Dear friends,
Please find below our April newsletter in its usual format. The world news continues to be troublesome. We are monitoring what is possible to do from our little corner of the world with the help of a powerful and vast network. Here are a few initiatives💙💛
⬥ Our partner Google for Startups created a 5M USD fund to support Ukrainian startups. It’s an equity-free cash and Google mentorship, products and Cloud package award to be granted throughout 2022 to selected Ukraine-based startups.
⬥ You can contribute to Upprop Ukraina, a fundraising initiative started by the Ukrainian Embassy and Honorary Consul in Sweden, supporting the Ukrainian people.
⬥ Skillbreak's workshop to teach pottery and help Ukraine at the same time was a success. Therefore they expanded the initiative and now there are several workshops to learn things like upcycling, ink painting, or even taking a forest bath - and all proceeds go in full to UNHCR.
🔔 We are very proud of our partnership with Diverse Executive Boards - deb., which proves more valuable each day. We are always delighted whenever we reach out looking for a strong profile to join a portfolio company's advisory or executive board. Now our friends at deb. are looking for new future board members – so spread the word fast to people willing to take a chance to become a part of the deb. program 2022/2023! Applications are open just until TODAY APRIL 8, so don’t waste any time and go to joindeb.se. The program contains board training, coaching to find an adjunct board seat for one year, deep-dive sessions where you will learn from market experts, and membership in their network. 👩💻
🔔 Events are picking up the pace in the Nordics after a couple of years of slow online-only operations. We have been active this past month and it was great to see so many new and known faces out and about. Jessica Rameau spoke on a panel at SHE Conference in Stockholm; Evelina Anttila shared insights in a fireside chat at Mergermarket Nordic M&A Forum; Armando Coppola attended the Nordic Fintech Summit in Helsinki and watched Aura Banking Cloud on stage; Evelina and Armando had a catch up at the Nordic Angels luncheon. That’s not all, but you get the gist! Our Ventures portfolio is quite active and our young Fintech fund is getting in great shape, keeping our team very busy (just the way we like it!) 😉 👯
Portfolio News
💥 The new X Shore investment round of an astonishing 500M SEK was highly successful and drew a lot of attention with the new names on the cap table, such as Peter Carlsson - founder and CEO of Northvolt, artist Silvana Imam, Hélène Barnekow - former CEO of Microsoft Sweden - and tech entrepreneur Siduri Poli. Not bad, right? 🔥💯 🛥️
🎧 Brink Commerce’s CEO Kristian Tysander shared the story behind the company and its exceptional serverless infrastructure in the podcast from Innovation Nest. Also, an invite-only event is happening in Gothenburg on the evening before D-Congress. Brink, HiQ and Wellstreet will host the Pre-Congress, a gathering of some of e-commerce’s top minds in the Nordics!
🏅 DanAds is one of Sweden's top 10 tech companies, according to Tech Sverige. They were a top ten finalist, alongside power players like Tobii, Star Stable, Kivra and Swish (winner) at the inaugural Tech Awards Sweden 2022. And they are on fire, for CMO Lisen Zenthraeus gave a keynote talk at Dagens Industri Media Summit in Stockholm discussing the future of media and the self-serve revolution 🎤 check it out.
👾 Are you attending D-Congress on April 28th? Don’t miss Gamifiera! They will exhibit and be on stage with an exciting keynote. Also, their customer The Drive Zone has released their new gamified functionality to keep engaging members and the community!
🤸 Is the pace of e-commerce slowing down? Not for ICIWl! Compared with 2020, sales grew a staggering 80% in 2021! Read more at Breakit.
🌀 With growth comes expansion. So it was time for Ocast to explore more of the market and offer its platform to agencies.
🏢 You can find different office options and their cost before making a decision. Through the Pixery Media functionality, Evolve offices on offer in Norway are super easy to spot.
Portfolio News
🔝 Aura Banking Cloud announced big news in March: the finance executive Caroline Farberger is joining the company as chairwoman of the board of directors. Her active engagement with Aura Cloud is a clear example of how Farberger will support Wellstreet’s portfolio when she joins in the spring. In addition to the announcement, Aura’s extremely cost-efficient cloud-native offer made a buzz at the Nordic Fintech Summit. Also, Dagens Industri made a special issue about cloud-enabled solutions that featured them.
🔖 Talking about buzz, ESG Investor highlighted Esgaia as a noteworthy new player to keep track of in the sustainable investing sector. Plus, they closed a deal with the US-based equity specialist Granahan Investment Management.
🎙️ Listen to the interview that Christoffer Nilsson, Maintract co-founder, gave to Fintechpodden, talking about the company’s story and how their solution handles complex living contracts for industries such as banking and consulting. They also welcomed Gun-Marie Rinaldo into their advisory board.
⬥ Our portfolio company Esgaia released an ebook tracking ESG engagement, going over how to handle challenges and disclosing best practices. Their Director of Strategy & Growth, Rickard Nilsson, had a guest blog post at ESG Today about how technology can simplify and advance the ESG engagement process. 📖
⬥ Our partner Google for Startups has 2 open applications at the moment. For the first, they are looking for 40+ European black founders to support with their 4M USD Black Founders Fund. And for the second, growth-stage startups using Google Cloud in Europe and Israel can apply for their 10-week Accelerator: Cloud program. 🧑🏿💻☁️
⬥ Sustainable Brand Index is a European independent brand study focused on sustainability. They released their official report 2022 about Sweden with brand ranking and key sustainability insights into industries, consumers and brands. 📑
⬥ Sweden will be the first in the world, in 2045, to set climate targets for emissions from consumption. 🎯
⬥ It seems like 7,000 finance jobs have left London for the European Union after Brexit. 💸
⬥ Here is another sustainability report, by Worldfavor. The focus is on the role of sustainability and ESG metrics in private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investing. 💚
Help our companies grow their fantastic teams and get in touch if you know anyone who could be a great fit for any of these roles. 💻
⬥ Aura Banking Cloud is looking for a Business Analyst/Platform Functional Consultant.
⬥ Know more about Future of Retail work environment and apply to be their Customer Success Manager.
⬥ Know any Electrical Engineers? Send them X Shore’s way.
⬥ ICIW keeps growing, so they need a Growth Associate and an Influencer Marketing Coordinator.
We end this edition wishing that the snow truly goes away and we can welcome the spring! 🌼 Have a nice Easter break!
Please reach out to us at contact@wellstreet.vc with your thoughts and comments, we’d love to hear from you and answer your questions about this or previous issues!
