Sweden has long been a major player when it comes to nurturing tech companies, producing the likes of Ericsson, Spotify and newer players such as vibe coding unicorn Lovable.
The country’s startups are worth €319bn, growing 1.5x since 2020 according to data platform Dealroom. Sweden also currently ranks second in Europe’s climate tech ecosystem by total VC money raised.
Capital Stockholm has long been the hub for tech talent, but investors are increasingly turning to Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg, for growing opportunities. Located along the country’s west coast in the heart of Scandinavia, closely linked to Stockholm, Danish capital Copenhagen and Norwegian capital Oslo, the city is quickly becoming a key stop for international investors in sectors such as life sciences, robotics, climate and advanced manufacturing.
Acting as a catalyst to Gothenburg’s growing tech ecosystem is the GoWest conference. Hosted every year in January, the conference is one of the Nordics' premier venture capital forums for startups, scaleups and investors to network.
GoWest also hosts its Deeptech Investor Day, a day before the main conference — this year in collaboration with VC media platform and community EU.VC. The day is designed to connect investors with rapidly developing Gothenburg-based startups.
This year’s Deeptech Investor Day will feature speakers such as architect of the Tibi Initiative Philippe Tibi and Chris Elphick, a key contributor to the UK’s Mansion House Compact reforms. At the launch of Europe's Pension Capital Dialogues, both speakers, alongside other leading voices in the field, will unpack pension-backed innovation and current developments to these funds across Europe, such as the recent announcement of Sweden’s AP6 closure.
Sifted spoke to Karl-Christian Agerup, vice chair of the board at NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Tanya Horowitz, partner at impact VC Butterfly Ventures and Matthieu de Chanville, cofounder of impact VC Shift4Good about why Gothenburg has become such a hot spot for deeptech investment and the GoWest conference’s role in pushing these opportunities.
Gothenburg founders
You can meet a different type of founder in Gothenburg compared to other parts of Sweden, says Horowitz.
“In Gothenburg there's competition, but it's not as competitive as Stockholm. Founders are coming more from academia with a willingness to learn and a ‘get it done’ attitude. The people there are great, they have a different way about them, very laid back but driven.”
Gothenburg is an important industrial hub in Sweden and in the Nordics. Several global companies have been built like Volvo, Saab and AstraZeneca.
Gothenburg has historically had an important deeptech ecosystem. Manufacturing giant Volvo has its headquarters there, adds Agerup, and this is only fuelling innovative founders in the city.
“Gothenburg is an important industrial hub in Sweden and in the Nordics. Several global companies have been built like Volvo, Saab and AstraZeneca,” Agerup says.
“Add to that the capital and demand for innovations that comes from its industry, academic institutions and research facilities, and the strategic geographic position of the Nordics.”
The GoWest conference has close ties to the city's academic hubs that foster deeptech startup founders, says de Chanville. “There are a lot of new technologies that are developed in those universities,” says de Chanville. “Having a key conference such as GoWest linked to prominent universities with their research style is important.”
Public investment
Horowitz says another reason deeptech investment opportunities in Gothenburg are up is because funding from government-backed investors such as GU Ventures, Chalmers Ventures and Almi Invest. This boost allows startups to get off the ground before private investment accelerates their growth, she says.
I think if we didn't have them, we wouldn't see this ecosystem emerge in Gothenburg.
Public investors support startups at a very early stage, often before Butterfly Ventures is involved, she adds.
“I think if we didn't have them, we wouldn't see this ecosystem emerge in Gothenburg,” Horowitz says.
For instance, GU Ventures has invested in 200 startups in Gothenburg and has raised around €2.5bn in capital, while Almi Invest has invested in around 900 startups in Sweden since its inception. It also has a GreenTech fund which includes around €110m earmarked for impact investments. Chalmers Ventures has also invested in 193 companies as of the end of this year and has an annual investment pace of around €6.4m.
GoWest investment opportunities
GoWest provides investment opportunities for startups, investors and advisors, says Agerup.
“For NIF, the conference is a core activity to liaise and be ingrained in these ecosystems across Europe.”
Within Sweden, the home of transportation is really Gothenburg. Of course, GoWest is in Gothenburg.
“NIF has a mandate to help accelerate promising ecosystems across the 24 NATO nations backing us. And the Nordics — including Sweden — is an incredibly promising market for deeptech innovation in defence, security and resilience.”
De Chanville says GoWest provides an ideal location to meet transportation founders which greatly benefits the work of Shift4Good. The VC supports startups which develop technologies for sustainable mobility and the circular economy, aiming to decarbonise transport.
“Within Sweden, the home of transportation is really Gothenburg. Of course, GoWest is in Gothenburg. When your VC is focused on transportation, you need to be there in the ecosystem.”
International attendees
GoWest draws attendees not only from neighbouring Swedish cities but from other countries within Northern Europe.
I would definitely recommend first-time founders, second-time founders, and also very early-stage founders.
Horowitz says: “The startups that I meet at GoWest are not just from the west coast of Sweden. I've seen some from Norway, from Denmark, from Finland.”
“I would definitely recommend first-time founders, second-time founders, and also very early-stage founders just coming out of the university to start those relationships with investors early. There's some really great European investors that are not just Swedish.”
De Chanville believes the conference can do even more to draw international attendees in coming years.
He says: “The conference does a terrific job at attracting VCs from the region, but there is room for improvement in attracting players like us that come from outside the Nordic regions.”
One way to do this, he advises, is to create “a bigger presence in international media to show that it's not Nordic-only. It has developed into a much broader event.”
