Swedish Tech Weekly #268

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This newsletter was sent on August 12, 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 recently, and is sent to 2480 subscribers today.

Mergers & acquisitions



• The software engineering company Gateway Group acquired a 50% stake in FeedbackFrog, Stockholm-based startup offering a B2B SaaS all-in-one user experience solution. The deal is paid for by the acquirer through providing technical development services (Swedish, machine translation).

• Sweden-headquartered major bank Swedbank acquired the Estonian fintech startup Paywerk, which is specializing in cross-border BNPL solutions (English).

• EQT has bought a majority stake in Swiss cybersecurity company Acronis (English).

Funding news

Do you have unreported funding news you want to see here? Fill out this form or respond to this email.

• Kognic, formerly Annotell (Gothenburg, platform for developing safe perception systems for autonomous mobility): SEK100M (€8.8M, $9.6M) from existing investors Metaplanet, Neudi Kapital and Stena Sessan (English, Swedish / Di Digital paywall).

• Bright Sunday (Stockholm, provider of solar-as-a-service for commercial and industrial customers): SEK62M (€5.4M, $5.9M) from undisclosed investors (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall). ➡️ First covered in my PRO subscription on July 30.

• Impactpool (Stockholm, career platform for positive impact): €3.6M ($4M) in a Series A funding round led by Mediahuis and existing investor Fort Knox (English).

• Chamo Games (Malmö, game studio): undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding from Lakestar, Sisu Game Ventures, and Griffin Gaming Partners (English).

• Allicon, formerly Corporate Fiber (Stockholm, platform and infrastructure provider for digitalizing properties): SEK12M (€1M, $1.1M) from existing investors including Vargas, AMAVI Capital, and Ulf Ewaldsson (English, Swedish).

• UpUp (Stockholm, mobile B2B customer and employee microgifting solution): SEK5M (€430K, $470K) from Almi Invest and Gorilla Capital (English).

• VEAT (Stockholm, plant-based foods sold via vending machines): SEK5M (€430K, $470K) from PolarVentures. This is part of a yet-to-be-announced larger round (English, Swedish / Impact Loop paywall)

• Rymdkapital participated in a €4.4M Series A funding round raised by German startup DCUBED, in-space manufacturing supplier for the NewSpace market (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

• 📺 A video shows how the team of Stockholm-based startup Lovable used their AI web builder app GPT Engineer to build a full crypto tracker app within 8 minutes, using natural language (English / 5 minutes).

• 20 Swedish tech startups & scaleups that grow fast and sustainable, based on their recent annual reports (English).

• Chalmers Ventures and Almi Invest have launched the "Game Changer Challenge", to help tech startups kickstart their journey "with the opportunity to receive a SEK1.5M investment". Applications close on Sept 5.

• Kavall is bankrupt, just five months after the Stockholm-based hyper-local grocery delivery service became independent again from its short-term owner Mathem (English).

• Polarium, Stockholm-based developer and seller of smart modular energy storage solutions, is facing falling sales, growing losses, and a potential liquidity crisis. The company is now replacing most of its board. Harald Mix of Vargas Holding – the largest shareholder and investor – is taking over as chair of the board (Swedish / Di Digital paywall).

• Echandia, Stockholm-based developer of energy storage solutions primarily for the maritime industry and heavy-duty industrial applications, will supply battery systems for the first zero-emission high-speed ferries in the US (English).

• Benify, Stockholm-based employee benefits and rewards platform, is reportedly for sale. In 2023, the company generated revenue of SEK718M, and a positive EBITDA result of SEK172M (Swedish / Di Digital paywall).

• Skrym, Stockholm-based startup offering tools for real-time optimization of information flows that help logistics become as efficient as possible, has launched a Checkout API "designed to help retailers worldwide embed logistics awareness and optimization into their online shopping experience" (English).

• Staccs, Stockholm-based streaming service for concerts and music documentaries, launched an iPhone app named Tevefy, with which users can watch Staccs-powered music TV channels for free and "zap between channels the old-school way".

• A close look at how Klarna's customer service chatbot works (English).

• Kristian Rönn, the co-founder and CEO of carbon accounting platform Normative, has written a book titled "The Darwinian Trap", to be released in September.

• Lars Lindgren, a Swedish veteran angel investor with around 80 investments under his belt, also wrote a book: "Mitt liv som affärsängel" ("My life as angel investor") will also come out in September.

• The applications for the 2024 edition of the För-orten startup competition are open. SEK300K is to be distributed to three ideas and entrepreneurs from socioeconomically disadvantaged suburbs across Sweden.

• On November 27 and 28, the BioEco Valley Summit 2024 will take place in Karlstad, "the first bioeconomy conference that focuses on the innovation ecosystem of a circular forest based economy".

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond

• The applications for the Slush 100 Startup Competition 2024 are open. The winner gets an equity investment of €1M from General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures, in conjunction with the Slush 2024 event later this year.

• Y Combinator will run a fall batch this year, citing "overwhelming demand". Applications are open until August 27 (English).

• Adtech funding in the US has collapsed (English).

• In Q2 2024, the US venture ecosystem showed modest signs of improvement, but not a drastic break from Q1 (English).

• What to do with all the zombie software startups? (English)

• The many incentives and types of VCs (English).

• In 2012, Swedish game maker King launched the tile-matching game app Candy Crush. In 2024, a staggering 200 million people still play it every month – twice as many as in 2014. Its lifetime revenue is more than $20B (English).

• The Swedish and US governments have signed a bilateral deal to work together on developing 6G technologies (English, Swedish).

• When Stockholm's Arlanda airport introduced new state-of-the-art security scanners at Terminal 5 last year, the limit on the amount of liquid in hand luggage was removed. Now a new EU rule means that as of September 1, the previous 100 ml limit will have to be reintroduced (Swedish, machine translation).

• Through social media, gangs in Sweden have been recruiting vulnerable teenagers to commit crimes such as shootings for a while already. Now gangs in Denmark are doing the same. Denmark’s Minister of Justice calls them "Swedish child soldiers" (English).