ipo preparations, €128 million goes to biotech company + a new hacker house opens.
*TGI(m)F. edition123 i’m kay, and this is your weekly round-up of curated startup news from the nordics, delivered to your screen for easy reading every sunday 💌
🥛 got news?
i love to crowdsource updates from the community on the ground, so here’s the:
🔗 mondayfriday news drop. share the details by saturday for a potential sunday feature!
woop woop, i’m excited to announce a new community partnership with the amazing team at ⭐️ Even Founders ⭐️, an organisation that supports women from idea-to-realisation in their founder journey, and works with investors to become more gender progressive. importantly, they’re building the largest data base of women founders across the nordics. add your startup here or apply for access to view.
“i’d rather be something for someone - than nothing for everyone”
~ Caspar Emil Siuto Rouchmann, SparkForce.
🇩🇰 Denmark
CEO of LastObject, Kristian Pitzner-Jørgensen, is handing over the reins to their Co-founder Nicolas Aagaard.
Mads Romild has joined the Swedish company, House of Reach AB, as Business Introducer to be their boots-on-the-ground in Copenhagen.
Adcendo, the biotechnology company developing antibody-drug conjugates to treat cancer, has raised an oversubscribed €128 million, series b round led by TCGX.
The 7 startups that received the Alexander Foss’ Industrifond Grant: PERFI Technologies, Circular Energy Systems, Nordstar Medical and more.
The new L25 law that will put “80% of our startups in a worse off financial position”. L25 prevents startups from being able to deduct software development costs upfront which means less cash when they need it most. Sine Linderstrøm, Louise Lachmann + Morten Høgh Petersen discuss.
Hjalti Jonsson moves into position of Head of Communications & Business Development Manager at Venture Cup Denmark and University Startup World Cup.
oasicare, the medtech company focused on women’s health, takes first steps into Indian market.
AdPlenty has received it’s first Gazelle, Børsen’s award for Denmark’s fastest-growing companies.
Frederik Barsøe is joining Scale Capital as their new PR & Communications Lead.
CEO of Penneo, the B2B software company, announces a transaction agreement with Visma for the takeover of the company.
3D printing startup, PERFI Technologies, secures funding through Tech Nordic Advocates’ Diversity Venture Fund accelerator program.
Flowering.dk, a sustainable alternative to flower companies, receives a significant, but undisclosed investment from Interflora ex-CEO, Søren Flemming Larsen.
Appetite of danish pension funds in supporting VCs has shrunk. “the entire system, including pension funds, institutional investors and the political agenda, must help support the ecosystem that must be created from within” - Christian Brøndum, Seed Capital.
ReBloom, the recently launched platform shaping the private investment market for secondaries, sees 100+ users in less than 4 weeks.
Since their launch last month, Pluto investment app has more than 2,000 users + 5,000+ trades made. Now, they announce "Pluto 0.0": a pricing model which allows you can trade more than 3,000 US stocks completely free of trading costs.
Subhi Irshed, the founder of My Mental Wellbeing talks about how a recent bid for €93k fell through, demanding financial recalibration + how he dealt with “failure”.
Healper makes it to the DTU Skylab Hall of Fame.
🇸🇪 Sweden
Rebecka Löthman Rydå, Investment Director at Inventure, will be moving into the role of General Partner at Norrsken Accelerate.
Construction tech startup, Vizcon, receives investment from Almi Invest.
Neo4j, the leader in graph database and analytics, raises €47 million from Noteus Partners as it prepares for a potential IPO.
Reports suggest Nalka Invest AB has been selecting banks to help with a potential listing of its majority-owned company, Asker Healthcare Group AB.
360player, the all-in-one platform for sports clubs has raised €22 million in a round led by Five Elms Capital.
Mingla, the startup gamifying the networking experience at events, raises a €260k round. The platform has already seen the likes of Breakit + Brilliant Minds’ as users.
Sana welcomes their former board member and Cevian Capital VP, Fredrik Stromsten into the team as Chief Strategy Officer.
Meitner, the startup building a school platform for primary and secondary school, has raised €2.2 million from YEoS Ventures
After 40 years as an entrepreneur, Konrad Bergstrom is joining Wellstreet VC as an investor and General Partner.
Quartr, the leading provider of data and tools for qualitative research, announces a partnership with Perplexity, the world's leading AI search engine.
Ecobloom, the startup developing innovative solutions for precision farming, receives investment from BLING.
Klarna CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, presents their financial update as an AI-generated avatar.
Gridly, a content operations platform, appoints Anna Albinsson to take on CEO role, whilst co-founder Christoffer N. transitioning to Chief Product Officer.
Pocketlaw, the leading provider of AI-first legal tech solutions, has raised new round of funding from both existing and new investors.
Sitoo, the Unified Commerce Platform, have partnered with Verdane and secured a €26 million minority investment.
🇳🇴 Norway
“Norway’s Entrepreneurial Exodus and Wall of Shame” as told by Fredrik Haga, Co-founder and CEO of Dune Analytics.
Stine Saatvedt takes on role of Country Lead (Norway) for Girls in Tech Nordics.
Life in Sandhornøya, cultivating seaweed for plant health with Kelpinor.
Siw Andersen: Norway needs to boost R&D, attract VC, and support entrepreneurs—or risk losing talent and global competitiveness.
Deckmatch launches a new feature: AlphaLens which in short will be the PitchBook for product data for private market participants.
Rubus, the proptech company offering digital platforms for multifamily construction, has acquired German company, bau digital.
Bislab the credit rating and financial crime prevention company, expands into Sweden.
🇫🇮 Finland
FR8 is launching - a 650m² mansion in Espoo, Finland that will be a hacker house / startup incubator / research lab and where “where young mavericks build the future”.
Bit Odd, the gaming studio has secured €17 million in a funding round led by Griffin Gaming Partners.
See the 350+ companies in Finland that hire internationals who speak English.
Liquid Sun Ltd, a green tech company revolutionising the production of synthetic sustainable aviation fuel, has raised €4 million in a round led by Voima Ventures.
Enable Banking are Finlands 5th biggest fintech company.
📚 stories, opinions + resources.
read the “State of European Angels 2024” report, initiated by Nordic Angels + with BCG.
read: “Balancing mental health with aims of entrepreneurship”, Rebekka Gustafson sits down with The Kitchen - AU Erhverv og Innovation.
listen to episode 1 of the oppawtunity (sifted x unleashed): Enifer and Petgood discuss using pet tech as a stepping stone to commercialising alternative proteins for humans.
read: Livia Moore, Associate Partner at Antler says, “venture capital is flowing again. Things are finally moving! There's never been a better time than now to start a company”
read “Brand 101: How to Craft Brand Messaging that Achieves Results” - Caroline Frantl Larsson
read: “Challenging the Myth of Big Teams: Building Unicorns with a Minimal Workforce” - Jacob Key, GP at Luminar Ventures.
listen: “Breaking New Ground: Investing in the Future of Super-Hot Rock Geothermal with Torsten Kolind”
read: is the “open to work banner” desperate?
Breyta sponsored the Y Oslo conference, here are all the summaries from the talks available for everyone.
listen: “Retention Crisis: Why don’t people stay in denmark?” in the What are you doing in Denmark? podcast.
this weeks wildcard: open access to investing in high-end artwork (a little bit like investing in stocks). Atelie interviews the founders of Open Art Market : “an innovative Norwegian platform that aims to make investing in art accessible to everyone. With shares priced as low as 100 kroner, they offer a unique opportunity for anyone to own a piece of artwork from both emerging and established artists”. read it all here.
the first 50 sign-ups to Open Art Market get a free share as a welcome gift (link in article below). i spun the wheel and now officially co-own 0.93% of a piece of art ✌️
⚡️ Reel are hiring a new Marketing & Communications Manager
🛠 Mentimeter are hiring a Chief Product + Chief Technical Officer
👾 Supercell are hiring baby-sitters (i.e. people to nurture their new game, Squad Busters)
💡 Talent Spotlight: Sariah Romero is looking for visual & product designer roles in denmark (she has a danish work permit). With more than +6 years of experience in combining design with strategy, she leverages UX/UI academic expertise and digital design principles with a deep background in marketing, communication and cross-functional collaboration. see her portfolio here.
(inspired by Nico’s Monday Talent Spotlight)
→ Top 20 Venture Cup Sweden events in Gothenburg, Lund + Stockholm from Dec onwards.
→ Join the proem game jam - on the 7th (12:00) - 8th Dec (14:30) in Aarhus.
→ MESH (oslo) ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY: Dec 5th 21:00 - 3:00 am in Oslo.
→ Marketing Sessions Denmark, Wed, 4 Dec 2024 17:30 - 21:30 CET at Onomondo, Copenhagen.
→ Sebastian Pollok and Hampus Jakobsson are doing an intimate "forward-thinking climate dinner" in Copenhagen on the 4th of December. Some seats are available, apply here.
→ Future Manufacturers meet-up for the hardware startup community, December 10th, 15.00-17.30 at Industriens Hus, Copenhagen.
→ Nadia Jun (Duff Beauty) is looking for a new tenant for their office in Kalvebod Brygge (they’re expanding). It’s 130 sqm + DKK 17,000–19,000/month.
Thanks for tuning in! i’m always on the hunt for newsworthy content to bring to the mondayfriday audience. and, if you ask me, the best place is from the community itself. so, please drop your updates HERE and fill me in on any startup related news in the nordics ✨
yours weekly,
kay
* thank god it's (monday)friday
