As we prepare for the holidays and end this unusual year, I can’t help but to think of the many times I’ve been impressed to see our startups, as well as my own team, pivoting, identifying new opportunities and adapting to the new world that came after Corona.
Beleco, for example, rapidly seized the opportunity and started offering furniture rentals for the home office, as a direct response to many people working from home.
At Sting, all our operations moved online. We created a series of Corona Crisis workshops to help entrepreneurs to quickly offset or minimize damage to their businesses. In addition, Propel Capital IV was increased by SEK 12 million to take startups through the tough period.
It’s been great to see that many companies continue to grow despite the challenging times. Wehype and All Ears are just a couple of examples. Another is Volumental, which has grown fast and is doubling the stores in Sweden (link in SE) that scan their customers’ feet to find the perfect fit. The company’s 3D scanning product is now used in 2000 stores in more than 40 countries.
We will continue to focus our efforts on attracting female entrepreneurs to Sting. We have worked with 100+ female founders who have made an impact and are paving the way for new female stars. Some of them have been in the spotlight recently, including Dora Palfi, cofounder of imagiLabs, winner of the Women in Tech Start-Up Award; Sara Wallén, cofounder of Mindmore, winner of Di Digitals competition Health Tech Pitch Day 2020, and Monica Fagraeus Lundström, cofounder of Boksnok, who recently won SvD’s future entrepreneur award.
Developments within Sting include the Startup Climate Action initiative, which mobilized hundreds of problem solvers to fight climate change. In the last and final phase, we will coach six companies that will participate in our new Climate Action Accelerator in the spring. We will also focus more on startups with healthtech solutions in 2021 -- an exciting year ahead at Sting!
During the year, our most recent Propel Capital, number V, made its first 18 investments in companies that span a broad range of industries from space to insuretech. While we invest in new companies, the early generations of Propel Capital are about to come to an end and nice exits during 2020 include our holdings in Airinum, Match2One and Hack Your Closet.
In the new year, Propel will increase its investment to SEK 500 000 in the companies starting in February.
These are just a fragment of all the things that have happened during the year, please visit our newsroom to read more.
We’re excited about 2021 and look forward to defending our title “Best Accelerator/Incubator in the Nordics”, won at the Nordic Startup Awards this year.
We hope to see you again, in person, very soon.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Best wishes,
Pär and the rest of the Sting team
Join us for Sting Demo Day!
It is time for another exciting online Sting Demo Day – the final pitch event for the companies that have successfully completed the Sting Accelerate and Sting Incubate programs. On January 19th, 13:00-14:00 CET, you have the opportunity to get to know 16 teams who will present their companies and plans for the future. Afterward, investors can speed meet with the entrepreneurs in video meetings.
Evolar secures strategic funding by partnering with Magnora ASA, a leading investment company in renewable energy. Evolar increases a solar panel’s power yield by 25 percent, which would make a great impact on the solar energy market.
Single Technologies raises €5 million ($6.1 million) through an oversubscribed share offering, which will be used to accelerate the development of its 3D sequencing platform.
The marketplace Panprices that offers consumers safe and secure e-commerce from over 8,000 European retailers raises SEK 6 million.
Light-Flex Technology wins the Stockholm Acceleration Scholarship, which aims to stimulate and encourage people to further develop or scale their innovations. Light Flex Technology keeps people safe by creating technically smart and stylish wearable lighting solutions.
Startup Grind - How to successfully develop an innovation ecosystem for startups, with Pär Hedberg, CEO & founder of Sting on December 21 at 12.00. Sign up here
