News January 13, 2023: Vässla, Evam, Sigmastocks, Vopy, Ella, Grasp, Nordic VC funding, Seedrs, Spotify and more

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

Funding news

• Vässla (Stockholm, micromobility company): SEK30.8M (€2.7M, $3M) from unspecified existing investors (Swedish / Breakit paywall, Swedish #2, machine translation).
• Evam (Stockholm, emergency vehicle operating system with a collection of apps): SEK15M (€1.3M, $1.4M) in a funding round co-led by Seven District and Ortivus (English).
• Sigmastocks (Gothenburg, digital investment tool): SEK15M (€1.3M, $1.4M) from undisclosed new and existing investors (Swedish / Breakit paywall).
• Vopy (publ) (Stockholm; SaaS solution for embedded finance services): SEK13.3M (€1.2M, $1.3M) in a share issue that was 52.5% subscribed, from 180 individual investors including members of the leadership team (Swedish, machine translation).
• Ella (Stockholm, digital healthcare app for women during and after pregnancy): undisclosed amount from former iZettle CFO and Readly CEO Maria Hedengren. She also joins the company as chair of the board (Swedish, machine translation).

>> Daily updated, subscriber-exclusive Google sheet with all funding rounds raised by private Swedish startups and scaleups.

News from Swedish startups, the tech sector and VCs

• Stockholm-based Grasp offers an "AI-engine created to find and understand every company in the world". The startup was founded in 2020 but has so far stayed fairly under the radar. Today the company announced in a press release to have Swedish digital healthcare provider Doktor.se as customer, which will use the service to find acquisition targets in continental Europe (English).
• A review of Nordic VC funding in 2022 (English).
• Jonas Almeling is the new Stockholm-based Head of Nordics at equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs (English).
• On March 8, Spotify will hold its second "Stream On" event, which is aimed at creators (English).
• Spotify, Doktor.se and various Swedish game companies have Tencent as shareholder (to varying extend). Now the Chinese Communist Party is reportedly moving to take “golden shares” in local units of Tencent (and Alibaba), as Beijng formalises a greater role in overseeing the country’s powerful tech groups (English / FT paywall, alternative URL).

New Swedish tech startups

This week, I've added 4 Swedish early-stage tech startups to my subscriber-exclusive tracker.

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond

• Hacker News comment thread on strategies for working with engineers that are "too smart" (English).
• Three steps to changing software prices successfully (English).
• More podcast listeners in the US say they prefer consuming them with video than those who prefer audio-only (English).

Other interesting things related to Sweden

• Owners of Swedish night clubs and bars will no longer need special permits to allow dancing on the premises, the government said, as it announced its intention to bin a 67-year-old law (English, Swedish).
• Sweden inaugurates the new satellite launch site "Spaceport Esrange", described as "mainland Europe's first satellite launch complex" (English).
• Swedish inflation rate according to CPIF climbs to 10.2%, a new high (English, Swedish).
• Interview with the Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo on winning the Nobel prize, his laureate father and early man’s sensitive side (English).

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That's it for today.