Swedish Tech News roundup #2 / week 1: GOALS, Pinteg, Everdrone, Axyer, Oliver Edholm, Qlik, Flic, and much more

Martin Weigert -

Welcome to the latest roundup of news from Sweden's startup & tech sector, exclusively for subscribers.

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Financing rounds

  • GOALS (Stockholm, free to play, multiplayer first and esports ready football game): $19M from undisclosed investors (English, Swedish).
  • Pinteg (Lund, upcoming SaaS platform that helps companies make their operations GDPR-secure): SEK6M (€600K, $660K) from angel investors (Swedish, machine translation).

News from Swedish startups and the tech sector

  • Everdrone, Gothenburg-based software and drone service developer, had an autonomous drone deliver a defibrillator that helped save the life of a 71-year-old man. According to the company, that's a "world unique achievement" (English, Swedish / DI Digital paywall).
  • Axyer is a new Linköping-based startup that just released an app for iOS & Android users in Sweden to discuss and discover stocks (Swedish / DI Digital paywall).
  • Einride reportedly becomes the next Swedish unicorn, and Instabox is close (English).
  • 3 Swedish companies (Volta Trucks, Einride and CAKE) as well as Swedish-Norwegian company Tibber made it on Sifted's list of "Europe’s fastest growing climate tech startups", based on last year's hiring (English).
  • Oliver Edholm, 19-year old co-founder of Stockholm-based product recommendation software startup Depict, is one of 23 individuals to receive $100,000 from the Thiel Foundation for pursuing ambitious entrepreneurial projects instead of attending college (Swedish, machine translation).
  • Qlik, US-based data analytics software provider founded 1993 in Sweden, confidentially registered for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (English, Swedish).
  • IoT expert and journalist Stacey Higginbotham tested the Flic smart home buttons and hub, which are made by Stockholm-based startup Shortcut Labs (English).
  • 🎧 Interview with Heidi Lindvall, General Partner at Swedish climate VC Pale Blue Dot, on investing in climate tech innovations (English, 14 minutes).

Other interesting things

  • In 2021, 18% of venture capital invested in startups globally went to European startups, compared to 13 % in 2020 (English).
  • How to "engineer" your way onto a VC’s radar (English).
  • The tech stock sell-off is continuing. VC Fred Wilson wonders if the “pay any price” mentality in venture may ease up a bit this year, too (English).
  • Volvo Cars set to debut unsupervised autonomous driving in California (English, Swedish).
  • Apple reportedly plans to launch its HomePod mini smart speaker on the Swedish market this year (Swedish, no machine translation available).
  • A guide to the tradition of Swedish cross-country skiing (English).

That's it for today!