Swedish Tech Weekly #274

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This newsletter was sent on September 23, 2024 to subscribers of Swedish Tech Weekly.


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 2555 subscribers today.

Funding news

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• Stegra, formerly H2 Green Steel (Stockholm, developer of a fossil-free steel plant being built in northern Sweden): SEK1.2B (€105M, $117.5M) state aid from the Swedish Energy Agency, through the Swedish government-initiated Industrial Leap programme (English)

• Alight (Stockholm; develops, operates and owns solar assets for corporations across Europe to accelerate the transition to solar): up to €110M in a first-of-its-kind portfolio debt facility from the Dutch lender Rabobank (English).

• SweGaN (Linköping, semiconductor manufacturer): nearly €12M ($13M) from Navigare Ventures, and several semiconductor-focused global investors including Wafer Works, Ignite Innovation, BRV Capital Management and Lifelike Capital (English).

• Brainlit (Lund, biocentric lighting environment solutions): "up to SEK60M" (€5.3M, $5.9M) from a so far undisclosed US fund, with participation from existing investors (Swedish / Rapidus paywall).

• Qliro (Stockholm, publicly traded payments solution for e-commerce, and financial services provider for consumers): SEK50M (€4.4M, $4.9M) through a directed share issue to both new and existing shareholders (English).

• Cellevate (Lund, developing next generation of cell culture systems designed to revolutionize biomanufacturing): €3.2M ($3.6M) in a second seed round led by Industrifonden, in syndication with EIC Fund (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on August 28.

• Fishbrain (Stockholm, global fishing app): SEK11.9M (€1.1M, $1.2M) from existing investors (English).

• PlaymakerAI (Stockholm, football analytics as a service): SEK10.4M (€900K, $1M) from current and new investors, including Audigr Group and angel investors (English).

• Normain (Stockholm, AI platform for deep knowledge work): SEK7M (€620K, $690K) in first funding from Aligned VC, DHS Venture Partners, Greens Ventures, and angels (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in my PRO subscription on August 21.

• LiveDay (Helsingborg, next gen ticketing system for sports clubs and organizers): SEK4M (€350K, $390K) from new angel investors Henrik Zetterberg (a former professional ice hockey forward ) and Max Sandin, with participation from existing investors. The startup is now expanding internationally (English, Swedish / Rapidus paywall). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription in July 2023.

• Cocoon Airbag Protection (Lund, developer of the "world's safest children's bike seat"): €75K ($83K) grant from Women TechEU, Horizon Europe – the only Swedish startup to be awarded funding in the latest round of the program (English).

• gradr (Stockholm, automated AI tool that efficiently generates and automatically evaluates exams): SEK500K (€44k, $49K) convertible note from angel investor Ashkan Pouya, raised in the TV show Draknästet (📺 Swedish / pitch starts at minute 23:30).

• EQT Ventures led a €3.5M seed funding round raised by German startup VidLab7, which offers AI-powered avatar creation for sales teams (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

• Sana, Stockholm-based AI-powered personalized learning platform, is reportedly in the process of raising an additional $50M at a pre-money valuation of $500M, according to information obtained by Breakit (Swedish / Breakit paywall).

• The founders of bankrupt Stockholm-based startup Dryft have bought their tech enabled full-service provider for home improvement and maintenance back (Swedish / Breakit paywall).

• Picsmart, Stockholm-based online and delivery platform for local grocery stores, is bankrupt (English).

• Also bankrupt: Ridesum, Stockholm-based digital training app and collaboration platform for riders, trainers and equestrian experts (English).

• hummy, a Stockholm-based startup not to be confused with the similarly named startup humy, is giving up and will be liquidated. The company, initially named BLD Social, first aimed to build a new type of social media platform, and early this year pivoted to become a sort of "Shopify for communities" (Swedish, machine translation).

• Mathem, Swedish online grocery store that since 2023 is part of Norway-headquartered Oda Group, enters a corporate reconstruction in Sweden (Swedish / Di Digital paywall).

• SAVR, Stockholm-based commission free fund platform, has added equities trading (English).

• Researchers at Gothenburg's Chalmers University are making waves with so-called massless energy storage, which is being commercialized by Borås-based startup Sinonus (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in my PRO subscription in January.

• Ebbot, Stockholm-based AI platform for automating services at scale, launched an API for external developers (Swedish, machine translation).

• Flower, Swedish energy software company founded which recently raised a €25M Series A funding round, is acquiring one of Sweden’s largest battery projects (English).

• Sea Technology, Swedish developer of floating container terminals, and Blykalla are jointly exploring the potential of Floating Nuclear-Powered Terminals (FNPTs) (English).

• ZOION, a Hudiksvall startup founded in 2021, has launched its mobile app for dog breeders and owners.

• Pure Energy is Sweden's first rental provider offering only electric powered machines. Here is a brief interview with the founder and CEO Mathias Stenemyr (Swedish, machine translation).

• An electric hydrofoiling boat of Swedish startup Candela set a world record by being the first electric boat to cross the Baltic Sea (between Sweden and the Finnish autonomous region of Åland) (English).

• John Ardelius, co-founder and CTO of Hedvig, is leaving the Stockholm-based digital insurance provider to join Swedish next-gen household energy platform Greenely as CTO (English).

• Stockholm School of Economics and Lund University are the top Swedish schools based on the number of alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital in the last decade, according to PitchBook’s annual rankings (English).

• The applications for the Sweden Final of Silicon Vikings' New Nordics Pitch Competition are open (English).

• Silicon Valley Nordic Beat is a new publication launched by California-based Swedish journalist Margaretha Levander, that focuses on news and insights on Nordic companies, professionals, and organizations in Silicon Valley.

• Kale United is increasing the target for the foodtech growth stage fund announced last year by 4x to SEK600M (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall).

• Alexander Fred-Ojala joins EQT Ventures in Stockholm as the firm's new Head of AI (English).

• For PRO subscribers: Exclusives not covered elsewhere, serial entrepreneurs and tech veterans building new things, startups shutting down, curated revenue numbers and results, tech events, and much more (English).

Selected new Swedish tech startups

• Neurawave (Kalmar, developer of hardware/software solutions for migraine relief) – First covered in PRO in June.

• Quantera AI (Stockholm, AI-powered investor insights platform) â€“ First covered in PRO in Nov 2023.

• Tilda (Stockholm & Malmö; AI-first, science-based process planner for change and learning initiatives) â€“ First covered in PRO in June.

• Refloat (Stockholm, automated customer retention platform) â€“ First covered in PRO on Sep 11.

• Soundscape (Stockholm, sound-based productivity app) â€“ First covered in PRO in July.

I tracked 14 new Swedish tech startups last week. 426 so far this year. Exclusively available to PRO subscribers.

Ideal for startup investors and analysts. Cancel anytime. Join PRO today.

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond

•  Nordic VC firm byFounders launched an article series unpacking "why VCs can’t neglect ESG & impact" (English).

• Icebreaker.vc, another Nordic VC firm, built a startup idea validation tool and is looking for founders to test it (English).

• The results of the annual Theory Ventures 2024 Go-to-Market Survey shine some light into the state of SaaS sales & marketing (English).

• Having a famous investor may indeed boost a startup’s success (English).

• Ways for founders to prove to VCs that their market is "big enough" (English).

• In the AI era, entrepreneurs should be deliberate and creative about what their piggyback opportunities look like (English).

• "We are entering the bubble to end all bubbles because the prize at the end appears infinite" (English).

• Gothenburg ranks #19, Malmö #38, and Stockholm #68, in a ranking benchmarking the performance of bike sharing in 148 strategic EU cities (English).

• Stockholm's small secondary airport Bromma will lose 90 percent of its air traffic, as the regional airline BRA moves to Stockholm's main airport Arlanda, to partner up with SAS (English).

• Stockholm's metro will run a test during which the barriers at one particular subway station will be removed for six to twelve months (Swedish, machine translation).

• Volvo has terminated its vehicle subscription program (English).

• Blind Swedish athlete Fatmir Seremeti completed the recent Stockholm Half Marathon pioneering a new AI technology from Google that allows vision-impaired people to run long distances without physical contact with a companion or guide (English).

• The Swedish artist Mikael Genberg will be sending a tiny toy red Swedish house to the moon (English).