Retail Revolution

December, 2017

SINCE

THE SWEDISH-AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INC.

1906

Where the Swedish-American Business Community Meets

retail revolution NEW MEMBERS

EVENTS

FEATURED

ACAST

SUSTAINOLOGY

PETER STRANDELL

CELLINK

SPEAKER LUNCHEONS

DANIEL KULLE

WHYWASTE

BREAKFAST SEMINAR

LESLIE BLODGETT

QAPITAL

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

JOHAN TORGEBY

SOUNDTRACK YOUR BRAND

TICTAIL DIGIEXAM

IN N E W YO R K No. 6, 2017 T H I S I S S U E I S S P O N S O R E D B Y O R R E F O R S K O S TA B O D A

Editor & Writer Sarah Clyne Sundberg

Editorial & Production Yasmina Backstrรถm

Publisher Anna Throne-Holst

Assistance & Layout Erika Rahmqvist Olivia Rรถnnlรถv

8 Feature 10 e v e n t s 12 p e r s p e c t i v e 13 e v e n t s 14 n e w m e m b e r s 17 e v e n t s Retail Revolution

Perspective of World Leaders

State of the Market

Johan Torgeby on the Joy of Banking

Acast, CELLINK, Qapital, Whywaste, and Soundtrack Your Brand

18 f e a t u r e 20 f e a t u r e 22 e v e n t s 25 f e a t u r e 26 p e r s p e c t i v e

The Store of the Future

Orrefors Kosta Boda

Sustainology Summit 2017

How to Create Brand Loyalty

The 21st Century School

Casper von Koskull

IN NEW YORK is the membership magazine of The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Design: D Solutions NYC

Postmaster send address changes to: The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. 570 Lexington Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10022 Tel +1 212 838 5530 | info@saccny.org | www.saccny.org Copyright 2017 by The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of contents without permission not allowed.

Kindly note that opinions expressed in signed articles are not necessarily those of the officers and directors of SACCNY.

TO TH E F U T U R E !

Dear Members and Friends It is evident that our member network is full of companies and individuals that do not wait to see what the future will bring, but rather create their own future.

As I am writing this, we are days away from the end of 2017. This year has been an eventful one, globally and nationally, as well as here at the Chamber. It was also my first as President of SACCNY. When I stepped up to the post in April, I considered the ways in which I could best maintain the essence of SACCNY—the many events and services it has excelled at for over a century—I also worked with the team here at the Chamber to think of new ways to serve our members.

Some of the new aspects this year have been our presence in Almedalen this summer, the renamed Sustainology Summit this fall, and initiatives aimed at growing our services to more specifically help emergent companies and startups succeed in New York City, we are also very happy to be able to present you with a new website and increased online presence.

With several of the Chamber’s annual banner events behind us, most recently Sustainology, the theme of which was ”Mad About Food,” I think it is fair to say that we are now well on our way. As one of the panelists at that conference quoted William Gibson as saying, ”The future is already here.”

It is evident that our member network is full of individuals and companies that do not wait to see what the future will bring, but

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rather create their own future according to bold and innovative visions. This is certainly true of this year’s SACCNY-Deloitte Green Award winners, Whywaste, a young Swedish company that has already managed to cut food waste by 20 percent in its client supermarkets by using data gathering.

That Gibson quote may also apply to the theme of this issue, ”Retail Revolution.” Nearly anything is available through your smartphone at the tap of a finger, or via intelligent personal assistants such as Alexa and Google Home, yet Amazon and other online retailers are partnering with companies like Whole Foods and Ikea to access brick-and-mortar stores. AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) are also beginning to play a role in the retail experience.

In this issue of In New York, we take a look at the present—and future— of retail from several angles and ask the question: What is it that so many Swedish retailers have that brings them such success in the United States? Ikea and H&M are the two biggest and best-known examples, both completely changed their fields and continue to be at the vanguard in terms of what retail can be. Then we have the newer examples, such as Tictail and Klarna that are bringing new ways of selling goods to New York and to the world.

The technological revolution, the future, is already upon us as it pertains to retail, food, academia (as is the case with DigiExam’s pioneering product), and nearly every other area of our lives.

There is no walking back Amazon, smartphones, AI, data gathering, or designer foods. This does not mean that we, denizens of the future, do not look to tradition for comfort and joy. For SACCNY this time of year, that means the annual Christmas Celebration and Lucia Luncheon at the Pierre, which kicked off the holiday season on December 1—this year the Member of the Year Award went to Michael M. Roberts, for his immense support of the Chamber.

Looking ahead I hope to continue to work to make SACCNY an invaluable resource for members, new and old, as they tirelessly pursue their visions, creating a better future for all of us.

Sincerely, Anna Throne-Holst President, SACCNY

R ETAIL I N N U M B E R S Retail makes the world go round, or at least the economy. With more than 95 percent of Americans and 75 percent of Swedes having shopped online in the past year to the tune of millions of dollars, it is easy to think of e-commerce as dominating retail, but that is just one part of the story, the lines are not so clear, and the vast majority of purchases still happen in physical stores.

67% 23% 28% 94%

of Millennials and 56% of Gen Xers prefer to shop online rather than in-store.

of online shoppers are influenced by social media recommendations.

of U.S. small businesses are selling their products online. of total retail sales are still generated in brick-and-mortar stores, both in Sweden and the United States.

N EW W EB S I T E L A U N C H !

Over at the SACCNY office, we are in the midst of a reinvention. We heard your response to our member survey loud and clear this past spring and have been hard at work, bringing both our style and content up to date to appeal to a wider audience. We exist for all our members and it is important for us to stay relevant in

the ever-changing business landscape. Last quarter, we unveiled the new In New York magazine, and now, we can finally also present a fresh redesign of the SACCNY website. Please head over to www.saccny.org to have a look. We hope you like it!

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2017 Di Gasell Award

Bontouch Designer of the Year

On December 5, Dagens Industri handed out its annual Gasell awards to Sweden’s most rapidly growing companies. The grand prize—Supergasell of the year—went to Jan Lindblom’s Byggprojekt i Dalarna, which grew by 7366 percent between 2013 and 2015. The Digital Gasell award went to Annica Forsgren Kjellman’s Skincity Sweden.

SACCNY member Bontouch won both the gold and silver awards in the category Digital: Smartphone at this year’s Swedish Design Awards in Gothenburg.

The first place was awarded for the firm’s work with the PostNord app, the second for the SJ app.

Byggprojekt Dalarna Wins Grand Prize for Extraordinary Growth

SACCNY President, Anna Throne-Holst, participated in the on-stage discussion during the award ceremony in Stockholm, which was moderated by Peter Fellman, Di’s U.S. correspondent. Throne-Holst shared tips for Swedish startups aiming to succeed in the United States. Pointers included the importance of networking and connections, as well as smoothing your path by hiring legal and advisory help; it may seem expensive but it will save you money in the long run.

The Di Gasell prize aims to encourage Swedish businesses and entrepreneurs. Since 2000, Di awards prizes to the fastest growing companies in each of Sweden’s 21 counties, as well as a grand prize for the fastest grower nationally.

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The Digital Firm Wins Big at Swedish Design Awards

In fact, including the two above awards, Bontouch had five projects that placed in the top-five jury nominations in the same category—additional apps were for SEB, Taxi Stockholm, and Kronans Apotek— prompting the jury to award them a new, specially created prize as Designer of the Year. ”For repeatedly taking on projects that affect us all through the public service they provide; and for not only creating simple and reliable products, but with playful exuberance and meticulous attention to detail crafting delightful experiences that bring joy to consumers.”

Pontus Axelsson, Bontouch’s Founder and President said that he is grateful and thrilled. ”I’d like to thank all our brand partners who put so much trust in us, and all the 50 million people around the globe who use the products we help create.”

Citi GPS Report on Women in the Economy Study Proves the Profitability of Gender Equality in the Workplace

Women in the Economy II: How Implementing a Women’s Economic Empowerment Agenda Can Shape the Global Economy—a report published by SACCNY member Citigroup—investigates female economic empowerment through case studies comparing the United States with Canada, and Italy with Sweden.

It also offers concrete actions to reduce gender inequality. ”Taking it from a purely entrepreneurial view, [gender equality] is an obvious thing to do. Mixed gender teams perform better. […] Moreover, the numbers show that these companies have a healthier bottom line,” said Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO, Ikea Switzerland, who was one of the people interviewed in the study.

The measures necessary to achieve ”significant and achievable reductions in gender inequalities” which the study estimates could add around 6 percent to GDP in the advanced economies over the next two decades, vary from country to country. Though the report makes some general recommendations concerning government initiatives such as tax, childcare support, and retirement structures, as well as workplace flexibility, and other employer-led initiatives.

Michael M. Roberts Member of the Year

Award Handed to Citi’s Michael M. Roberts at SACCNY Annual Christmas Luncheon

Michael M. Roberts, Citigroup, Anna Throne-Holst, SACCNY and Karl Wellner, SACCNY

SACCNY is very pleased to announce that the Member of the Year award 2017 goes to Michael M. Roberts, Global Head of Corporate Banking and Lending at Citigroup. The award is given out every year at the annual Christmas Luncheon, to a member who has significantly contributed to the Chamber’s overall future success and growth.

Roberts has hosted our Sustainability Summit for 10 years running, serves as a board member, and continues to be highly engaged in our operations and activities. We are grateful for his unwavering support of the Chamber and look forward to working with him for many years to come.

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Feature

Retail Revolution How Swedish Brands Are (Re)Shaping the Future of Retail H &M

In the past, companies like Ikea and H&M have reshaped their respective fields in retail with vertical integration and radically altering customer expectations. Now we are in the midst of yet another retail revolution, this time a shift from first-generation e-commerce to newer mobile technologies in the home and in stores, along with a blurring of boundaries between different channels. Naturally Swedish companies are once again breaking new ground.

Sweden has long been at the forefront of retail: The first Swedish retail revolution is best represented by H&M and Ikea, both international giants in their fields, that trade on the democratic idea of good design for a broad range of tastes—good products at a good price point. Now Sweden finds itself at the forefront of reshaping retail yet again, this time with new technologies.

There is Tictail, which is bringing together up-and-coming small-scale designers with customers; There is

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Absolut Art, which does something similar for the mid-range art market; there is Spotify, which has completely changed the way we consume music by offering an alternative to the iTunes model; Finally there are companies like Klarna, which are changing the ways we pay and get paid when we shop online.

The most obvious change to our retail habits in the past decade or two is of course the shift to online stores and modes of payment. Mobile technology catalyzed a perhaps equally profound

shift that is still underway. More recently, the lines between online and offline have begun to blur with the IOT (Internet Of Things): Dash buttons and intelligent personal assistants such as Amazon’s Echo and Alexa, and Google Home, bring stores into our home. On the flip side, companies such as Ikea and H&M are bringing AR (Augmented Reality) and other technologies into their stores; Ikea lets you ”try out” furniture in your home with their Ikea Place app and H&M solves one of the major brick-and-mortar disadvantages

by letting customers scan and buy items via their mobile app, if they are not able to find their size in-store.

Then there is Amazon’s deal with Ikea in Sweden in anticipation of the online company’s launch there. What exactly this collaboration will look like at Ikea remains to be seen, but Ikea furniture is already on sale via Amazon, a historic departure for the furniture giant that has previously only used its own sales channels. A harbinger of things to come may be Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market, which provides the online giant with physical outlets, at Whole Foods this so far means special discounts for Amazon Prime members, staffed Amazon pop-up stores, as well as Amazon tech merchandize such as Echo and Kindle on sale in the Whole Foods aisles.

Another blurring of lines is that between online retail and social media. Tictail bills itself as the ”Tumblr of retail.” Amazon launched Spark, its social function, this past summer, and then there is the way social media seems predisposed to offlabel retail uses. One example of the latter is the thriving market for secondhand designer clothes on Instagram.

Big retailers have picked up on this too. For instance H&M North America encourages purchases with a tap-andbuy option via their Instagram page. ”We want to make things as omnichannel as possible, so that there is no feeling of difference between our physical stores and our online store.

The two complement each other and make it so that no matter where you are in the United States you have access to all that we offer,” says Daniel Kulle, President of H&M North America.

Mobile technology has brought an expectation of instant gratification to all aspects of our lives, not least retail.

Mobile also makes it easy for customers to comparison shop, which creates incentive for retailers to give their customers the easiest possible access to online shopping in-store, lest they miss out on a sales opportunity due to pricing or not having an item in stock. ”We are seeing a lot more interactive experiences in-store like smart mirrors, interactive screens, and iPads. These are all opportunities for retailers to create a more tailored and individual experience for the in-store shopper, while also

giving shoppers the chance to see an even larger amount of stock and styles and buy directly online without even trying on. I anticipate this will continue to grow, especially with the amount of data we are seeing on shoppers browsing online prices simultaneously while in-store,” says Carl Waldencranz, CEO and Co-Founder of Tictail.

”We take inspiration from all over the world and look to various places like music festivals, street style, social media and vintage fairs when we design our upcoming collections.”

- Daniel Kulle

As for the future of the physical stores, they are increasingly becoming about an immersion in a brand experience that is harder to achieve online. From various traditional flagship stores in SoHo like Acne, Stutterheim, and Fjällräven; to Tictail’s East Village storefront location, shoppers can congregate, touch, try on, and share photos from their visit, completing the online-offline feedback loop. H&M too is beginning to offer more than just clothes at their stores, the launch of their new brand Arket, brings stores with a curated selection of clothes, lifestyle items for the home, but also a place to grab coffee and a sandwich.

Zara, and changed American consumer habits when it comes to fashion. Part of the secret to H&M’s success was their groundbreaking vertical integration, which enables them to get the newest fashions into the stores in record time. ”We take inspiration from all over the world and look to various places like music festivals, street style, social media, and vintage fairs when we design our upcoming collections. We have an extremely efficient logistics system which is how we can cut down on lead times and deliver the latest items to the stores almost every single day,” says Kulle. Ikea of course is similarly vertically integrated and they too scoop up some of the most talented young Swedish designers to ensure attractive furniture at a competitive price point.

If there is a common thread here it is probably a—perhaps characteristically— Swedish enthusiasm for change and innovation. As Johan Jörgensen, Chairman at FundedByMe.com, said at the Chamber’s Sustainology Summit earlier this fall, ”Swedes are changeminded to the point of the absurd,” which may bring its own set of issues, but also a certain boldness when it comes to trying out new ways of operating that makes for the occasional sector-revolutionizing innovation.

Which current hot new innovations that will be a flash in the pan and which will be the Ikea or H&M of tomorrow is not always apparent in the moment, though it is safe to say that as we are going through what is probably the biggest change to consumer culture since the advent of mass-market production, new Swedish companies are at the forefront of this change and older Swedish companies are right there by their side.

”More and more, we are seeing how retailers use their stores to create an environment where customers want to stay for a longer time. Fashion stores with built in cafés or hang-out spaces— experiences that can be talked about and shared, and that doesn’t necessarily focus on sales,” says Waldencranz.

Is there a common denominator among these Swedish retail pioneers that help them succeed internationally? H&M was one of the first affordable European fashion brands to enter the United States when it launched here in 2000, paving the way for others such as TopShop and

Daniel Kulle President, H&M North America

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World Leaders Share Perspectives on International Trade in Uncertain Times Speaker Luncheon with, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, JR., Mikael Damberg, Swedish Minister for Trade and Innovation, and Deborah Norville, anchor, Inside Edition, and best-selling author.

With the United States being the biggest export partner to Sweden after the E.U. and Swedish direct investment in the United States amounting to about $50 billion with 500 000 people employed here, the Swedish-American business community has a lot at stake when it comes to the trade policy changes promised by President Donald Trump.

On October 24, SACCNY hosted a meeting of two world leaders—U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. and Swedish Minister for Trade and Innovation Mikael Damberg—to discuss these matters at 583 Park Avenue.

The luncheon drew a full house with plenty of press in attendance.

Deborah Norville, anchor, Inside Edition, and best-selling author, interviewed the Secretary who participated via Skype, due to being called to an emergency meeting with the President regarding tax reform earlier the same day. Ross and Damberg shared their thoughts on

Minister Mikael Damberg and Anna Throne-Holst, SACCNY

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issues pertaining to international trade, from TTIP to innovation diplomacy, and the Secretary received a few hardball questions from the audience.

The exchange started out on a light note with Norville asking, ”You just came from the cabinet meeting, what did you all decide?” Ross quipped, ”You’ll probably hear leaks about it, so I won’t bother doing that right now.”

Secretary Ross spoke of market highs since the inauguration of President Trump and said there would have been further growth, were it not for recent hurricanes.

When Norville asked about tax reform and NAFTA, Ross painted a picture of the latter as outdated, pointing to the digital economy as one aspect that the agreement does not address, and financial services and natural resources as two others.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. and Deborah Norville, Inside Edition

”Before NAFTA came into effect, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico.

Generally ranging between $4 or 5 billion a year. Guess what our cumulative deficit with Mexico is post NAFTA? One trillion dollars, with a ’T.’ That’s way too much.”

- Wilbur L. Ross Jr.

Regarding the possibility of loss of American jobs, were NAFTA to be repealed, Ross commented, ”Before NAFTA came into effect, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico. Generally ranging between $4 or $5 billion a year. Guess what our cumulative deficit with Mexico is post NAFTA? One trillion dollars, with a ’T.’ That’s way too much.”

After the interview, the audience had questions for the Secretary on topics including the President’s lack of cabinet appointments and stumbling blocks to TTIP. Concerning the latter, Ross commented that the administration ”intends to go forward with an agreed thing” and that the ball is now in the European court. ”Perhaps now Europe will be in a better state to negotiate,” he said, citing Emmanuel Macron in office in France, as well as the re-election of Angela Merkel in Germany as positives and Brexit negotiations as a retardant factor.

In regards to trade with Sweden, Ross mentioned the large deficit, that he said was, ”made up for by [an American] surplus in services and perhaps conceptually made up for by a Swedish foreign direct investment in the United States.”

After Norville’s interview with Ross, Swedish Minister for Trade and Innovation, Mikael Damberg, took the stage. He spoke to the vital importance of trade between nations and of innovation diplomacy, given Sweden’s need for a consumer base beyond its small population.

The social safety net makes Sweden attractive in an international context, he said, it also provides a setting conducive to risk-taking and innovation within Sweden.

Something that is clearly bearing fruit, given that about 12 out of every 1000 Swedish citizens now work in the innovation sector.

He further spoke to the businessfriendly climate in Sweden today and the role the Chamber can play in the public-private partnerships that Sweden builds to spur innovation both at home and abroad.

”The backbone of our innovative capacity is that we have and cherish our international contacts.”

- Mikael Damberg

Fear of change and fear of trade is dangerous to Swedish industry, he said. ”We have to be open to the world. But we also have to give people a sense of stability and security, because change is happening faster and faster.”

Susanna Svartz, Svenska Handelsbanken, NY Branch and Henrik M. Steffensen, Nordea Bank, NY Branch

Karl Wellner, SACCNY

Minister Mikael Damberg

”The backbone of our innovative capacity is that we have and cherish our international contacts.”

The Chamber would like to thank Newmark Knight Frank and David E.R. Dangoor for their generous sponsorship of this event.

Carrie Wik & Alex Wik, Confirmit ASA

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Perspective

Peter Strandell on the State of the Market The Nasdaq SVP Talks Cyber Security, Geopolitics, and Developments to Watch in the New Year

Nasdaq ”Normally I would say that the U.S. financial markets are leading the way for the rest of the world, but here the Nordic region, and more specifically Sweden, is a shining star.”

In the spirit of the season, we asked SACCNY board member and Senior Vice President & Group Treasurer for Nasdaq, Peter Strandell, to share his perspective on the past year and what he sees on the horizon in 2018.

How would you summarize 2017, what were the general trends?

What a strange year it has been. Despite a political rollercoaster—both domestically and internationally—the markets have shown an unprecedented resiliency. General risk appetite is stable, volatility is historically low, and for the time being, markets have put their trust into future corporate tax cuts in the United States, and Brexit negotiations not being too complex.

What changes can we expect in 2018?

For the last 90 years, the average bull market has lasted around nine years.

As we are now passing that time frame, we should expect an increased likelihood of a correction. As such, I think we

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will see an increased volatility in the market. But on the other hand, market participants are highly divided on where we are heading. If we could avoid a complete U.S. tax code breakdown scenario, I think the markets could potentially move even further during 2018.

Any global developments on the horizon that worry you?

There are many… A tougher than expected Brexit outcome for the U.K.; increased geopolitical risks as a result of instability surrounding North Korea; failed tax code negotiations in the United States; increased tension between European countries on how to handle the refugee crisis.

Those are the normal ”suspects”, but I want to raise cyber security as an outlier. I think this is an area where most people are unaware of how vulnerable our lifestyle has become, and how dependent we are on technology. Any disruption here could cause a serious threat to the global economy and send markets

into an unpredictable spin.

What aspects of the global economy look encouraging at the moment?

I believe a lower tax rate for U.S. corporations could boost the economy by putting capital that is now somewhat trapped to work. I also believe that technological innovations are happening so fast that it is difficult to fully understand all of the positive effects they would have on productivity.

Most of us are using AI today through apps on our smart phones without even knowing it. I believe that within the very near future, it is going to change most of our dayto-day life. Banking, travel, cars, healthcare, distribution processes, and so on. This will benefit both consumers and corporate earnings.

Are there any up-and-coming Swedish companies listed on the Nasdaq that we should be keeping an eye on?

Without naming anyone specific, I want to highlight how strong the Nordic region

has been when it comes to bringing new companies to the markets this year. It is outstanding to see how many entrepreneurs have been raising capital to grow their businesses. Normally I would say that the U.S. financial markets are leading the way for the rest of the world, but here the Nordic region, and more specifically Sweden, is a shining star.

Peter Strandell SVP & Group Treasurer Nasdaq

johan torgeby on The Joy of Banking Johan Torgeby, President and Group Chief Executive of SEB, joined SACCNY on November 29 for a breakfast seminar and candid conversation with Chamber President Anna Throne-Holst. During the talk, Torgeby shared his philosophy on work-life balance, tech, and the advantages of being thrown in the deep end.

In hindsight, Torgeby’s trajectory may look very straight—working at Morgan Stanley after studying economics, and then on to SEB via Swedbank—especially given that his mother recently reminded him that he announced at age four that he wanted to be ”a big boss at a big bank.” However, he has no recollection of that childhood dream. An avid drummer, his sights were set on becoming a professional musician. This ambition was dampened once he began music school and realized the level of talent some of his peers possessed.

Drumming became relegated to his spare time, something he admits not having had much of for the past two decades.

mind when it comes to banking these days, Torgeby sees online banking as old news, a slow incremental change he has been living since 1994.

Though he concedes, ”Something magical is happening right now in retail- and mass-market-banking given cheaper technologies.” He also finds the narrative that pitches startups against established banks to be overwrought.

Rather, Torgeby’s secret to worklife balance is doing what makes him happy. ”If there is no strong polarization between work and the rest of your life, if going into the office feels like meeting friends, then work might feel joyful all the time,” he says.

At just 42, Torgeby is a young CEO. In terms of achieving success, he stresses the importance of being ”surrounded by generous people who believe in your ability rather than in your CV.” He says he was lucky enough to have a manager early on at Morgan Stanley who trusted him in this way. ”When you get thrown into deep water you can just skyrocket compared to someone who doesn’t get that opportunity.”

As for the questions on everybody’s

as data-gathering and a platform loyalty-enhancer, and they don’t need to make money on it.”

His overall outlook regarding technologically fueled changes remains optimistic and pragmatic.

He compares big banks to hospitals and asks if anyone would raise an eyebrow if a health care facility bought a startup for a new cuttingedge MRI scan. ”No, you would just say that’s the technology incorporated into the incumbent, that’s one way of thinking of what’s happening if you are a large bank.

You just welcome it all. In the end, I’m here to serve the clients. If the clients stop choosing us, we’re dead.”

One area of new technology in which SEB has caused some buzz is the bank’s deal with San Franciscobased Ripple to use their blockchain solution for payment transactions. ”Previously a payment from Sweden to the United States would take up to 48 hours. With blockchain the first payment took 9 seconds and now we are down to do just 2 seconds.”

Karl Wellner, SACCNY, Johan Torgeby, SEB and Anna Throne-Holst, SACCNY

The more worrisome trend to him is not in fintech, but in what he calls techfin: Tech companies providing financial services. ”I have Apple pay and visited Apple two days ago.

This is a platform that doesn’t care about financial services, they see it

Torgeby notes that this deals a severe blow to the basic business model of banking—the day that a bank keeps the money after you send it until it arrives in the receiving account. ”A lot of banks worry that this will negatively impact business, but I believe in offering our clients the best possible service. That is the only way to create sustainable business models.”

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Acast

The World’s Largest Podcasting Platform

NEW New York

MEMBERS

In its three years of existence Acast has changed podcasting.

This Swedish company is now the world’s leading audioon-demand technology platform; connecting the best ondemand audio content wherever it exists in the world to consumers wherever they are listening.

The company provides hosting services, advertising revenue, and a seamless distribution network to anyone creating audio content. Acast has more than 55 million monthly listens to more than 1,900 shows around the world. Premium brands that use Acast include The Financial Times, Vogue, The Economist, Reuters, Newsweek, and The Guardian.

We warmly welcome the newest additions to our network. Go ahead , do not hesitate to connect with them !

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Acast has offices in Stockholm, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Sydney. It was founded in Sweden in 2014 by Måns Ulvestam and Karl Rosander, two friends who both have more than 20 years of experience as internet and media entrepreneurs.

The Acast app is available for download from the Microsoft Store, iTunes, and Google Play.

Contact: Måns Ulvestam, CEO mans@acast.com www.acast.com

CELLINK

Qapital

CELLINK focuses on the development and commercialization of bioprinting technologies that allow researchers and scientists to 3D bioprint human organs and tissues for the development of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products and treatments. CELLINK is the first bioink company in the world to have said focus. CELLINK’s patent-pending bioink is a biomaterial innovation that enables human cells to grow and thrive as they would in the natural human body environment.

Qapital is a new kind of banking platform committed to helping people turn their money into happiness. Qapital offers checking accounts and savings products designed to help users set and achieve their financial goals by making good decisions easy.

Innovative Biomaterials on the Cutting Edge of Medical Research

”Time is everything in the life science and biotechnology industry and our platform provides a fail-fast approach to our users so that they can faster realize what works and what doesn’t in their pipeline of potential products.” says Erik Gatenholm, CEO. Today, the company’s disruptive technology platform is being utilized to print tissues such as cartilage, skin, and even fully functional cancer tumors that can then be used to develop new cancer treatments. In just 12 months the company has been able to commercialize products in more than 30 countries and sold them to hundreds of prestigious labs around the world, such as Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and the FDA.

Making Saving Money Effortless, Motivating, and Even a Little Fun

The platform leverages behavioral economics to bridge the gap between awareness and action when it comes to money management by making spending and saving money more intentional. Qapital has designed a new way to manage money; helping people reduce waste, generate more savings, and find the knowledge and confidence they need to master their financial lives. Over 300 000 users who have collectively saved over $230 million agree that goal-focused personal finance is changing the way people bank.

Contact: Erik Akterin, CTO & Co-Founder www.qapital.com erik.akterin@qapital.com

Contact: Erik Gatenholm, CEO eg@cellink.com www.cellink.com

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Whywaste

Soundtrack Your Brand

Every year millions of tons of perfectly edible food products are thrown away in supermarkets. Whywaste wants to change this. All industrial food production affects the environment, through farming, processing, transport, and storage. Moving towards environmental sustainability therefore naturally involves reducing the amount of food that gets thrown away.

Streaming is increasingly the way we listen to music, the exception being consumer businesses where older models such as CD’s or other systems still dominate. Soundtrack Your Brand is a Spotify-backed company founded in 2013, on a mission to change this and kill bad background music.

Headquartered in downtown Stockholm, the company has spent the last couple of years building the world’s best music-streaming service for brands.

Reducing Food Waste Through Data-Driven Workflows

Whywaste has developed a set of unique data-driven tools and workflows that enable supermarkets to effectively identify products that are at risk of passing their expiration date. The food can then be sold at a reduced price, cooked, or donated for charitable purposes, instead of ending up in the waste bin.

The company was founded in Sweden in 2013 and has since gained a lot of traction in the Swedish food retail market and helped supermarkets significantly reduce their food waste. Whywaste is looking at the United States as a potential next market.

Contact: Martin Grådal, CEO martin@whywaste.se www.whywaste.co

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State-of-the-Art Music Streaming Tailored Specifically to Your Business

Their state-of-the-art music-streaming platform and scientifically proven content-curating model are crafted by connoisseurs and perfected by technology. As such Soundtrack Your Brand offers businesses more than 180 music channels, which include week-long music collections, as well as a wide variety of playlists that suit specific times. Partners include McDonalds, TAG Heuer, and Toni & Guy. ”We won’t stop until we have become the personal DJ of every brand.” Says Ola Sars, Co-Founder & CEO. Contact: Ola Sars, CEO ola@soundtrackyourbrand.com www.soundtrackyourbrand.com

CEO Luncheon with Casper von Koskull Nordea Transforms to Meet New Regulations and Customer Expectations

Nordea in the News This past September, Nordea, once owned by the Swedish state, created a stir with the announcement that the bank plans to move its company headquarters to Finland.

The move means that Nordea will be supervised by the European Central Bank instead of the Swedish government.

It is estimated to save the company about 1 billion euros over time.

Anna Throne-Holst, SACCNY with Casper von Koskull, Nordea

Change, spurred by digitalization as well as regulation, is sweeping the banking sector. Nordea’s President and CEO Casper von Koskull gave his perspective on this, and on Nordea’s upcoming move to Finland at SACCNY’s CEO luncheon on October 12.

While the move made headlines that no doubt contributed to the full house and waitlist at the event, von Koskull downplayed its significance. ”It is an administrative move by our holding company to Finland, where we are regulated by the European Central Bank. It will have no impact on our Swedish clients, our Swedish employees, or the way we operate in Swedish society.”

The big news, von Koskull said, is the tremendous change in the industry. He pointed both to new regulations, as well as shifts in customer expectations. ”If any of you were to go online to buy a product or a service and nothing happened for 30 seconds, you would switch to something else.”

Nordea has responded by rebuilding its customer interface, providing both an improved digital experience, as well as the possibility of speaking to a banker on the phone or via video chat any day of the week.

In terms of regulation as impetus for change, as of next year, banks in Europe are required to open their systems to third-party players. Nordea has created a platform where web developers can work with the bank on services for its customers.

When Nordea opened itself up to web developers earlier this year, there were 303 registrations within 24 hours; there are now almost 800. ”Everybody is looking at the financial industry, and everybody wants to play a role. […] In a sense, we are now an IT company.”

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Feature

The Store of the Future Creating Unforgettable Brand Experiences Online and Beyond

Tictail

Photo: Pontus Höök

Carl Waldekranz in front of Tictail Market, Tictail’s physical store in New York City.

Tictail was founded in 2012.

At the time, the founders, Carl Waldencranz, Siavash Ghorbani, Birk Nilsson, and Kaj Drobin, envisioned a platform that would help creative entrepreneurs in fashion, home decor, and other creative industries, build an easy to use, beautiful online store as a step toward making their online brands global.

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The need was clearly there; the company quickly grew to have a customer base of tens of thousands of brands from over 140 countries. Today Tictail has evolved to where it is not only a platform for small businesses, but a shopping destination for individuals from all over the world who are interestined in supporting independent design; you can find

over four million products on Tictail.com. The style could be described as more professional and up-market than Etsy, but with a platform that is more social, noticable, and personalized than Shopify. Browsing Tictail you will find everything from minimalist Finnish cashmere knitwear, opulently styled Parisian shoes, and esoteric Spanish home decor.

” Discovery and personalization are key factors [...] and although an individual can dig and dig on their own, there is always something rewarding about leveraging the advice of friends and influential voices.”

One aspect that sets Tictail apart from other similar platforms is the social functionality; it has been called ”Tumblr for retail,” which seems like a natural progression given the way our human inclination to be social has been amplified in the digital age.

Tictail has shopper profiles where users can find new products as well as share their favorite finds with their friends. Tictail Talk lets brands and shoppers talk directly via the Tictail app, something that is intended to approximate the in-person experience of a small boutique. ”Discovery and personalization are key factors,” Waldencranz says. Tictail is intended as a marketplace where users can discover the favorite brands of tomorrow. For those who like to shop emerging design, ”there is always an element of finding brands before they get huge. Pair that with Tictail’s global reach, and shoppers now have online access to discovering amazing small business owners in cities they have never even traveled to.

And although an individual can dig and dig on their own, there is always something rewarding about leveraging the advice of friends and influential voices.”

Tictail also lets shoppers feel something that often gets lost in today’s online economies of

scale: A personal connection with makers and business owners. ”We recently launched a campaign called Not Faceless, which was all about educating shoppers on the benefits of supporting small business owners by shopping slow fashion. Tictail helps make shopping feel rewarding by learning about how one purchase could help put dinner on the table for a young artist or fledgling fashion designer.”

in-person, and avail themselves to various non-commercial goingson. ”We make sure to have events in the store as much as we can, sometimes twice a week. Whether it’s a brand trunk show, female entrepreneurship panel, or press event for an upcoming collection, we’re constantly bringing new people into the space to get to know the Tictail brand,” says Waldencranz.

”Tictail helps make shopping feel rewarding by learning about how one purchase could help put dinner on the table for a young artist or fledgling fashion designer.”

Last year, Tictail also opened a physical store on New York’s Lower East Side: Tictail Market.

There, fans of the online experience, as well as curious passers-by, can congregate to shop and experience the brand

Carl Waldekranz CEO Tictail

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Sponsor Feature

Quality, Style, and Function Marrying Innovation with Three Centuries of Tradition

Orrefors Kosta Boda

”As a child I dreamed of floating across the city, high up in the sky like a bird. I transferred my dream into balloons of colored glass and instead of a basket I chose shimmering polished crystal prisms that catch the light.”

– Kjell Engman

Kjell Engman

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Orrefors & Kosta Boda were founded during a period of Swedish history known as ”the age of freedom.” With a history stretching back 275 years, Orrefors Kosta Boda is older than any other glass manufacturer in the world.

Kosta Boda was founded in 1742, during a period of Swedish history known as ”the age of freedom;” Orrefors was founded in 1878. The companies, which now operate under the joint name of Orrefors Kosta Boda, have a long and storied past and remain proudly independent as they look forward to many productive years ahead. Their

Limited Edition Balloons

by Kjell Engman

designs are collected by individuals and museums and showcased in exhibits all over the world. With playful and bold designs, Orrefors Kosta Boda’s products are a natural addition to your home decor.

When asked what Orrefors Kosta Boda does better than anyone else, Matt Jones, CEO of the North American Division says, ”Whether you want oneof-a-kind pieces of art work for the office, hotel lobby, or home, from Bertil Vallien, or Kjell Engman, to name just two of our artists, or products that can

be used every day, or for special occasions, our strength lies in our Sweden-based design team and nearly three centuries of glass making.”

Matt Jones continues to say, “There is a perceived oldness of many of the companies in the tabletop/ gift industry. All brands, no matter the industry, have to continuously focus on change. Orrefors Kosta Boda remain mindful of our history as Swedish crystal and lifestyle brands, while working hard to develop concepts and products that address the way people live today.”

While Orrefors Kosta Boda is based in Sweden, Matt Jones explains that The North American Division of Orrefors Kosta Boda is quite autonomous. ”We operate as a separate division within the New Wave Group family of companies.

Concepts, product ideas, and launches are driven by our parent company Orrefors Kosta Boda AB,

our CEO Magnus Andersson, and his product development team.

We then customize some of these products to fit North American lifestyles. For example, the size of wine glasses, or use of serving and entertaining items.”

For more information please contact: dnardella@okbusa.com phone: (856) 296-4419

Aside from its reputation for excellence in decorative items and tableware for the home, Orrefors Kosta Boda is also considered one of the premier suppliers for corporations. ”The North American Division has an organized channel dedicated to servicing corporations’ service, loyalty, safety programs, awards, events, and gifting needs,” says Donna Nardella, Corporate Director.

Nardella continues, ”We are currently collaborating with Volvo on their new Volvo dealer refit building awards. Volvo has been a strong partner and we have fulfilled many of their marketing and employee programs. Many Swedish companies continue to use our

Orrefors and Volvo Cars have joined forces in an exclusive crystal collection.

Created by Lena Bergström—one of Sweden’s most acclaimed designers— and the award-winning design team at Volvo Cars, this handmade crystal glassware represents the best of modern Scandinavian design. ”When I was growing up in the north of Sweden, we would go on walks in the woods and bring food in small wooden boxes made of plaited birch bark, traditional to the area,” says Lena Bergström. ”I used this distinctive diamond pattern as inspiration for the facets on these pieces.”

products to reinforce their Swedish heritage.”

Orrefors Kosta Boda represents quality and Scandinavian design combined with contemporary style and ease of use. Their designers create their pieces with these principles in mind.

This is Bruk, the colorful collection designed by Kosta Boda in Småland, Sweden.

For more information please contact info@okbusa.com or (800) 433-4167

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Mad About Food: Sustainology Summit 2017 There were two notable refrains at the 2017 Sustainology Summit: First, sustainability done right is intrinsically profitable—and must be in order to be viable from a business perspective. Second, considering the escalating climate crisis and diminishing natural resources globally, sustainable thinking is imperative for the survival of both individuals and corporations. Big food has perhaps arrived at what Viktor Friedberg, co-founder of Seed 2 Growth, called ”the food industry’s Kodak moment.” That is, the moment where you, a member of Kodak’s board, hear of digital photography for the first time: What course do you take?

This year’s summit, the first under the new name Sustainology, provided a forum for thought-leaders and change-makers to look at possible new paths, to explore creative solutions and discuss further action. ”The study [of sustainability] is one of the most important things today,” said Michael M. Roberts, Global Head of Corporate Banking and Lending, Citigroup, in his introductory remarks. ”That is the idea of this conference; to create that knowledge space. To bring together the sharpest minds from Sweden and the United States, to put you all in a room together, whether you are in academics or in business, entrepreneurs, all sorts of people making it a wonderful event with a great diversity of views.”

The conference was generously hosted by Citigroup in the company’s global headquarters in TriBeCa and chaired by Nina Ekelund, Executive Director of the Haga Initiative. During the first half of the day, participants were treated to a wide range of takes on sustainability and technology as pertaining to food, with a number of innovators giving eight-minute presentations on their

Michael M. Roberts, Citigroup

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ideas, Thomas McQuillan of Baldor Foods quipped this was ”speed-dating for sustainability.” After a delicious lunch which offered contemporary takes on classical Swedish dishes, there were five interactive workshops, held in tandem, where participants could further immerse themselves in topics such as Building Food Tech Bridges Between USA and Europe, Doing Good is Good Business, and Sensory Marketing—Awaken Your Senses.

Many of the trends that are changing every aspect of life and the business sector, such as data collection and AI, are of course shaping the future of food as well. But there are also problems and solutions unique to this incredibly pervasive and all-encompassing field.

Every aspect was examined, from supply chain to plate, touching on the hypothetical as well as the concrete.

Urban farming, hydroponics, micro greens grown in basements, new ways of thinking about everything from transportation of groceries, to improved health through super foods, to what we do with food scraps. Because there is no life without nourishment, or as one might put it, everybody eats.

Summit Chair Nina Ekelund, The Haga Initiative

Marcus Samuelsson, Marcus Samuelsson Group

Production In an increasingly urban and global world, where it isn’t unusual for the items on one plate to come from China, Chile, and California, it is time to rethink the production chain (and location). That can mean urban farming where, as Tobias Peggs, Co-founder and CEO of Square Roots, said ”the farmer can pick your lunch in the morning and deliver it to you at your desk by bicycle;” Or, ”one source, one community,” the Absolut Company’s philosophy as outlined by Anna Schreil, VP Operations at Absolut, where all suppliers from grain, to bottles, to caps, are local and the company feeds byproducts to local livestock to close the circle.

Fredrika Gullfot, Founder of Simris Alg, demonstrated another innovate example of how sustainability can be greatly enhanced by shortening the production chain.

The company sells omega-3 supplements derived from algae, rather than from fish oil, thereby eliminating the loss of enormous amounts of byproducts.

Packaging & Transportation One way of cutting fuel and emissions is off-hours deliveries.

Jeffrey Wojtowicz, Senior Research Engineer at the Volvo-funded Center for Infrastructure, Transportation and the Environment (CITE) at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute described the NYC offhours delivery program, started in 2007, through which about 50 receivers get their goods between 7 pm and 6 am, thereby reducing congestion, idling, and excessive trips around the block. This simple change saved 40 percent in environmental emissions.

Reducing packaging is another cost- and energysaver. Andreas Jeppson, Managing Director of Ecolean, gave a presentation on his company’s groundbreaking lightweight soft packaging which not just cuts transportation costs and associated emissions, but also minimizes food waste by maximizing ”squeezability.”

Consumption

Waste

”I tell every millennial I see that the food industry is the future because it is primed for change,” said Björn Öste, Founder and CEO of Good Idea, a functional drink that lowers blood sugar after a meal, thus reducing the risk of diabetes in the consumer.

Most things currently in landfills are reusable, as Thomas McQuillan, Director of Food Service Sales and Sustainability at Baldor Specialty Foods, pointed out.

The Summit offered several perspectives on food as an essential tool for wellness, whether in the form of designer super foods, like Good Idea, or a return to simple, whole ingredients. Robert Brummer, Professor of Gastroenterology and Clinical Nutrition at Örebro University, called for a shift to a ”wellness paradigm,” as an alternative to ”the illness paradigm.” The former being an approach whereby we eat to prevent disorders later in life, rather than focusing on our immediate well-being once a disorder is already present.

Anna Schreil, The Absolut Company

McQuillan spoke of sustainability as maximization of one’s assets. He has helped his company arrive at zero waste when it comes to in-store food production by such measures as saving carrot scraps for reuse in carrot cakes and using other vegetable scraps to create a flavor-enhancing vegetable powder for cooking. In doing so he has demonstrated how the simple act of cutting waste can yield enormous results when it comes to both cost-effectiveness and environmental impacts.

Michael La Cour, IKEA Food Services

Maria Larsson, Örebro County, Region in Focus

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Anna Throne-Holst, President, SACCNY, Annika Hellenberg, Martin Grådal and Kristoffer Hagstedt from Whywaste, Andreas Marcetic, Partner, Deloitte Sweden

Winners of the SACCNY-Deloitte Green Award Whywaste - Where Sustainability Meets the Bottom Line

Over the past two years, the company has managed to curb food waste by 20 percent in about 100 Swedish supermarkets using data collection. In New York caught up with founders Annika Hellenberg, Martin Grådal, and Kristoffer Hagstedt behind the scenes at Sustainology.

How was the idea for Whywaste born?

We saw a problem that we wanted to solve: There is a lot of waste in grocery stores. We actually started with another idea; based on how to help the stores visually sell products that were getting wasted. But it turned out to be hard to implement on a bigger scale. So we went in a different direction and started to develop the software system that we have today.

In concrete terms, what data are you collecting to figure this out?

We basically get the data of what is about to expire. The staff in the stores

Sustainology Food Market

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provide a lot of that data, which we then feed back so the system can learn over time.

Grocery stores need help identifying food before it goes to waste. The first thing is identifying what food, so that you make sure you don’t miss anything.

The second step is marking it down, finding new ways of selling it, potentially finding new customers through new channels, and also giving to charitable organizations. The latter takes a lot of administration, but since we can combine the data that we collect in reports, we reduce the time it takes and make it more efficient.

What are your future plans?

We are planning to look more at the whole chain. Right now, we are able to reduce food waste by 20 percent, on average, but as we go forward and get more data we are able to tweak how the stores work even more. Our mission is to reduce the food waste to zero.

What we have seen in Sweden is that it’s about sustainability, but also about economy. If you can reduce food waste, you save money, and combining those two factors is attractive to businesses all over the world.

Johan Jörgensen, Sweden FoodTech, Danielle Gould, Food+Tech Connect, and Viktor Friedberg, Seed to Growth, Ventures, Foodshot, Lava

Feature

How to Create Brand Loyalty How bareMinerals Changed Cosmetics and Brought the Customer into the Boardroom

Leslie Blodgett development for several large cosmetics companies, but also experience behind the cosmetics counter at Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s in NYC. ”I was able to see how people interacted with customers and that one-on-one relationship ended up being a very big part of my success in the future.”

Leslie Blodgett Founder and former CEO bareMinerals

“I absolutely believe that the founder has more credibility than anyone, if you believe in your product, no one can sell it better than you.”

Photo: Pontus Höök

Leslie Blodgett, Founder and former CEO of bareMinerals, knows retail. In 1994, when she became CEO of what was then the obscure bath and body brand Bare Escentuals, she rolled up her sleeves. She repackaged and renamed the company’s line of mineral makeup—bareMinerals— and promoted it as a healthy alternative to traditional makeup, ”which at the time was just liquid and full of chemicals.” There was no budget for print ads, so she began doing shows on QVC, the shopping channel. The live format cultivated an air of a best friend sharing her beauty routine and made Blodgett the face of the brand. To this day, bareMinerals has a die-hard community of users.

When Blodgett came to Bare Escentuals, she was 32 years old and had been in the beauty industry since she was about 20.

This included work in product

In the corporate world on the other hand, she found there to be ”a disconnect between what the women really wanted and what companies were doing; not being transparent to their audience, not actually asking women.”

Blodgett’s solution was to bring the customer connection that she found through television, into the boardroom. ”I was calling 25 people a week, even when our company was a billion dollars in retail sales. We crowdsourced product ideas from our community and they were always best sellers because we knew exactly what they wanted.”

Centering business on the personal connection meant that as bareMinerals grew, they had to find a way to scale the human side. ”We would bring customers into the office and hold meetings with

them. The most loyal customers had often been using our products for longer than our new employees had worked for us; it was about finding out why they were with us.”

”Don’t just hire people you can relate to, you need everybody. ” While Blodgett always worked to build community around her product as CEO, she sees what it takes to reach out to people and to sell something changing with the advent of new technologies. ”People don’t trust companies anymore, so putting a human face behind the brand is important.

Brands are walking away from things that sound too corporate or polished. I hate the word ’authenticity,’ because I think it is so overused, but consumers do need to feel that it is real.”

Her prognosis is that the beauty industry and ”celebrities” need to be cautious about paid-to-pitch products and turn away from that perceived lack of authenticity. She believes that the industry is thus on the cusp of another big change.

Part of that change will be bringing e-commerce together with the inperson connection. ”E-commerce channels are killing it and they are realizing that they do want to interact with people face to face and malls are in the process of reinventing themselves. How do you combine a kick-ass experience in person with the e-commerce engine? That synergy is going to be electric in the future.”

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Perspective

Bringing Schools Into the 21st Century The Importance of Contacts and Research On the Ground DigiExam When friends Johan Hägglund and Nima Marefat were students at the Stockholm School of Economics in 2011, they felt frustrated that the final exam was still done with old-fashioned pen and paper and other students they talked to seemed to feel similarly. After speaking to teachers at the school, Hägglund and Marefat learned that they too had gripes with the antiquated system that led them to waste time deciphering students’ handwriting.

Enter DigiExam, Hägglund’s and Marefat’s revolutionary full-scale platform that has tools to create, plan, supervise, take, and grade exams— and more—for teachers, students, and school administrators. This streamlines administration, curbs paper use, and makes exams more secure and reliable.

DigiExam also switches seamlessly to offline mode in the event of a student getting disconnected during a session, thus eliminating a common issue with conventional online exams.

The need turned out to be enormous: Six years after the idea was born at the Stockholm School of Economics, DigiExam has users in more than 95 countries, including the United States, where the system was pioneered at the Columbia School of Law. ”That was extremely important, in part to create credibility for us as a new Swedish company and startup, but also in the visa process,” says Ida Eklund, Business Development, North America.

14.2 million pieces of paper saved

Eklund and Hägglund moved over to start up a sales office in New York City in 2015. The initial contact with Columbia happened through friends and they also found guidance and encouragement in participating in SACCNY’s Innovate46 four years running. ”Innovate46 helped us understand that you can make the move even as a small, but promising tech company. It was an eye-opener in terms of possibilities.”

As for growing their user base and promoting their product, Eklund says part of the growth has been organic.

Individual teachers can sign up for free to create an account. ”What we often see are a few core teachers who are super tech savvy and are early adopters, and when they have seen that DigiExam really adds value for them in their work and also for the students, that is usually when they will talk to a tech director, or supervisor, or the principal,” Eklund says.

That is not to say that they don’t do marketing the traditional way. One vital difference they have noticed in the United States compared to Sweden is that schools, especially in New York, get far more sales calls in general, making it harder to stand out here. Eklund also finds Sweden to be more open to new technologies in general, even as American schools tend to have more existing digital learning-management systems, which DigiExam in turn needs to make sure to be compatible with. ”Working with education that is an extremely traditional and bureaucratic field, and then with technology that is changing so fast, is a challenge, but it is also extremely rewarding.”

Contact: Johan Hägglund, CEO johan.hagglund@digiexam.se www.digiexam.com

2,800

1,186,751

schools connected

exams completed

How to Make it In New York Three Quick Tips from a Successful Startup 1. Customer service is key: In the United States potential clients expect exceptional service—even before they are customers. Make sure they get it.

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2. Meet contacts without expectations: The initial meetings with professors at Columbia University happened through friends and without expectations, but they were interested in what we were doing and introduced me to the central university administration, which in turn put us in touch with the Law School.

3. Know when to cut your losses: If we could do it over we would skip the effort we put in to the Public K-12 market. It was too complicated and regulated to be worthwhile for us in our current phase.

Christmas Luncheon

Concluding the Year, Swedish Christmas Style We are still filled with joy after our annual Christmas Luncheon. What a start to the season! Lucia celebrations and Magnus Tear contributed to the Christmas atmosphere at The Pierre on December 1. Many thanks to all who participated and joined us for the festivities. Special thanks to our partners Handelsbanken, Skanska, and American Friends of Uppsala University, the celebration would not have been possible without you! Congratulations to Michael M. Roberts, Global Head of Corporate Banking and Lending at Citigroup, for receiving the SACCNY Member of the Year Award. Thank you for your contribution to the Chamber’s activities and to your immense commitment during the Sustainology Summit. We are proud to have you as a board member.

We would also like to congratulate Camilla Kolber for winning the Grand Prize: a roundtrip to Stockholm with SAS and a stay at Grand Hotel.

Anna Throne-Holst, SACCNY, Karl Wellner, SACCNY, Camilla Kolber, and Max Knagge, SAS

Anna Throne-Holst, SACCNY and Master of Ceremonies Magnus Tear

Michaela von Koch and The Swedish Church Choir

Happy New Year !

We want to say thank you to all our members for this year and we look forward to seeing you again in 2018!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year from the team at SACCNY!

RECOGNIZE. REWARD. DELIVER. Give the Award They Will Remember.

Contact Donna Nardella, Corporate Director dnardella@okbusa.com 856-296-4419