#NORDICMADE
Tongues SWEDEN IS HOME TO FIVE
official languages — Finnish, Meänkieli, Sami, Yiddish & Romani.
Keep it green
Peace
MOST WASTE IS RECYCLED OR
DESPITE MAINTAINING A MILITARY
processed in Sweden. Just 1% of Swedish waste ends up in a dump.
Sweden is proud to have not participated in a war in the last 200 years.
Parents
Wasps
SWEDEN OFFERS GENEROUS PAID
DESPITE ALL THE BEARS AND WILD
parental leave to all of its citizens — in total 480 days per couple.
animals wasps kill more people directly than any other animal in Sweden — about one per year.
Helpful & tight-knit SWEDEN - IF YOU TALK ABOUT THE SWEDISH STARTUP ECOSYSTEM, YOU HAVE TO START WITH STOCKHOLM. LUKAS GRÄF
F
rom a capital perspective, Sweden attracted around 1.7 billion USD in startup funding during 2016, but the majority was deployed in Stockholm (1.4 billion USD over 247 investments). Over the last few years, the Stockholm startup scene has really tightened up and the Swedish capital has become the place to be – it has definitely become one of the top three hubs in Europe. But not only has Stockholm boomed with plenty of new exciting startup success stories in 2016. Gothenburg and Malmö have also become important places in the Swedish startup landscape alongside Umeå, Linköping and Uppsala. There are now many initiatives happening in these cities and more and more investors spend time in Swedish cities other than Stockholm. During 2016, Gothenburg and Malmö saw 37 investments each. While other cities are certainly gaining traction, the majority is centred on Stockholm. Looking at it from a practical perspective, you can meet the majority of exciting startups and investors in Stockholm within a 10-minute walking radius of downtown. The great startup role models Spotify, King, Klarna, Truecaller, iZettle, Tictail, Fishbrain; the big VC funds Northzone, Creandum, EQT Ventures and #NORDICMADE / 2017
Industrifonden; as well as the main startups hubs SUP46, Epicenter and Norrsken, are all within a 1km radius. That makes it so much easier for everyone involved to do business and it has certainly had a big effect. Regular meetups and events all over the country, such as Sthlm Tech Meetup/ Fest, Startup Day, Connect 2 Capital or Nordic Next have helped create a lot of hype. During recent years a lot of international focus has been attracted, both among investors and the media, so by now it is quite common to see magazines and newspapers from abroad regularly featuring new Swedish innovations and international investors coming from other parts of Europe and the world to try to get in on the next Swedish startup stars. Today the Stockholm and Swedish startup scene is described by both entrepreneurs and other stakeholders as a tightknit one where people help each other to go further. The ecosystem has rapidly developed, with successful entrepreneurs re-investing their time and money into the next generation of startups and local-language media like Breakit and DI Digital helping to spread the word, which has all helped a great foundation to grow. Most recently the government has announced that programming will be taught in all Swedish elementary schools from first grade, starting in 2018. � CoFounder Slush Special
19