This funding reports is based on the Swedish Tech investments in 2016 (Q1-Q3) and the www.nordictechlist.com (NTL) graph database has been used for all data. NTL is a free site that is funded by www.di.se the largest business daily newspaper in Sweden.
2. ● The Swedish Tech funding climate signals continued strength in the third
quarter, adding €142m in investments, bringing total investments in 2016 to
€1.3B.
● 2016 is already a record year for Swedish Tech investments with the full year
projected to end at > €1.5B in fundings compared to €1B in 2015.
● However Q3 has had no investments over €10m. This could be a sign of lower
activity from international investors following the Brexit vote and a slowdown
in US Tech valuations.
● FinTech and Health & MedTech are the sectors attracting most capital (Spotify
excluded).
Executive Summary
3. ● 99 Swedish Tech investments were made in Q3.
● Q3 was slightly down on the first half of 2016 due to
the summer holiday season. If seasonally adjusted
for an average of two working months in Q3 then the
average is 47 investments per month in Q3 up from
a monthly average of 39 in the first half of 2016.
● 335 Swedish Tech investments have been made in
2016.
● According to Industrifonden 175 investments were
made in all of 2015.
● Q4 investments should see more than 100
investments driven by continued confidence within
the Swedish Tech ecosystem as a result of large
new funds raised by EQT Ventures and Northzone.
Funding activity in Q3
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4. ● €142m was invested in Swedish Tech in Q3.
● Therefore Q3 total funding was slightly down on Q2
at €154m. But Q3 was higher than Q1 at €125m
when the outlier of the Spotify €882m debt finance is
excluded.
● Total funding for 2016 stands at €1.3B (including
Spotify). Industrifonden reported $1.01B for 2015
thus 2016 is already a record year for total funding
and total investments.
● Q4 total funding should surpass Q3 as international
investors are attracted to Swedish Tech companies
for the following reasons:
○ Lower valuations than US startups;
○ Viewed as lower risk than UK Tech
companies following the Brexit vote; and
○ The world class track record of established
Swedish Tech companies.
Total Funding Q1-Q3
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5. Quarterly growth
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● There has been significant growth in number of
funding rounds since 2015.
● The main increase has been in the number of smaller
funding rounds driven by more angel investors and
private investors. But all types of funding rounds
have grown since the start of 2015.
● The increase is also likely due to better methods for
capturing funding round data therefore enhancing
the visibility of the growth. Nordic Tech List captures
25% more investments than other reports*.
*Industrifonden, The Nordic Web and Nordic Tech List use similar methodology to cover fundings,
although Industrifonden covers fewer sectors and types of investments. The graph on this page
shows an average of the three reports, save for Q3 2016 which is just NTL data.
6. ● Q3 has seen an increase in investments between
€1-10m at 41 up from 35 in Q1 and 33 in Q2. This
was a result of a number of large A rounds
discussed further on the next page.
● However in Q3 there was a reduction in the number
of investments made at the lower end (€0-1m). This
could be a result of less angel investments due to
the holiday season.
● More notable is that no Swedish Tech companies
have raised funding rounds over €10m in Q3. Again
this could be a result of the holiday season or a
result of investment decisions being delayed.
International investors need to assess the impact of
the Brexit vote and valuation slowdown in the US.
Adding to that Swedish Tech companies have
required less funding as they cut back on growth
(Fyndiq, Widespace and others) and focused on
profitability (Truecaller and others).
Funding rounds Q1-Q3
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7. ● The top five investments are dominated by health &
MedTech startups; Lifesum, Diasend and KRY. This
is due to the large funding requirements for Tech
companies in this these sectors to fund R&D and
high regulatory costs.
● Even with the large funds raised by Swedish VCs the
majority of the top five investments were made by
non Swedish VCs.
● Lendify was the only top investment round that was
predominantly funded by individuals. In Q4 we could
see more investments from individuals driven by
celebrities starting to invest in Tech like Zlatan
Ibrahimovic and Alexander Gustafsson.
● The pool of private investors will also increase
following a successful IPO or sale of an established
Swedish Tech company such as Spotify, Klarna or
iZettle.
Top investments in Q3
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8. ● International investors might have been more active
in the top five investments of Q3 but Swedish
investors are the most active in investment rounds
over €1m. During 2016 Swedish investors, both VCs
and private investors, have been the most active in
investment rounds over €1m with Almi Invest taking
the top spot.
● Swedish individuals Lena Apler and Filip Engelbert &
Jonas Nordlander also featured in the most active
investors in rounds over €1m.
● It should also be noted that EQT Ventures only
closed their record breaking Swedish fund of €556m
in May. Northzone also closed their €300m fund in
September therefore both VCs firms are likely to
complete more investments during Q4.
Most active investors
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9. Top 5 Industries Q1-Q3
#SwedishTech#SwedishTech#SwedishTech
● FinTech is the sector attracting most investments,
so far €90m in 2016.
● This is a result of (1) Klarnas €30m debt financing
and (2) large Swedish banks and financial
institutions starting to invest in FinTech startups like
Tink and Wrapp. This trend is likely to continue in
2017 driven by new regulations such as PSD2.
● As shown previously there was significant funding
activity in Health & MedTech sectors during Q3. This
makes the sector the second most funded in 2016.
Changing regulations in the Swedish healthcare
sector is likely to have a significant impact on
investor sentiment going forward, specifically in
companies such as Kry and Min doktor.
● If Spotify is not excluded the total funding in Media
& Music would outperform all other sectors.
10. Locations
#SwedishTech#SwedishTech#SwedishTech
● Stockholm based Tech companies have
accounted for 66% (222) of all investment
rounds in 2016.
● If the outlier Spotify investment is excluded
then Stockholm based Tech companies
accounted for 78% of the value of the
investments rounds.
● Malmö/Lund accounted for 11% of total
investments (€46m) the same amount as for
all of Sweden outside Stockholm.
● During 2016 a number of investment firms
have been established with the goal of
investing outside of Stockholm like Backing
Minds.
11. ● This funding reports is based on the Swedish Tech investments in 2016 and the Nordic Tech List (NTL) graph database
has been used for all data. Thank you for all user contributions.
● The report includes all types of disclosed investments in Swedish Tech companies.
● It does not include transactions in listed companies, secondary transactions, bank loans or M&A transactions.
● All amounts are reported in €s to enable relevance to as many users as possible.
● Authors: Howard Riminton and Viktor Ström, Nordic Tech List. Please send all enquires about this report or NTL to
info@nordictechlist.com
Scope & Methodology
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12. ● All data from this report, and more, is accessible at www.nordictechlist.com.
● The aim of NTL is to help grow the Nordic Tech ecosystem both locally and internationally by creating an online
platform for everything Nordic Tech. NTL is constantly growing from all of the data and information provided by
users, investors and journalists.
● NTL is a free site and anyone who is interested in Nordic Tech can simply create an account and instantly start to
contribute by creating company profiles and adding information and data about companies involved in the Nordic
Tech ecosystem. For more details about how to use NTL please view the FAQ section.
● NTL is owned and fully funded by Dagens industri. The NTL team sit alongside the highly talented Di Digital team.
● Please send all enquires about this report or NTL to info@nordictechlist.com
About NTL
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