a new unicorn(?), stackx.me is crowdfunding + inside FR8’s hackerhouse 👀
*TGI(m)F. edition 133 i’m kay, and this is your 360-view of the nordic startup ecosystem. covering culture + growth on a weekly basis, delivered to your screen for easy reading every sunday 💌
another mondayfriday, another week of Nordic headlines, notably: a renowned silicon-valley based VC invests in Finland for the first time, there’s a total of €234 million for 3 fund-closes, Denmark sees it’s latest unicorn — shouldn’t this be bigger news or am I missing something?? Meanwhile in Norway, they’re dealing with a ton of runaway salmon (💸 if you can catch them), plus, Aviant is exploring burgers by drone delivery. A new Finnish AI landscape report maps out the ecosystem with over 80+ startups to have on your radar, whilst System 2 AI secures funding for its groundbreaking learning process, enabling AI to evolve autonomously (unlike static LLMs).
notices
🍋 ☎️ what’s your problem? - send in your questions or dilemmas on startup ecosystem challenges and your friendly ecosystem hotline will get back to you!
nordic pov
Denmark
B2b cybersecurity platform, Moxso is selected to join the Google for Startups Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity.
Last week, I reported that ReBloom raised an undisclosed amount of capital but now we know exactly how much— €400.000.
Ulrik Nicolai de Lichtenberg joins the Danish Centre for AI Innovation as their new Director of Scientific Projects.
A satirical (or is it?) petition for Denmark to buy California racks up 100.000’s of signatures.
James Eyton joins EV-charging company, Monta as their new CFO.
For the 7th time in a row, Denmark is ranked least corrupt country (for infrastructure in the public sector).
Lars Sødergaard joins NORNORM as their new CFO.
Pandektes announce 4 new hires to their team: Silvia, Josephine, Basilissa, + Markus.
Sam Eshrati, COO/Chief Engagement Officer of TechBBQ joins Europe’s first LGBTQ+ focused VC fund, identity.vc as a Venture Partner.
Trackunit, announces an investment from Goldman Sachs which now values the company at 1.35 billion dollars, reaching unicorn status.
Multiscription, the startup in mobile game subscriptions, announces they are closing down - partly due to a crowded market, and partly to ‘mistakes made’ along the way.
Saichologist, the an AI-powered assistant & patient management platform for mental health professionals, has launched.
Mads Klinge joins Canute (by Thursday) as their newest Senior Associate
Naia, the B2B company helping you reduce your product's planet impact at the point of design, raises capital from Energized Investments (roughly €670.000).
The six Future Manufacturers grantees who’ve secured €10.000 each from Verner Overgaards Familiefond. List includes: NitroVolt, EVEWAVE + more.
Sweden
AI–BOB - an AI-powered Bob The Builder - raises €2 million to optimise construction planning processes in a round led by CapitalT.
Bluebook, the AI-powered platform for accounting firms, has secured €2.8 million in funding led by EQT Ventures, and including prominent angels from OpenAI, ElevenLabs + extras.
ReCarber raises €5.1 million in a funding round led by Luminar Ventures, Spintop Ventures, and Course Corrected.
Prev. Head of Partnerships, Maria Lindholm is promoted to VP Management and Operations at Wellstreet.
RGNT Motorcycles has entered the chat with Sweden’s first-ever EV motorcycle racing series.
EsterCare, the starutp advancing integrated women's health and mental health raises funding from The Inner Foundation.
Last week, Fåhraeus Startup & Growth announced the final close of their second fund, FSG Fund II, at €75 million led by The European Investment Fund.
Agteria Biotech, the startup reducing methane emissions from cows raises €6 million in a seed-round led by Industrifonden and AgriZeroNZ.
Course Corrected VC closes the first round of its second fund, raising over €63.9 million backed by investors like European Investment Fund (EIF), Saminvest AB + more.
Investment platform, Nordnet, under pressure as a recent technical issue allowed customers to access the account details of other customers.
Antler announces the close of their second fund for pan-Nordic investments at €96 million.
EasyPark Group, the company making parking easy and intuitive, acquired UK based Parkopedia.
After 100+ days in stealth mode, Agaton, the B2B sales platform launches.
Norway
“Last-mile by air” drone company, Aviant, partners up with foodora, Tele2 and Bastard Burgers in Sweden to launch commercial drone delivery in Gustavsberg.
Fabian Elvegård Utigard (Kvist), Kamila Loba and Ida Wressel are the 3 nominees to win the City Prize for promising talents in the real estate industry.
Stackx.me have officially launched their crowdfunding campaign on Folkeinvest, with €510.000 already raised (read this if you wanna invest).
Axel Franck Næss, the co-founder (and CTO + CPO) of Tise, the secondhand marketplace, announces that he is stepping down.
Databutton Version 2 launches, the first reasoning AI developer for non-techies.
Aprila Bank announce that they are looking into moving their license outside of Norway as a result of negative competition conditions working ‘against’ them.
The smart-mattress company, Tidewave Medical, completes a share issue worth €800.000 to strengthen international expansion efforts (paywall 😢)
Tibber secures a top spot in the Norwegian Innovation Index (NII) 2024, alongside companies like IKEA and Tesla. Read the full report here.
Finland
Anna Sillanpää and Anton Holmberg (co-founders of Robes Rental) amongst other top, young entrepreneurs are interviewed about their experience in SILTA’s program to bridge Finland with Silicon Valley (paywall 😢)
Cactos, the resilient energy storage solutions company, raises around €7 million in a round led by Union Square Ventures (its first investment in Finland) and joined by Superhero Capital.
Inka Mero, Founder + Managing Partner of Voima Ventures is selected to join Finland’s Research and Innovation Council led by the Prime Minister.
StemSight, the startup curing blindness with regenerative cell therapies, has raised €2.3 million in funding from Voima Ventures, family offices and Business Finland.
System 2 AI - the company building AI agents with a novel training procedure unlike most other AI companies, has raised funding from FOV Ventures, Westcott Investment Group and a list of angels.
Sifted wrote about FR8’s hackerhouse: “Inside the hacker hotel digging for Europe’s first trillion-dollar company”.
Aito's Advisory Board 2025 has gone live and includes: Noora Kuisma, Alice Jeon, Ville Hulkko and more!
AI Finland releases the latest Finnish AI Landscape report with over 80 startups mapped out.
stories, opinions + resources
Read “The Consumer Comeback: Why Bust is Bullish on Consumer Tech” - Madeleine Johansson Palmberg, Partner at Bust.
Azra Osmancevic, Group CEO of Third Ear Podcast is starting a new column at Dagens Media - think: media, podcasting, advertising + more.
spotlight
this week: 28.000 salmon have escaped from one of Norway’s largest fish farms, Mowi’s Storvika V facility, after intense weather broke one of the pens. there is a 500 NOK bounty PER fish if you can catch and return them 💸💸💸 this comes just 1 week after Norway’s environment minister said they wouldn’t ban open-net fish farming, despite it being an “existential threat” to wild salmon (due to the way farmed salmon has the potential to weaken wild salmon populations by reducing their genetic diversity). the authorities are calling the situation a “disaster” and global farmed salmon supply is potentially at risk.
job-board
Good Tape are hiring a Full Stack Developer (DK).
(Urgent!): Damilola Osok, ex-Northvolt, is looking for a new role in quality control, customer experience and communications (SE).
Aito Ventures are hiring a Founders Associate (FI).
ExSeed Health are hiring a Rising Talent for Head of Technology (DK).
VOLUNTEER: Junction (a global community behind the world's best hackathons) are now recruiting for their 2025 Head Volunteer Roles.
Loelle Organics are hiring a B2B salesperson/Account Manager (SE).
dates and action points
→ AEC Hackathon: Using Tech to Build CO2-Neutral, Biodiverse, and Engaged Communities at Bloxhub in Copenhagen. 28th Feb to 2nd March.
→ Kim Rants + Raaman Bales from Alice.Tech wanna know who the best study influencers in the world are - get in touch if it’s you, or you know someone who knows someone.
→ Rådgivningsfestival 2025 hosted by Nordic Female Founders (likely all in Danish), March 6th 3:00 pm - 9:30 pm in Copenhagen (costs 320 dkk in total).
→ Nordic State of AI Summit 2025: March 12th rom 12 PM to 4 PM at Pörssitalo, Helsinki.
→ For investors: contribute to the ArcticStartup Deal Pulse Survey designed to deliver the most current insights into the Nordic venture capital and startup ecosystem. Complete by March 2nd.
→ "Founder to Leader” the leadership program for DK-based founders-turned-leaders, is accepting applications for Cohort 7 until February 27 at 16:00
→ “Unstoppable Founders Summit: Where ambition meets action” featuring talks from Monika Liikamaa + Ida Tin. February 28th, 9:00 - 12:00 pm (free + virtual).
💌 feedback
Thank you 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 above and fill me in on any startup related news in the nordics. additionally, please leave me some feedback so i can keep improving ✨
yours weekly,
kay
* thank god it's (monday)friday