Swedish Tech Weekly #257

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This newsletter was sent on May 13, 2024, to subscribers of Swedish Tech Weekly. To receive future editions, you can sign up for free on swedishtechweekly.com.

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. Today's email is being sent to 2396 subscribers (+10).

Mergers & acquisitions

• Meetly (Stockholm, booking site for conference and event locations) acquired the bankruptcy estate of Gigital, Stockholm-based digital marketplace for booking of artists and djs (Swedish / Breakit paywall).

• Munters, a Swedish company founded in 1955 offering energy-efficient air treatment and climate solutions, is investing an undisclosed amount in the Australian beef cattle production software startup AgriWebb (English).

• VNV Global, publicly traded Stockholm-based investment company, is selling its stake in the Israel-based ride-hailing app Gett to Israeli parking payments app Pango, at a loss (English, Swedish).

Funding news

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• Volta Greentech (Stockholm, developer of feed supplement for cows): SEK32M (€2.7M, $3M) led by existing investor Novax. The startup also announced its second generation feed additive, which it claims will cut the costs for green house gas reduction by 10x, and won't be based on algae (English).

• Ebie (Stockholm, B2B provider of a deposit insurance): SEK8M (€680K, $740K) from existing investor AMAVI Capital, SSE Ventures, and Willard Ahdritz, for the expansion into markets outside of Sweden (Swedish /Breakit paywall).

• Oh Mungood (Stockholm, developer of mung bean based food): close to SEK4M (€340K, $370K) from private investors, including Ludvig Friberger (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall, Swedish #2, machine translation). In 2023, the startup grew net revenue by 5x YoY to SEK5.3M. ➡️ First covered in my PRO subscription on April 30.

• Noctie (Umeå, personal AI chess coach with a human touch): SEK2.6M (€220K, $240K) led by Northern Light Capital II and Partnerinvest Norr, with participation from Propel Capital and angel investors (Swedish, machine translation).

• ANYO Labs (Gothenburg, AI-based drug discovery solutions): SEK1.5M (€130K, $140K) grant from Vinnova (English). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription in December 2022.

• SAVR (Stockholm, commission free fund platform): undisclosed amount from existing investor Incore Invest (English).

• Hardskills.io (Gothenburg, platform for finding and recruiting R&D professionals): undisclosed amount led by Jovitech Invest, with participation from angel investors (English).

• Clever Compliance, formerly named CE Check (Stockholm, compliance management software for small and large enterprises): undisclosed amount from Gorilla Capital (English).

• FLOX Robotics (Stockholm, provider of autonomous wildlife management as a service): undisclosed "substantial" amount through a grant from the Swedish Energy Agency (English).

• Hydroyal (Stockholm, membrane electrode assembly production to accelerate the transition to green hydrogen): undisclosed amount from KTH Holding (English). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription in December 2022.

• MoveByBike, publicly traded (Malmö, smart city logistics with distribution via e-cargo bikes): SEK6.25M (€530K, $580K) convertible note from seven larger shareholders (Swedish, machine translation).

• In a follow-on investment, EQT Ventures led a $20M Series A funding round raised by German startup Insempra, which plans to turn oil yeast into lipids on an industrial scale using yeast fermentation factories (English).

I covered many additional rounds, as well as more details, in my PRO newsletters last week.

News from Swedish startups & the tech sector

• Stockholm-based startup Nordcell recently unveiled its plan to "build the world's greenest solar panel factor" in Sweden (English).

• Sanitation360, Visby-based startup developing technology to convert urine into dried nutrient rich fertilizer, collected almost 12,000 liters of urine during Swedish spring celebrations in Uppsala (English).

• Una Health, a longevity clinic "for health enthusiasts in Sweden", has emerged from stealth mode (English).

• Parkster, profitable Lund-based mobile parking ticket provider still majority-owned by its founder, crosses the SEK1B revenue milestone (English).

• Nuverica, Stockholm-based startup offering a SaaS solution for verifying nutrition and health claims for commercial food products, is going to shut down. Co-founder and CEO Carolin Solskär candidly talked with Breakit about this decision (Swedish, machine translation).

• Cognibotics, Lund-based developer of new robotics and warehouse automation solutions, has recently signed a contract with an undisclosed European company aiming to automate its warehouses, that could be worth up to SEK25M per year (Swedish / Rapidus paywall).

• Natural Cycles, Stockholm-based birth control app company, is launching a postpartum service, i.e. features for women after childbirth. In 2023, the company generated over SEK350M in revenue and a profit (Swedish, machine translation).

• Force HT, Skövde-based startup aiming to improve and transform hair transplant consultations, launched an iPhone app for patients and clinics (English). ➡️ Company first covered in my PRO subscription in February 2023.

• Kavall, the revived Stockholm-based hyper-local grocery delivery service which for a while belonged to Mathem but now operates independently again, is looking to raise SEK30M-SEK50M, which would secure operations until the end of 2025 (Swedish / Di Digital paywall).

• Vopy, Stockholm-based SaaS solution helping banks and fintechs in emerging markets to provide their customers with regulatory friendly, international saving- and investment products, signed Bangladesh's largest digital bank bKash, which has 70 million customers, for its platform (Swedish, machine translation).

• BILLO, the Swedish digital mailbox service that competes with Kivra, launched a feature for users of its app to pay invoices by credit card. The fee for this is 2.95%.

• Danish digital banking startup Lunar launched a checking account for customers in Sweden, with full integration into the Swedish clearing system (Swedish, machine translation).

• TechCrunch has a long feature on the "cold war at Techstars", and also offers some additional color on last year's sudden, dramatic shutdown of the Techstars Stockholm Accelerator (English)

• Sweden needs to improve the availability of housing and quality of schools, as well as lower the tax on income from stock options, to have a chance in the global competition for top talent, says Spotify's HR chief Katarina Berg (Swedish, machine translation).

• Nordic Angels, the Stockholm-based social network for angel investors, is arranging this year's edition of its event Angel Prize on October 16 in Stockholm. Additionally, there will be events in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Helsinki (Finland).

• Julia Delin, CEO of SSE Ventures, has raised SEK100M for the Stockholm School of Economic's early-stage VC firm (Swedish / Breakit paywall).

• The UK-based initiative Girls Are Investors (GAIN), which is dedicated to improving the gender balance within the investment management industry and counts Swedish VC Caroline Hultman among its co-founders, is launching in Sweden during 2024 (English).

Exclusives for PRO subscribers last week

PRO subscribers last week also read about these things (among many others), which have not been covered or curated elsewhere:

• A Swedish AI startup revealed itself to the public after "five years of stealth-stage R&D".

• A Stockholm-based stealth startup founded by alumni of a major Swedish tech startup, raised yet-to-be-announced pre-seed funding led by a prolific Swedish VC firm.

• Valuation updates on several funding rounds announced recently.

• An under-the-radar chess e-sports startup raised unannounced funding.

• Several bankruptcies and shutdowns of Swedish startups.

• A healthtech startup which just launched, might already have been acquired.

• Fresh annual revenue numbers and financial results from various startups.

• 16 new Swedish tech startups.

• Access to exclusive data sheets with funding rounds, new startups, and bankruptcies.

Join PRO, if you are an early-stage investor, analyst, or a sales exec.

Do you prefer subscription-free access for a set period, paid by invoice? Here you go.

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond

• The South by Southwest (SXSW) festival will launch a European edition in London in June 2025 (English).

• On the leading US equity platform Carta in Q1, 23% of all new rounds raised were down rounds, the highest rate in more than five years. At both seed and Series A, more than 40% of all financings were bridge rounds (English).

• Global venture capital funding reached just over $22B in April 2024 — flat month over month and up a few percentage points year over year (English).

• Advice for founders on how to keep the doors open for an acquisition offer in case they need one — and how to minimize the chances of screwing it up if they get one (English).

• The workflows and automation to run an efficient VC fund (English).

• The Swedish central bank lowered the interest rate for the first time in eight years (English).

• Sweden's central bank warns that the country is headed towards a situation in which cash could practically become unusable (Swedish, machine translation).

• The Swedish government plans to soon close down its last remaining physical Casino in the country ("Casino Cosmopol", operated through state-owned Svenska Spel), as gambling has moved online (English).

• Microsoft announced a contract with energy company Stockholm Exergi to capture 3.33 million metric tons of carbon emissions from a biomass power plant in the Swedish capital in what is potentially the biggest deal of its kind to date (English, Swedish).

• April saw plugin EVs take a 56.9% share in Sweden, up modestly YoY from 55.7% (English).

• Stockholm's ten best beer bars based on aggregated reviews from several platforms (Swedish, machine translation).

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