winner of Slush's hackathon, looooots of new hires, novo nordisk in crisis.
*TGI(m)F. edition 143 i’m kay, and this is your 360º-view of the nordic startup ecosystem. covering culture + growth on a weekly basis, delivered to your screen for easy reading every sunday 💌
notices
‣ 🎧 next week i’ll be dropping a new voicenote with Sophie Mølgård Hansen - the Head of Strategy & Operations at momkind. In this 15 min voicenote, Sophie tells us everything about navigating the job market, how she slid into Nanna’s linkedin dm’s (the founder), and what the recruitment process really looked like. tune in for more next week!
‣ spring cleaning! 🌸 any email addresses that bounce back, or haven’t opened a newsletter in several months will be removed from the list (when I get round to it, so this is just an FYI).
🥛 mondayfriday news drop 💌 feedback
nordic pov
‣ Denmark
Januar, the financial infrastructure provider for crypto businesses, passes €1 billion in payment volume.
Frans Nilsson joins byFounders as their latest Finance & Fund Ops Associate.
MedTrace, the medical imaging technology company raises €10 million in funding from a consortium of Danish and Swiss investment groups.
Louise Krogh Rindom has joined Eupry as their new Chair of the Board.
“Novo [Nordisk] is officially a company in crisis” - Joakim Bruchmann
Jonas Vognsen joins Ugly Duckling Ventures as a Venture Partner.
Michael Bak joins Lab08 as their newest Executive Advisor to support the growth of Vicinity - an AI-powered due diligence platform.
Rasmus Koefoed-Jespersen launches Squid a design-led consultancy working with strategy, data, AI and transformation.
“Denmark eyes lifting of 40 year ban on nuclear energy” - Financial Times
Søren Nørgaard, ex-Teamway & GetWhy, joins Danske Bank in their GenAI Innovation Lab, where he’ll lead 'Opportunity Platforms'.
EIFO is investing €22.3 milion in Saildrone (a US based company), alongside strong syndication partners like Lux Capital.
Likeminded VC raise a €3.7m micro-VC fund backed by a group of +30 active and former founders and operators.
Pluto, the challenger investment app, lands EU crypto license from Danish regulators.
Vibrant.io, the fintech company disrupting how merchants manage and unify their payment infrastructure, receives investment from HCA Invest.
‣ Sweden
13 Stockholm Innovators to watch closely in 2025.
Data center infrastructure company, Scandinavian Data Centers, has received funding from real estate group Fastighets AB Balder.
MedVasc AB, raises €915K to fuel the development of its Solutio™ device and in preparation for their U.S. FDA regulatory submission.
Elena Verna (ex-Miro, ex-Surveymonkey) joins Lovable to lead on marketing & growth.
Brink Commerce, a composable commerce platform, has secured €5 million in funding led by Qvantea Capital.
AI-assistant startup, Zimply, has received strategic investment from Dahlgren Capital.
Pale Blue Dot named Impact Leader of the Year by EUVC.
Ambidex, the company building solutions to stabilize the power grid, raises €460.000 from Chalmers Ventures & Almi Invest.
Evelina Anttila on “Who gets to Lead AI Development”.
Top 6 most influential female investors in Sweden including: Sophia Bendz, Susanne Najafi and Lena Apler.
Belle Dolls, the inclusive and diverse doll brand launches their toys in Arlanda Airport.
‣ Norway
Aprila Bank, the neo-bank servicing SME’s, announce ‘all-time-high’ results for Q1: gross lending growth of NOK 143m, a pre-tax profit of NOK 14.1m and maintained a high return on equity of 18,5% in the first quarter.
Tine Wollebekk has joined the Pinecone Ventures team as Partner.
Rikke Kyllenstjerna joins Frøya Ventures as a General Partner.
‣ Finland
Wave Ventures, the venture fund supporting Gen Z founders has raised their 3rd fund at €7 million.
See the Notion board with “Startup service providers from all over Finland”
SHE (Safe Hidden Empowered), the solution that won the “Slush x the Illusian Family Office” hackathon.
Foodiq, the startup providing state-of-the-art, Multi-Layer Cooker (MLC) technology for food producers raises €10 million.
Flow Computing reaches a crucial stage in developing their processor technology (PPU) for CPU’s, which could make them work up to 100x faster.
Maxine Buchert, CEO & Co-founder of Meridian, on rejecting 60 internship applications and what she learned.
AMD Silo AI is awarded funding from Business Finland to coordinate >€100 million in AI R&D investments.
Gorilla Capital Fund II completes a (12x return) exit from Axitare Oy — a company they’ve supported for over 3 years.
Josephine Benzie joins Springvest Oy as their new Development Manager.
🇮🇸 Iceland
Dineout, software solution for the hospitality industry, announces that Nova has acquired a 20% stake in the company (and a seat on its board of directors).
LAXEY, the company building a land-based fish farm, secures €130 million in combined equity and debt financing.
☼ spotlight
job board
☺︎ Templafy is hiring a Senior Information Security Analyst
☺︎ Nofence are hiring a Social & Community Specialist.
☺︎ hormona are hiring a Head of Marketing.
dates and action points
→ Checked in with Nino, and there are just a few spots left for Mashup - get em asap before they go (may 27-28!).
→ Funding opportunity for startups in Sweden: Innovativa Startups from Vinnova - applications opening on May 20 (deadline in August) for up to 500.000 SEK.
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
