Swedish Tech Weekly #336: DBT Capital, Kundo, Enigma, Washere, Heartrunner, Lovable, Blykalla, ACC Innovation, Endra, PaperShell, Skye, Cellfion, Big Akwa, NapLab, Emmel, and more

Welcome to 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.

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🚨 Next week, Swedish Tech Weekly will take a vacation break. I'll send you the next issue on January 5!

Until then, happy holidays/Merry Christmas!

• DBT Capital (Stockholm, financing provider for SMEs) is being acquired by Stockholm-based specialist bank NOBA for SEK403M (€37M, $43M) (English).

• Kundo (Stockholm, platform for efficient customer service) is being acquired by Swedish investment firm Pamir (Swedish, machine translation).

• Enigma (Stockholm, developing advanced quantitative trading strategies for digital assets) is being acquired by Hilbert, publicly listed Stockholm-based investment firm specializing in crypto asset management and Web3 technologies, for up to $25M (English).

• Washere (Stockholm, solution for digital membership cards in Apple & Google Wallet) was acquired by Voyado, Stockholm-based customer experience platform for e-commerce and retail (English).

• Heartrunner (Stockholm, system for alerting volunteers in time-critical events) is being acquired by Stockholm-based hunting and outdoor community software provider Natlink (Swedish / Breakit paywall).

• Stratsys (Gothenburg, SaaS compliance platform for mid- to large organizations in the Nordics) is being acquired by Hypergene, Malmö-base, SaaS decision-support solution (Swedish / Breakit paywall).

Send press releases about funding rounds, and other potentially relevant news, to news@swedishtechnews.com.

• Lovable (Stockholm, AI web app builder): $330M Series B funding round co-led by CapitalG and Menlo Ventures (funding details). ➡️ Lovable first covered in PRO in early February 2024.

• Blykalla (Stockholm, developer of modular nuclear reactor technology): $50M in a funding round co-led by Oklo, and existing investors Norrsken Launcher and Armada Investment (funding details).

• ACC Innovation (greater Linköping area; developer of autonomous and remotely operated vehicles, both in the air and underwater): SEK239M (€22M, $26M) led by Thomas von Koch (funding details).

• Endra (Stockholm; AI-powered MEP platform): $20M seed funding round led by UK-based Notion Capital, with participation from existing investor Norrsken VC (funding details). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO in December 2024.

• PaperShell (Tibro, technology to build paper back into a more resistant version of wood): SEK150M (€13.7M, $16M) from new and existing investors (funding details)

• Skye (Stockholm, energy autopilot for industries): $11M seed round led by Transition, with participation from new investors Illusion Ventures, Course Corrected, and Sondo Capital, and existing investors byFounders, Emblem and Hawktail (funding details). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO in February 2024

• Cellfion (Stockholm; next generation, cellulose-based and PFAS-free membranes for hydrogen, battery and ion-separation technologies): SEK54M (€4.9M, $5.8M) grant from the Swedish Energy Agencys (English).

• Big Akwa (Härnosand; land-based fish farming system, which will function in industrial symbioses with other enterprises): SEK7.85M (€720K, $840K) from existing investors and shareholders (funding details).

• Your Devocean (Stockholm; digital platform to boost global ocean regeneration, by connecting stakeholders with marine projects that deliver measurable environmental impact): SEK2.5M (€230K, $270K) from angel investors (Swedish / Impact Loop paywall). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO in August 2024

• Nutrigap (Jönköping, app for women who want to optimize their nutritional status before and during pregnancy): undisclosed amount from existing investors including Almi Invest and Spectria Invest (funding details). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO in May 2024

I covered many more funding rounds, and more details for each, in Swedish Tech News PRO last week.

Startup founders: Request free access to my funding and investor database. Useful during your fundraising process.

A unique package with high quality curated data and information on Swedish tech startups.

• NapLab, a new Stockholm-based startup co-founded by former Mendi co-founder Sammy Saldjoghi, has launched "the world's 1st biometric feedback sound stimulation app" for enhancing sleep (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO in July 2024

• Emmel, based in Stockholm, opened the pre-orders for its first all-electric utility vehicle for professional work (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO in October 2024

• Vahid Sohrabpour, co-founder of Lund-based foodtech startup Saveggy, is stepping down as CEO – and is founding a new startup (English). ➡️ PRO subscribers learned more about his next move

• Specific, Swedish-founded startup for "building backends in minutes", which participated in Y Combinator's fall batch, is relocating from San Francisco to Stockholm – "one of the most exciting places in the world to build a company" (English). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO on September 23.

• Interview with Erika Koning, 19-year old founder of Gothenburg-based startup Parklet. She aims to build "the Nordics', Europe's – perhaps the world’s – leading parking solution" (Swedish, machine translation). ➡️ Startup first covered in PRO on September 29

• Profile of Hydro Space and interview with the founder Abhijith Nag Balasubramanya. His Skellefteå-based startup is specialized in indoor hydroponic farming, and eyes agriculture in space (English).

• Klimio, angel-backed Stockholm-based all-in-one provider for heat pump installations founded in 2021, is bankrupt – despite having grown revenue rapidly to SEK32.4M, and coming close to profitability (English). ➡️ PRO subscribers learned more details on December 18

• Cilia, Stockholm-based personal alarm app offering security features to prevent assaults and facilitate evidence collection, is also bankrupt (Swedish, machine translation).

• The bankrupt factory of Nyköping-based all-electric boat maker X Shore has been sold to a yet-to-be-disclosed buyer (Swedish / Di Digital paywall).

• GlennGPT is a new consumer AI chatbot from Gothenburg, pitched as "entirely Swedish alternative to ChatGPT", with data "not leaving Swedish data centers", and "not being used for AI training" (Swedish, machine translation).

• Flightradar24, Stockholm-based flight tracking service, has announced Scandinavian Airlines CEO Anko van der Werff as Chairman of the Board (English).

• Pharmaicy is a new project from Sweden offering "code-based drugs for AI" (English).

• The Lovable founders Anton Osika och Fabian Hedin were named "AI Swede of the year" (Årets AI-svensk) (Swedish, machine translation).

• Klarna has announced the launch of Agentic Product Protocol, a new open standard "that makes every product on the internet easily discoverable and understandable by AI agents" (English).

• Stockholm's innovation hub Epicenter released its second Changemaker Top 40 list, which highlights "40 individuals who are pushing Sweden forward" (English).

• Åre Business Forum 2026 will take place on March 18-20 in Åre (English/Swedish). ➡️ Added to the Swedish tech event calendar

• Stockholm Startup Forum is a new initiative bringing together key players in Stockholm's startup ecosystem. It's led by Sebastian Fuchs, who back in the days co-founded the pioneering startup hub SUP46 (Swedish, machine translation).

• The Swedish Norrsken Foundation is opening a major new hub in central Amsterdam (English).

• Following the initial launch of a Skåne Startup Map in June, the project now has a proper home and additional features at skanestartupmap.se.

• The nominations for the Nordic Scaleup Awards are open (English).

• 🎧 Podcast interview with Emmet King, Managing Partner at Stockholm-based early stage VC firm J12, on the strengths of the Nordic ecosystem, Europe’s culture shift, and the AI bubble, among other topics (English / 61 minutes).

• 🎧 Podcast interview with Lars Lindgren, Sweden's probably first ever angel investor, who began investing in unlisted companies in 1984, and does so to this day (Swedish / 69 minutes).

• At least two Swedish startups have so far been selected for the Y Combinator Winter 2026 program

• A startup simplifying cryptocurrency accounting and tax reporting, raised funding, and plans to expand outside Sweden

• A fintech startup founded by two experienced operators, has quietly emerged from stealth mode – and will announce a substantial first funding round raised from international VCs, in early 2026

• Also quietly coming of stealth: An AI-native startup founded by an experienced operator, who built a solution for helping housing associations and property owners with maintenance

• An angel-backed startup in the transportation/logtech space grew revenue 129% to over SEK15M, while only generating minor losses.

And much more. PRO is read by many of Sweden's best and most active startup investors. Service providers targeting Swedish startups also find it useful.

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

• Various incl. GTM, Partnerships Manager, Data Scientist (Redpine)
• Senior Full Stack Engineer (Hypocampus)
• Various incl. Motion Designer, VP of Marketing, Product Engineer (Endra)
• Senior AI Engineer (Agaton)
• Fullstack Developer (Stealth mode startup)
• Senior Software Engineer (Quickbutik)
• Founding Full-Stack Tech Lead (Virtual Days)
• Senior Backend Developer (Fifty)
• Various incl Product Engineer, Senior Manager FP&A, Commercial Operations Manager (Planhat)
• Head of Finance (Qurrent)
• Founding Designer (epiminds)
• Founding Engineer (Vantel)
• Corporate Sales Specialist (The Intelligence Company)

To the listings

Special shout-out to my partner Eivora for providing me with access to their awesome AI-powered ownership database of Swedish companies.

• Neil Murray, founder and solo GP at The Nordic Web Ventures (who published a curated newsletter similar to this one, before Swedish Tech Weekly even existed), announced the close of a $6M fund III to continue investing in early-stage founders (English).

• Gorilla Capital, Nordic VC focused on capital efficiency, wants to talk to AI solo founders, to learn how they are building in this new paradigm (English).

• GP Bullhound released the European SaaS Report 2025 (English)

• Databricks, the US-based enterprise software giant co-founded and led by Swedish entrepreneur Ali Ghodsi, has just raised more than $4B in a Series L funding round at a $134B valuation (English).

• Scaling Europe is a relatively new curated weekly newsletter on the latest from European tech and startups (English).

• From a founder perspective, there is only one category of good investor meeting, but many types of bad meetings (English).

• Thoughts on how AI agents are eating into SaaS (English).

• As data center construction is booming in Sweden, energy prices may rise (Swedish, machine translation).

• Swedish Job Tech published its second annual report, this one focused on the impact of AI on the job market (Swedish).

• How Skövde, a small Swedish city of 58,000, built a local video game ecosystem, churning out world-famous video game hits (English).

• Sweden loses around SEK600B a year as a result of today's throwaway economy, according to a new report (Swedish).

• Sweden is rattled as a 12-year-old, who escaped from a social care institution, is linked to a fatal shooting in Malmö (English, Swedish).

• Stockholm has recorded just a half-hour of sunlight in the first half of December (English).

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That's it for this week. Thank you for being a subscriber!

Martin