To mark the occasion of the 208th anniversary of Sweden National Day, here’s a round-up of Top 10 Swedish VCs based both inside and outside of Sweden, driving innovation by giving startups a leg-up with their dollars and vote of confidence. To know which startups are creating waves in Sweden, click here.
Johan Brenner @johanbrenner: Johan is an experienced entrepreneur and investor in technology and growth companies. Currently, Johan is a General Partner with Creandum in Stockholm. His prior experience includes time at Balderton Capital (previously Benchmark Europe) working with investments such as LiveBookings, Habbo Hotel, Rebtel, Zopa and others.Prior to joining Balderton, Johan has been involved in building several successful companies as an entrepreneur, investor and board member, such as Jobline, E*Trade Nordic, DIBS and Tradera.
Pär-Jörgen Pärson: Pär-Jörgen who is general partner at Northzone joined in 2004. His primary areas of focus are disruptive businesses in consumer internet, media, and fintech. His portfolio includes Spotify, Widespace, Bloglovin, Sourcepoint Qapital, Play Dots, Cryex, SoundtrackYourBrand, and Jukely. He has over the years also invested in Avito, Pricerunner, Jasper, Videoplaza, and many others. Although you are most likely to meet Pär-Jörgen in a business situation, you may also encounter this multi-talented investor as part of a heavy metal band who likes bending the strings of one of many vintage guitars from his private collection.
Daniel Blomquist @d_blomquist: As Creandum’s Operating Partner, Daniel focuses on SaaS and game-related stuff and has a special passion for analytics. Before joining Creandum in 2007, Daniel was a Vice President at Ascade – a VC-backed startup that at the time was one of Europe’s fastest-growing enterprise software companies.
Fredrik Cassel @_fredrik: At Creandum, as general partner, Fredrik has led the first institutional rounds of financing in several companies that have grown to dominate their respective markets, among others Cint, Spotify and Videoplaza. Focusing on b2b- and b2c companies disrupting large markets, often with marketplace models, he also leads Creandum’s work with Xeneta, Kahoot!, Soundtrack Your Brand, Kry and depop. His previous engagements include 13th Lab (exited to Facebook) and Autobutler (exited to PSA Group).
Hans Otterling @HansOtterling: Hans Otterling who is general partner in Northzone joined in 2006. His primary areas of focus are e-commerce, fintech, internet security, enterprise software and related SaaS models. His current portfolio includes Tobii, Klarna, Fyndiq, Footway, Fishbrain, Matsmart, Outfittery, Lesara and Universal Avenue. Hans holds an MBA from Stockholm School of Economics and University of Massachusetts (Fulbright scholar).
Bjørn Stray: Bjørn Stray co-founded Northzone in 1996. His primary areas of focus are ecommerce, consumer internet, infrastructure, and SaaS, and he spearheads the firm’s efforts in e-recruitment, gaming, and telecom services. His portfolio includes Behaviosec, Supponor, iZettle, Brave New Talent, Boomlagoon, TracID, Sqore, Soundrop, and PlayRaven. Bjørn has over the years also invested in Stepstone, Nextgentel, MCP.
Tellef Thorleifsson @tellefthor: Tellef co-founded Northzone in 1996. His primary areas of focus are fintech, infrastructure and SaaS. His portfolio includes Kahoot, Fusetools, mCASH, and Distribusion. Tellef has over the years also invested in LastMinute.com, Mamut Software and Trolltech. Some of Tellef’s exited investments include Lastminute.com, Mamut, Resfeber, Skiinfo.com, and Trolltech.Tellef is also a co-founder and active board member of The Voxtra Foundation which is making targeted investments and grants in developing countries.
Marten Steen: Dr. Steen, partner at HealthCap, previously worked with global business development at Merck Serono, focusing on both product and technology licensing. Dr. Steen is a Medical Doctor trained at Lund University. He has pursued research in the field of protein chemistry and coagulation at Lund University and Novo Nordisk, rendering him a Ph.D. in Clinical Chemistry in 2003. He is the author of 16 scientific papers and published in peer-reviewed journals. He also has a BSc degree in Business Administration from the Lund University School of Economics and Management.In addition to Wilson Therapeutics AB, Dr. Steen also serves on the board of BioClin Therapeutics Inc, Ultragenyx Inc, Immune Targeting Systems Ltd, and deputy member of the board of Nordic Nanovector.
Staffan Helgesson @shelgesson: As a general partner at Creandum, Staffan works with investments in all of Creandum’s focus areas, with a particular focus on enterprise products and services, as well as helping Creandum’s portfolio companies expand to the US. Before founding Creandum in 2003 he was a Founder and the Managing Partner at Startupfactory, the first venture investor globally exclusively focused on investments in mobile internet startups. In addition Staffan has extensive management experience from IKEA, Procter & Gamble and McKinsey & Company.
Hadar Cars @HadarHCars: Hadar came to the Industrial Development Fund in 2011 and works primarily with technology companies in the fields of telecom, software and internet. He has experience from some 10 company boards and is currently a member of, among other things Netadmin Systems.