo, offering an AI-powered service for real-time summaries of and insights from keynotes, debate panels, and round table discussions (English).

• Intergiro, ten-year-old Stockholm-based provider of financial infrastructure, is launching a no-code white-label app platform. It "enables businesses to deploy fully branded mobile banking apps in a matter of days, without the need for technical expertise" (English).

• Netnedge, Lund-based startup founded last year that offers a B2B content platform akin to a "YouTube for B2B", will soon pay creators $1 for each view of their video (📺 English / 3:30 minutes). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription on May 2.

• Vividye, Gothenburg-based startup that developed a resource-efficient dyeing technology for textiles, plans to expand into the cosmetics sector (English).

• Northvolt, the Swedish battery maker currently in crisis mode, is pausing its cathode active material production, selling one site, and cutting a yet-to-be-determined number of jobs (English).

• Duearity, publicly traded Malmö-based developer of a medical device for the treatment and alleviation of tinnitus founded in 2020, is bankrupt. (Swedish / Rapidus paywall).

• Go North, Gothenburg–based e-commerce aggregator which has been struggling for a while now, applied for a corporate reconstruction (English).

• Stegra is the new name of H2 Green Steel, Stockholm-based developer of a fossil-free steel plant being built in northern Sweden (English).

• Pia Michel, Head of Science Translation at Daniel Ek's investment firm Prima Materia, published a list of startups that "are building the future in Europe". Six Swedish protagonists are included: Neko Health, Heart Aerospace, Stegra, Northvolt, Blykalla, and Einride (English).

• EhandelsMäklarna is a new online broker for selling and buying Swedish e-commerce businesses (Swedish, machine translation).

• Podspace, Stockholm-based podcast hosting platform, is expanding its platform and marketplace beyond the Nordic region, and hired Acast co-founder (and former CEO of Spotify Nordics) Öjje Holt as Director of Growth (English).

• A journalist of Swedish public service broadcaster SVT managed to get prescriptions for diabetes medicine (and weight loss "miracle drugs") from six out of nine (digital) weight loss providers – despite clearly not being in need of it (Swedish, machine translation).

• AI Startup Name Generator is a tool created by Swedish software engineer and entrepreneur Markus Malmros, to find a name and available domain for a startup.

• A 24h AI Hackathon will take place in Stockholm on Sep 27-28, also featuring talks and a jury with members from EQT, byFounders, and Lovable (English).

• The Swedish top exec Carolina Dybeck Happe joins Microsoft as COO, reporting to CEO Satya Nadella (English).

• Almi Invest Greentech will launch a new fund of around SEK600M this week at the The Drop climate tech conference in Malmö (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall).

• Lisen Oliw is joining Swedish VC firm Backing Minds as Investment Partner in Stockholm (English).

PRO subscribers last week also read about

• 13 new Swedish tech startups (452 so far this year)
• Many so far unannounced funding rounds.
• News on hot stealth startups, unreported shutdowns, and more.
• Latest revenue numbers from fast growing early-stage startups.
• Latest events relevant to startup investors in Sweden.

And much more! Join PRO here. Ideal for startup investors and analysts.

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond

• Comparison of the European and Silicon Valley startup ecosystem in regards to the investment and funding landscape, by Swedish angel investor Elsa Hyland (English).

• The State of European Tech Survey 2024 by Atomico and partners has launched (English).

• Atomico, the London-based European VC firm founded by Niklas Zennström, also closed $1.24B across two funds for early- and growth-stage startups (English).

• Y Combinator plans to expand to four cohorts per year starting from 2025, while reducing the size of the batches (English).

• Thoughts on "kingmaking funding rounds" in the era of AI (English).

• Non-obvious signs of early startup traction (English).

• How every software startup website looks right now (English).

Other interesting things related to Sweden

• Large Swedish airports lack the right equipment to chase away drones, despite such technology being available (and needed) (English).

• The risk of skin cancer for adults under the age of 50 is decreasing for the first time in Sweden (English).

• CEOs and leaders in general drink the largest amount of alcohol among all professional groups in Sweden, followed by carpenters, masons and construction workers (Swedish, machine translation).