The Nordics have an impressive track record over the past two decades of building successful startups — with global companies like Northvolt, Klarna and Oura. Its startup investment per capita also far exceeds the regional average compared to the rest of Europe, according to Sifted data.
As the world took a financial hit in the last couple of years, the influx of US capital in the Nordics (as a percentage of the investment received by the country of origin) dropped from 20.5% to 8.8% between 2022 and 2023. Capital originating from the Nordic region, however, rose from 29.6% to 38.3% in that period — a record high for regional investment according to Dealroom data dating back to 2010.
With the Nordic VCs standing strong, who better to ask about which startups to look out for in the region? Investors from Creandum, Cherry Ventures, Inventure, Snö and Voima Ventures share the non-portfolio early-stage startups on their radar.
Sophia Bendz, partner at Cherry Ventures
Cherry Ventures is a European early-stage VC with headquarters in Germany
Leya, Sweden
Leya has developed an AI tool to simplify legal operations. It accesses all the data that lawyers use and have used in the past, and integrates it into legal databases across countries. The one-year-old company finished Y Combinator earlier this year and raised a $10.5m seed round led by Benchmark.
Lovable, Sweden
Lovable is building an AI that allows anyone, developers and non-developers alike, to develop web applications. The company was founded in 2023 by Anton Osika, previously at Sana and also a cofounder of the merchandising analytics startup Depict. Earlier this year, Lovable raised a $6m pre-seed from Danish Byfounders and US VC Hummingbird.
Terra Labs, Sweden
Terra Labs, founded by a team with backgrounds from iZettle and Kry, has developed a tool for real-time monitoring of forests and land from space, providing detailed data on forest conditions. This data helps users to implement more sustainable harvesting and management practices. The startup raised a €4m pre-seed earlier this year, led by Norrsken VC.
Sabina Wizander, partner at Creandum
Creandum is a European VC focused on early-stage with offices in Stockholm, Berlin, London and San Francisco
Normain, Sweden
Normain builds a no-code AI platform for businesses to build and manage custom AI agents. It strives to make it easy for non-technical domain experts at small and medium-sized companies to develop and manage company-specific AI agents trained on proprietary data. The company was founded earlier this year and has not announced any funding.
Dendrite, Sweden
Dendrite is building an API-first, B2B web agent that can handle complex web tasks such as web scraping, which can otherwise be time-consuming and require a lot of reasoning. It has released parts of its AI agent browser via its API to allow other AI agents the same web browsing capabilities. It was founded in 2023 and is still in stealth.
Soolv, Norway
Soolv is an AI startup developing a tool based on a network of expert AI agents to advise SME leaders on business improvement. It combines real experience from human experts with GenAI to provide personalised, actionable insights on how users can excel in their work and improve the business. It was founded in late 2023 and is still in stealth.
Linus Dahg, CEO of Inventure
Inventure is a Nordic early-stage VC with offices in Finland and Sweden
Ionlace, Sweden
Ionlace is techbio startup focused on protein (or proteomics). It has developed a platform that integrates AI with its synthetic biology lab, allowing the company to run experiments at speed and low cost while generating unique, high-resolution data. Founded in 2023, it has raised an undisclosed sum from San Francisco-based VC ACME.
Spektr, Denmark
Spektr has developed a no-code compliance platform for financial companies to automate risk assessments, customised to adhere to laws across different markets. Founded in 2023 by a team of serial entrepreneurs, it raised a €5m pre-seed by Northzone, Seedcamp and PreSeed Ventures earlier this year.
Ambio, Finland
Ambio is a marketplace for companies to search, compare, request and purchase recycled and bio-based plastics, depending on their needs. The company was founded in 2023 and has raised about €1m from Wave Ventures and Lifeline Ventures.
Inka Mero, founder & managing partner of Voima Ventures
Voima Ventures is an early-stage deeptech VC with offices in Finland and Sweden
Intuicell, Sweden
With founders that have a background in neuroscience, Intuicell is developing a technology platform built as a biological AI system, a network that learns as humans learn. The aim is to counter today's problems in AI, such as limitations associated with needing large amounts of data and computing power as well as having issues with generalisation and deep learning. It was founded in 2020 and has raised an undisclosed amount from angel investors.
Photoncycle, Norway
Photoncycle is an energy storage startup that has found a way to store energy from solar-powered residential houses during summer to be used in winter. The company has a patented solution of solid hydrogen, which stores the energy in a cylinder outside the house. It was founded in 2020 and raised a €3m pre-seed from Finnish Lifeline Ventures late last year.
Vitroscope, Norway
Vitroscope is a biotech company that aims to improve life science research by developing tools to enable real-time observation of biological processes. It specialises in providing microenvironment control for developing and scaling complex cell models. It has so far developed live cell and tissue chamber hardware and software with trustworthy AI capabilities for data analysis. It was founded in 2020 and has announced a €200k grant.
Kremena Tosheva, investor at Snö
Snö is a Norwegian VC with focus on Nordic early-stage startups
ReOrbit, Finland
ReOrbit offers ready-to-go space systems and avionics for missions at any orbit. Their software-first satellite platform approach allows for flexible and timely space missions, making them a great example of the Nordic edge in communication and connectivity technologies. Founded in 2019 it has raised a €7.4m seed round led by Inventure last year.
Carbon Crusher, Norway
Carbon Crusher is doing carbon storage in roads. Its crusher takes off the top layer of roads that need refurbishing, reuses the material and binds it with a carbon-heavy binder from the paper industry. It was founded in 2020 and after participating in Y Combinator in 2022 it raised an undisclosed amount from US investor Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital.
Keystrike, Iceland
Keystrike verifies that every keystroke and every mouse click comes from trusted devices,
effectively preventing stealthy attacks and keeping hackers out of your system. The team
behind the company is made up of cybersecurity experts and hackers. Founded in 2023, it raised a $1m pre-seed late last year.
