Swedish Tech Weekly #279



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 2613 subscribers today.

Mergers & acquisitions

• Norvestor, Norway-headquartered private equity firm, is acquiring a majority of Wint, Gothenburg-based SaaS accounting platform for micro and small businesses (English).

• The investment company MUSIC and a number of "prominent international music industry investors" bought existing shares in Stockholm-based Soundtrack (formerly Soundtrack Your Brand) for around $50M. The deal also includes $10M in fresh funding (English, Swedish / Breakit paywall).

• Simumatik (Skövde, digital twin emulation for industrial applications) is being acquired by Spanish listed company Virtualware (English).

• Royal Streaming (Uppsala, digital music solutions for brands) acquired the two profitable Swedish companies Music in Brands and FitnessPlayer (Swedish, machine translation).

• Effektify (Halmstad, SaaS solution for managing business growth and marketing) acquires the Stockholm-based media agency NOKOBY (English).

Funding news

• Mine Storage (Stockholm; developing and operating fast-response and medium to large scale pumped hydro systems in underground mines): €22M ($24M) grant from the EU Innovation Fund (English).

• C-Green (Stockholm, technology to convert wet biowaste into solid hydrochar): SEK44M (€4M, $4.3M) from undisclosed investors (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall).

• Mavatar (Stockholm; AI-driven medical avatars for rapid, precise breakthroughs in healthcare and drug discovery): SEK40M (€3.5M, $3.8M) from undisclosed investors in a partial closing of an ongoing round (English).

• Cascade Drives (Stockholm, next generation of electro-mechanical linear drives for mobile and industrial applications): SEK40M (€3.5M, $3.8M) led by Almi Invest GreenTech and an unnamed US-based corporate VC (Swedish, machine translation). ➡️ Partial closing of this funding first covered in my PRO subscription on May 21.

• Hemla (Stockholm, developing a solution that provides families with intelligent home security for smart homes): SEK30M (€2.6M, $2.8M) in a first funding round from Flat Capital, Bust, Neptunia Invest, Fredrik Hjelm, Johannes Schild, and the Hemla founders Fredrik Hamilton and Axel Möller (English).

• TRUE (Stockholm; platform for digital diplomas, certificates, awards and credentials): SEK4M (€350K, $380K) from a number of experienced Swedish entrepreneurs, angel investors, and the startup's new CCO Martin Stenberg. ➡️ First covered in my PRO subscription on October 23.

• Neurawave (Kalmar, developer of hardware/software solutions for migraine relief): SEK500K (€44K, $47K) in first funding from Kick Capital (Swedish, machine translation). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription on June 11.

• UpManure (Västervik, technology to transform chicken manure into a safe and affordable novel protein ingredient that can replace soybean meal in animal feed): SEK500K (€44K, $47K) in first funding from Kick Capital (Swedish, machine translation).

• RENASENS (Norrköping, waterless & clean technology to recycle agricultural and blended textile wastes to new resources): undisclosed amount in first funding from Norrsken Launcher (English). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription on June 13.

• J12 Ventures participated in a $13M seed funding round raised by Finnish AI cloud startup DataCrunch, which sells GPUs “as-a-service" (English).

• For PRO subscribers: 11 additional rounds as well as more details and numbers for many of the above mentioned rounds (English).

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

News from the Swedish startup & tech sector

• Last chance to participate in Atomico's State of European Tech Survey 2024. This survey is always quoted widely throughout the year, so participating truly will have an impact on decision making and policies across Europe.

• Nordic Angels, the Stockholm-based social network for angel investors, will launch Secondry this week – a platform for secondary trading of private stocks (English).

• Zaplify, Stockholm-based outbound sales automation platform, is pivoting: The startup changed its name to Andsend, and launched an AI-powered unified inbox to manage email and LinkedIn through one interface, "designed for founders, CEOs and busy sales people" (English).

• Reactional Music, Stockholm-based platform for in-game music personalization and generation, signed a global licensing partnership with the world’s largest classical and regional music rights holder, Naxos (English).

• Klang.ai, Helsingborg-based startup founded in 2022, says its AI-powered interview and meeting transcription solution has 27,000 users, and a few hundred paying customers (Swedish / Rapidus paywall). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription in June 2023.

• MimerAI, Stockholm-based startup offering an enterprise-grade no-code AI platform for intelligent automation and custom AI Assistants, secured its first large contract, with Singapore-based NASDAQ NY-listed MoneyHero Group (Swedish / Breakit paywall). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription on March 18.

• Charly, Stockholm-based startup whose SaaS solutions helps companies create customized equity benefits aimed at reducing the financial gender gap among working parents, signed AFRY – with a workforce of 8000 – as first major customer (Swedish, machine translation).

• Profile of Jordkraft, a Stockholm-based startup that wants to build 44 modular, small-scale geothermal plants across Europe until 2028 (Swedish, machine translation).

• PackBud, Uppsala-based online marketplace for shipping solutions, launched a SaaS product, which enables hauliers to receive transport assignments from companies or individuals through a checkout-like solution integrated with their own websites (Swedish, machine translation).

• Adsorbi, Gothenburg-based startup developing novel bio-based material for air pollutant capture, is launching its second product: a cellulose-based air freshener designed to effectively eliminate household odors (English).

• Drem, Stockholm-based provider of seamless heat pump deployment in residential properties, is expanding into the UK (Swedish, machine translation).

• Enrouteq, Gothenburg-based startup offering cloud-based transit tools for public transport authorities and transit providers, is expanding into the US (English).

• Minna Technologies, the Gothenburg-based startup which is in the process of being acquired by Mastercard, has its subscription management tool being integrated into the mobile app of one of the US' largest banks, Capital One (English).

• Klarna's shareholders have voted to oust Mikael Walther from the board, an ally of co-founder Victor Jacobsson (English).

• Klarna has become Europe’s top fintech for producing founders from its former employees. A total of 62 startups have been created by Klarna alums – almost a doubling from last year (English).

• How Spotify generates millions of content annotations (English).

• Les Amis, a Barcelona-based social platform "for ambitious women to connect and build their female circle", just launched in Stockholm, as the company's seventh city, after Barcelona, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Madrid. ➡️ First covered in my PRO subscription on October 22.

• Stack, a Norway-based "social investment app for busy people", launched in Sweden (English).

• Breakit published a long feature story on the peculiarities and challenges when raising funding while being pregnant (as either startup founder or VC) (Swedish, machine translation).

• Sweden's total e-commerce sales in September were 28% higher than during September last year. Lots of the increase comes from foreign shops such as Temu and Shein (Swedish, machine translation).

• The 2025 edition of The Drop, the annual European climate tech conference in Malmö, will take place September 15-17. Those interested can pre-apply for a ticket (English). ➡️ Added to the Swedish tech event calender for PRO subscribers.

Exclusives for PRO subscribers last week

• 19 new Swedish tech startups tracked (544 in total so far this year).

• Internationally renowned Swedish artists are involved with and shareholders of a new Swedish music startup.

• Meanwhile, another Swedish music startup has shut down its original service and pivoted, to focus on the free ad-supported streaming TV market.

• A Swedish AI startup backed by Y Combinator has quietly pivoted.

• An under-the-radar startup developing a closed loop packaging system, raised additional, yet-to-be-announced funding.

• A Swedish health tech startup has transitioned into becoming an investment firm.

• Latest bankruptcies and shutdowns of Swedish tech startups; and more!

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Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond


• Lunar, the Kinnevik-backed Denmark-headquartered digital bank startup also available on the Swedish market, is launching an AI voice assistant, and expects it t to eventually handle approximately 75% of customer calls (English).

• In Q3 2024, VCs invested $3.9B in generative AI startups across 206 deals, per PitchBook (excluding OpenAI‘s $6.6B round.) $2.9B of that funding went to US-based companies (English).

• "In the world of business, when we ask software to write legal opinions, or code software, or extract data from documents, the prompts are PRDs. The best ones are valuable intellectual property of the next era in software" (English).

• Tips for founders navigating M&A (English).

• ChatGPT's advanced voice mode is now also available in Sweden, and Europe in general (English).

• Sweden's Raoul Wallenberg Institute is building what aims to become a unique, AI-supported database for mapping possible war crimes throughout the world (Swedish, no machine translation available).

• Three years ago, IKEA started a secondhand store in Eskilstuna. Now the pilot project has switched to regular operations, and the store is profitable (Swedish, machine translation).

• Swedish bed manufacturer KungSängen is launching its first AI-powered bed (Swedish, machine translation).

• Sweden’s Stockholm Archipelago made it into National Geographic’s "Best of the World” list for 2025 (English).

• One Swedish bar is included in the latest list of the World's 100 Best Bars: Röda Huset in Stockholm, at #45 (English).