30 May The Nordic Web Weekly

Welcome to another edition of The Nordic Web Weekly, where we bring you the latest from The Nordic Web as well as curating all the need-to-know news from The Nordic Startup scene.Curated and written by @neilswmurray

This Week on The Nordic Web

2017 is closing in on $1 billion raised, with $875 million invested already in Nordic startups so far this year.At only five months into 2017 this certainly appears healthy, however when you consider that $2.7 billion in total was invested in the whole of 2016, how is this year faring when you compare to how quickly previous years reached the $1 billion mark?2017 accelerates in the race to a billion dollars even without fresh capital for Spotify
Twelve months ago, we produced an article called The Nordic Zeitgeist using Google Trends to look at which of the ‘hottest’ verticals were being searched for to see if we could get a better idea of what the main hubs in the Nordics may be looking at next.A year on, we thought it would be interesting to see how these verticals have evolved in search term interest over the last 12 months in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to get a sense of how they continue to reach (or don’t) a more mainstream interest in each country.An Update on “The Nordic Zeitgeist”
We’ve already seen signs that Nordic startups are beginning to mature and are able to raise further capital, with more $10 million+ rounds than we’ve previously seen at this stage of the year.Today, we can reveal another promising sign, 58% of the investments that have been made in the region so far this year have been follow-on investments.58% of investments in the Nordics in 2017 so far are follow-ons
The morning started yesterday with news that Unity Technologies, a Danish founded company had raised a further $400 million at a $2.6 billion valuation (1) in addition to the $181 million they raised less than 12 months ago.The usual celebratory reactions followed, however, if you delved a little further into the details, there was something extremely tangible to be positive about beyond the headline number.Unity’s new financing round could be a pivotal moment in the Nordic ecosystem
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This Week in The Nordics

Denmark

Danish-founded game engine maker Unity raises $400 million in private equity from Silver Lake

Mobaro has raised 20MDKK

Aarhus-based Sleeknote has taken in 7.5MDKK

Omnio wins 0.5MDKK investment at SEED Discovery Day

North-East Venture has acquired Bownty, Europe’s largest aggregator of deals and experiences

Queue-IT is expanding to the U.S


Finland

Opti Automation landed a 4MEUR investment including from Taaleri Kiertotalous and Butterfly VenturesEnersize raised SEK 28M before listing its shares at Nasdaq Stockholm First NorthSupercell acquires 62% of Space Ape Games for $55.8 millionSeriously releases first animated short after reaching profitability this yearKieku Labs, cofounded by former Nokia R&D director, launches beta app

Vegan Egg product Vegg won the Fazer Foodathon


Norway

Documaster has raised 100MNOK from Summa Equity

Serious Games looks to be a promising company coming out of Trondheim


Sweden

Lendify has taken in 200MSEK from institutional investors

Frontier raised 190MSEK at the end of last year, now announced

AI startup Peltarion has raised 30MSEK from EQT Ventures

Ivbar has raised €5 million to improve health care outcomes

Mr.Shoebox has raised further investment 

Games studio Bublar has sights set on the stock exchange


Interesting Reads

Two former Nokia engineers did what Google and Apple wouldn’t – now Realm runs on 1.5 billion mobile devices

Sweden just became the world’s first country to be listed on Airbnb – stay anywhere for free

Zalando is adding hundreds of jobs in Stockholm — and launching a ‘next level’ Instant Return service

You’ll soon be able to control IKEA’s smart lightbulbs with an Amazon Alexa or Google Home

Rovio aims to release Angry Birds movie sequel in 2019

Apple and Nokia see deeper partnership after ending patent dispute

The iZettle story with cofounder Magnus Nilsson

Co-founding Opera

Who will Spotify acquire next?

The story of Volvo’s incredible transformation into a true luxury brand

How Unity convinced investors it’s worth $2.6 billion

Why Europe is your first and most important international stop on the way to an IPO

“The Nordic Web is the single most comprehensive source of data and analysis on what is happening across the entire Nordic tech ecosystem. I trust The Nordic Web to provide differentiated, data-driven insights into what’s happening on the ground and have no hesitation in paying to access this content.”

— Tom Wehmeier, (VC at Atomico)

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The Nordic Web is the number one resource for analysis and insight on Nordic Startups. By @neilswmurray.
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