Swedish Tech Weekly #292


Welcome 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 previously covered in my daily PRO newsletters.

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Mergers & acquisitions

• Monterro, Swedish B2B software investor, is acquiring a majority stake in Centuri, a Stockholm-based platform for efficient information and operations management (English).

• Aprello (Stockholm, SaaS platform for companies' annual reporting) has been acquired by Bjorn Lunden, Swedish provider of financial software for SME and accountancy customers. (Swedish / Breakit paywall).

•  tendmill (Stockholm, solution to streamline public procurement in the food service industry) is being acquired by Malmö-based company Matilda FoodTech, a B2B platform "connecting all functions of the meal process" (English).

Funding news

Do you have unreported funding news you want to see here? Respond to this email.

• Ljusgårda, aka Supernormal Greens (Tibro, vertical farming company): SEK100M (€8.7M, $9.1M) from existing investors led by Philian (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall).

• Senseworks (Umeå, insights platform for audit and accounting teams): €3M led by Industrifonden (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in Swedish Tech News PRO on December 17.

• Phenaros Pharmaceuticals (Uppsala, AI-first drug discovery company): SEK12M (€1M, $1.1M) in a pre-seed funding round led by Nordic Science Investments (English, Swedish / Breakit paywall). ➡️ Startup first covered in Swedish Tech News PRO on September 2.

• Enduce (Umeå, technology for energy recovery from shower water): SEK12M (€1M, $1.1M) mostly from existing investors (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall).

• Adsorbi (Gothenburg, developer of a novel bio-material for air pollutant capture): €1M in funding from existing investors Metsä Spring, Chalmers Ventures, and Jovitech Invest (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in Swedish Tech News PRO on January 13.

• Vantel (Stockholm & San Francisco, AI for commercial insurance brokers): $500K in pre-seed funding from Y Combinator, as the startup was accepted to the Winter 2025 batch (English). ➡️ First covered in Swedish Tech News PRO on January 28.

• Vetnio (Stockholm & San Francisco, solution for generating automatic medical notes for veterinary professionals): $500K from Y Combinator, as the startup was accepted to the Winter 2025 batch (English).

• Simulair (Stockholm, machine for fighting bed bugs): SEK5M (€440K, $450K) from First Gate Invest, RadCap, Propel Capital, Bling Capital, and angel investors (Swedish).

• Digiclean Solutions (Borås, AI-powered solution for monitoring and optimizing process fluids within the metalworking industry): €200K ($210K) from EIT Manufacturing (Swedish).

• Bauger (Växjö & Helsingborg, SaaS platform for funeral home businesses and their customers): SEK2.2M (€190K, $200K) in pre-seed funding from Skåne Ventures, Loop Capital, VNTRS, Sigul Invest, and angel investors (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in Swedish Tech News PRO in March 2024.

News from the Swedish startup & tech sector

• Sana made the DeepSeek R1 open source model available for early testing on its enterprise AI platform – as probably the first Swedish startup (English).

• Dendrite, Stockholm-based AI startup, has built an experimental browser utilizing AI agents that run locally on one's device (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in Swedish Tech News PRO in December 2023.

• HAALE, Stockholm-based wearable and healthtech startup, has released its second smart ring, HAALE II, which can be used for sleep, activity & cycle tracking (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in Swedish Tech News PRO in May 2024.

• Modular Finance, Stockholm-based SaaS-provider of fintech solutions for banks, institutions and Nordic listed companies, has crossed the mark of SEK200M in ARR, a bit less than three years after it reached the SEK100M milestone (English).

• ChargeNode, Gothenburg-based EV charge point operator, launched the spin-off and hardware brand AmpSociety, to offer a "professional standard for reliable, scalable and turnkey destination charging systems". ➡️ First covered in Swedish Tech News PRO on January 27.

• At Di Digital's annual Female Founders event, Sara Nozkova of FLOX Robotics won the pitch competition. Lina Andersson of Once Upon won the reader vote for "Most important female entrepreneur of the year". And Sara Wimmercranz, Founding Partner at Backing Minds, won the reader vote for "Most important female investor of the year".

• Fast Travel Games, VC-backed Stockholm-based developer of VR games, is laying off around half of its workforce (English).

• Ezeto, Gothenburg-based rental platform for vans, is bankrupt. ➡️ First covered in Swedish Tech News PRO on January 27.

• Billo, Stockholm-based digital mailbox service, launched a version for businesses, and says it's the first in this segment to also welcome sole proprietorships (Swedish, machine translation).

• In 2024, Stockholm-based e-scooter & micromobility operator Voi achieved its "first profitable year", based on an adjusted EBIT of €100K (English).

• Daniel Kjellén, CEO and one of the founders of open banking platform Tink (acquired by Visa in 2021), is leaving the company (English).

• Nordnet, publicly traded Stockholm-based digital savings and investments platform, plans to launch on the German market (English).

• Krim Talia is stepping down as CEO of Stockholm-based incubator and accelerator Sting. Karin Ruiz, previous ClimateTech Lead, will be his successor (English).

• Daya, Gothenburg-based femtech venture studio, is expanding into East Africa, with the launch of its first regional hub in Nairobi, Kenya (English).

• Lund-based VC firm Fåhraeus Startup And Growth (FSG) closed its second fund at SEK848M for investments preferably (but not exclusively) at the intersection of tech and life science (English).

• Nordic VC firm byFounders published the annual "Shape of the New Nordics" report, offering the team's perspective on pre-seed to Series A technology startups and VCs across the Nordics and Baltics (English).

• The second annual Nordic EdTech Summit will take place on September 10, this time in Malmö (English). ➡️ Added to the Swedish tech event calendar for PRO subscribers.

• The European Builders League Hackathon series will come to Stockholm on February 8-9, described as "a weekend of AI breakthrough ideas" (English).

Selected Swedish tech startup jobs

A non-exhaustive selection of open positions at Swedish tech startups.

• Marketing Associate (Mimo)
• AI Research Engineer (Eneryield)
• Experienced Unreal Engine Developer (Sparsit)
• Mobile App Developer (Sourceful Energy)
• Agronomist and Trait Breeder (OlsAro)
• Chief Commercial Officer (Cetasol)
• Analyst (Kärnfull Next)
• Partnership Developer – Medical Partnerships (Cellcolabs)

To the listings

Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond


• The winner of cheap AI is the application layer (English).

• In startups, mediocrity quickly compounds, and it's almost impossible to break out of it (English).

• For VCs, the winning strategy is front-running consensus (English).

• The Swedish Companies Registration Office appears to accept per capsulam board decisions after all (Swedish).

• 27% of Swedish employees say they are motivated to improve their work through AI, which places Sweden on #17th out of 19 countries (Swedish).

• In 2024, Stockholm Arlanda Airport had the best punctuality for departing flights among the top 30 largest airports in Europe (English).

• SAS, Scandinavian Airlines, plans to roll out fleet-wide Wi-Fi powered by SpaceX-operated Starlink on its planes (English).

• Over 700,000 households in Sweden are paying for an unlicensed IPTV service, the consultancy Mediavision claims (English).

• In Stockholm's Södermalm district, a new bar opened where the lower age limit is 55 (Swedish).

• A man has been convicted for drunk-driving a drone in what is thought to be the first case of its kind in Sweden (English).

• Sweden eyes sending inmates abroad as prisons are full due to a gang crime wave (English).

• Notorious Sweden-based Quran burner Salwan Momika was shot dead in Stockholm (English).