Swedish Tech Weekly #323: Sana, Priceindx, Phenaros, Arctic Space, Telavox, Halon, EvoluteIQ, QDE Studio, MineStorage, DealPotential, WorkNode, Certainli, Imogo, Etals, and more
Welcome the latest from Sweden's startup & tech sector.
I'm Martin Weigert. Every Monday morning, Swedish Tech Weekly brings you a selection of some of the news I previously covered in my PRO newsletters, which are available as daily and weekly version. Today's newsletter was sent to 3043 subscribers.
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Mergers & acquisitions
• Sana (Stockholm, AI-powered knowledge tools for the enterprise) is being acquired by publicly listed US-based enterprise software company Workday, for around $1.1B (English).
• Priceindx (Stockholm, SaaS solution for price monitoring and dynamic pricing) is being acquired by Denmark-based competitor PriceShape (English).
• Phenaros Pharmaceuticals (Uppsala, AI-first drug discovery company) has merged with UK-based sector peer DefiniGEN, to form the new company pixlbio (English). ℹ️ Details page (PRO)
• Northern CapSek Ventures, publicly listed Gothenburg-based investment firm, has entered into a non-binding declaration of intent about a so-called reverse acquisition of Arctic Space Technologies, Piteå-based provider of satellite ground segment solutions. The deal would indirectly constitute a listing of Arctic Space (Swedish, machine translation).
• Telavox (Malmö, mobile operator for businesses) is acquiring the Scandinavian operations of UK-based telecoms company Firstcom Europe (English).
• Halon (Gothenburg, email infrastructure for service providers) acquires Germany-based email threat intelligence provider eleven (English).
More deals, and more details for each, covered last week in PRO.
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Funding news
Sweden-based startup founders, request free access to my funding and investor database. Almost 300 founders have already done so.
Note to first time founders: Raising VC funding is not a goal in itself, and not every company is a fit for it. If you plan to choose that path, make sure to understand the implications.
• EvolutelQ (Stockholm, AI-powered end-to-end intelligent business automation platform): $53M growth investment led by Baird Capital (English, Swedish / Di Digital paywall). ℹ️ Company details
• QDE Studio (Stockholm, game studio): $32.7M in two previously not revealed funding rounds raised in 2024 from Accel and Index Ventures. QDE Studio was founded by King co-founder Sebastian Knutsson and former King COO Stephane Kurgan (Swedish / Di Digital paywall).
• Mine Storage (Stockholm; developing and operating fast-response and medium to large scale pumped hydro systems in underground mines): SEK14M (€1.3M, $1.5M) in a mix of equity funding from undisclosed existing and new family offices and angel investors, and a loan from Almi (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall).
• DealPotential (Stockholm; investment intelligence platform featuring private investment, company, and market data): $1.1M in a "seed bridge" round, from undisclosed family offices and existing investors (English). ℹ️ Company details
• WorkNode (Stockholm, providing organisations and gig workers with the tools needed to succeed in the gig-economy): SEK4.3M (€390K, $460K) from Gorilla Capital, Axilium Holding, Proport Invest, and angel investors (English). ℹ️ Company details (PRO)
• Certainli (Stockholm, component compliance platform for companies developing electronics): SEK4M (€360K, $420K) from new investor Aphrae, and existing investors including Holmströmgruppen (Swedish, machine translation). ➡️ Funding first covered in PRO on July 28.
• Imogo (Malmö, technology that transforms textile dyeing to a more sustainable industry process): undisclosed amount in a strategic investment from Blåkläder, a Swedish workwear company (English). ➡️ Funding first covered in PRO on July 10.
• Etals (Karlstad, AI-powered automation platform for e-commerce): undisclosed amount in a strategic investment from the consultancy collective Eidra, through its subsidiary Curamando (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO in May 2024 | Company details
• Nothing, the London-based hardware startup founded by Swedish entrepreneur Carl Pei, has closed a $200M Series C round led by Tiger Global, at a post-money valuation of $1.3B (English).
PRO subscribers learned about many more rounds last week. PRO subscribers also get full access to the unique Startup Database.
I recently launched a LITE plan for those who find PRO too advanced for their needs, but still want a bit more than the free weekly newsletter.
LITE gives you access to:
• Database with announced funding rounds, updated every Monday
• Investor database – 900+ VCs, investment firms, and angel investors that currently are active on the Swedish market
• Swedish tech event calendar
If you choose the annual plan, it only costs 34kr per month (around €3).
News from the Swedish startup & tech sector
• Samfora, founded earlier this year in Stockholm, has launched its platform for people looking to donate money to good causes, and for non-profit organizations to present themselves, and to receive donations. ➡️ First covered in PRO on April 17 ℹ️ Company details (PRO)
• Profile of Instabridge, a Stockholm-based startup offering users easy access to Wifi hotpots and other connection options around the world. The company, initially founded in 2012, went bankrupt in 2019. It was then acquired by the Swedish cloud storage company Degoo, and now has quietly become a success story (Swedish / Di Digital paywall).
• Endform, Stockholm-based startup founded earlier this year promising developers to let them perform Playwright end-to-end tests in seconds, launched on Product Hunt (English). ➡️ First covered in PRO on February 20 ℹ️ Company details
• Omika Health, a Stockholm-based startup which worked on a service that uses easy-to-use home DNA-screening kits for early screening and prevention, is shutting down (English).
• Y Combinator hosted its Summer 2025 Demo Day last week, and Stockholm-based AI insurtech startup Solva is described as "one of the most sought-after" participants by TechCrunch (English). ℹ️ Company details (PRO)
• Cristina Stenbeck — the largest shareholder in Kinnevik — is joining the board of directors of Kinnevik portfolio company Tandem Health, signaling her renewed operational focus at the Swedish investment firm (English).
• The AI boom is leaving femtech behind, worries Karolina Löfqvist, CEO and co-founder of Stockholm- and London-based women's health startup Hormona, in an opinion piece (English).
• Klarna co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski wants to move his Klarna holdings – valued at SEK9.5B – into his publicly listed Swedish investment firm Flat Capital (English).
• The applications for the new edition of the Sting Climate Race are open, an "8-week investor readiness program" for climate tech startups (English).
• Norrsken VC released the European Impact Index 2025 report, based on survey input from 660 founders and investors across Europe (English).
• Outlast Fund, a new VC firm based in Stockholm and Riga (Latvia), has closed its first fund at €21M to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups from the region (English).
• Redstone, a Berlin, Germany-based VC firm, is setting up an office in Stockholm, and appoints Klas Johansen – based in the Swedish capital – as the co-lead of a newly established Redstone Blue fund (English).
• Umeå-based investment firm Disruptive Ventures announced former long-term Googler Serge Lachapelle as new Partner and CTO (Swedish, machine translation).
• Backing Minds, Swedish VC firm, has recruited Filip Orestav as investor (English).
• Norrsken Launcher promoted Jakob Falck to Investment Director (English).
Exclusives in PRO last week
• A new Stockholm-based startup developing an enterprise‑grade safety layer for AI, as raised yet-to-be-announced pre-seed funding at a valuation of $10M
• A startup in stealth mode, which will operate automated kiosks for people to sell their phones and get paid instantly, raised a first, yet-to-be-announced eight-digit SEK funding round
• A former Klarna Director has founded a startup building a co-pilot for modern banks
• The startup behind a health app for women after pregnancy and child birth is bankrupt
• Raising their first rounds: A new startup from western Sweden that develops a sovereign AI ecosystem aimed at "organizations that can't compromise on data security", and a digital wholesale marketplace for restaurants, small retailers and producers
• A 15-year old from Stockholm is already running not one, but two startups
• 27 new Swedish tech startups
Selected Swedish tech startup jobs
A non-exhaustive selection of open positions at Swedish tech startups.
• Business Development Representative (Spotscale)
• Head of Business Development & Sales (Melt&Marble)
• Software Developer (LiveDay)
• Commissioning & Testing Technician (Candela)
• AI Engineer (Mimo)
• Sourcing & Logistics Specialist (Teenage Engineering)
• Platform/Infra Engineer; Fullstack Engineer (Thalamind)
• Operations Associate (Carla)
• Engineering Manager (Epidemic Sound)
• Senior Software Engineer (I Pair U)
• Grid Manager (Turn Energy)
• Senior Data Engineer (Telness Tech)
• Commercial Marketing Manager (Collective Minds)
• CRM Lead (Neko Health)
• Research Technician (Agteria Biotech)
• B2B Sales Manager (yayloh)
Special shout-out to my partner Eivora for providing me with access to their awesome AI-powered ownership database of Swedish companies.
Other interesting things from the startup/VC world & beyond
• Atomico has launched its State of European Tech Survey 2025 (English).
• The week before the previous one marked the busiest IPO stretch since 2021. Six companies raised $4.4B in five days (English).
• Proven tactics to increase high user adoption of new feature/product releases (English).
Other interesting things related to Sweden
• Sweden defends the #2 spot in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 (English).
• Personal data belonging to over a million Swedes that was stolen in a cyber attack last month has now been published on the darknet (English).
• Sweden is set to miss the EU's 2030 climate goals by 5.8 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to the government's own figures (Swedish).
• Verisure, a Sweden-founded, Switzerland-headquartered security-services provider, intends to raise about $3.7B through an IPO on Nasdaq Stockholm (English).
• In the Stockholm area, a private individual has found an unusually large and well-preserved silver treasure from the early Middle Ages (Swedish, machine translation).
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That's it for this week. Thank you for being a subscriber!
Martin
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