Sweden is becoming one of the best places to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to aren't aware of the local tech resources that are available to help them.

With applications for the Sweden Founder Institute now open, we're excited to release the Sweden Startup Resource Guide, which is currently in Draft v2 below! It was developed by the Sweden Founder Institute and local leaders: Mehkar Sheikh (Regional Manager, Venture Cup Sweden), Naimul Abd (CEO, Connect Öst)

This is just a draft, and while we spent many hours on this research, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

Are you looking to build a startup in Sweden? Then apply to the Sweden Founder Institute today!

 

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

 

Startup Stages

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There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. Idea Stage

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

A. Inspire

• Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters, Startup Digest)

1. Breakit
2. Di Digital
3. Nordic Startup Bits Sweden
4. Nordic Tech List
5. Nordic Web
6. Starta & Driva Företag
7. StartUs Magazine Stockholm City Guide

• Inspirational Events: Open, inclusive, beginner startup events (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)

1. Bitcoin Stockholm
2. EdTech Sweden
3. FemTech Sweden 
4. Fuck Up Nights
5. Impact Hub Stockholm Events
6. Kambi Stockholm Tech Talks
7. Silicon Vikings
8. SingularityU Salons Stockholm
9. Startup Events List Stockholm
10. Startup Society in Stockholm
11. Startup Sweden
12. Startup Weekend Stockholm
13. Sthlm Tech Fest
14. Stockholm.AI
15. Stockholm Virtual Reality Meetup
16. SUP46 Happy Hours
17. Sweden Food Tech 
18. Synch Meetup

B. Educate

• Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like Startup Founder 101, etc).

1. Coompanion
2. Knock Data Stockholm
3. Machine Learning Stockholm
4. Startup Founder 101 Stockholm
5. Startup Grind Stockholm
6. STHLM TECH Meetup
7. Stockholm Blockchain Meetup
8. Stockholm Software Craftsmanship
9. Sweden Cloud Data Professionals
10. Swenug Stockholm

• Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, etc)

1. DiscoTech Oracle
2. Drivhuset
3. Founder Institute
4. General Assembly
5. Google Tech Talk Meetup
6. Health 2.0 Stockholm
7. Hyper Island
8. Lean Startup Machine Stockholm
9. Nyföretagarcentrum
10. ProductTank Stockholm
11. Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship
12. Stockholm Startup: Idea to IPO
13. Stockholm UX Optimization
14. Venture Cup

C. Validate

• Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching”)

1. CoFoundersLab
2. Expat Career Stockholm
3. Foo Café Stockholm
4. Founder2be
5. FounderDating
6. Founders Dinner
7. Go Stockholm
8. KTH
9. NTRY
10. Silicon Drinkabout Stockholm
11. StartupBlink Stockholm
12. Startup Dinner
13. Startup Jobs Sweden
14. Startupmatcher
15. Startup Matchmaking
16. Sthlm Startups
17. Stockholm Entrepreneurs
18. Stockholm RegTech Meetup
19. The Hub
20. Travel Tech Meetup
21. University Job Boards

• Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build. (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources)

1. 3rd Y4PT Global Transport Hackathon Stockholm 2019
2. Adobe XD
3. BioNyfiken - Biohackers in Stockholm
4. Code Night
5. Coding After Work
6. Figma
7. Hack for Sweden
8. IX Stockholm
9. LiveHacks - Music Hackathon Stockholm
10. Marvel 
11. Media Hackathon
12. STHLM Lounge Hackers
13. Stockholm Makerspace
14. Test My Product!
15. The 3D Lab
16. Toolspace

2. Launch Stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

A. Start

• Establish: Law firms & banks for startups

1. AWA
2. Bird & Bird
3. Danske Bank
4. DeLorean Advokat
5. Delphi
6. DLA Piper
7. Hamilton
8. Handelsbanken
9. Jansson & Norin
10. Lindahl
11. Magnusson Law
12. Mannheimer Swartling
13. Nordea Bank
14. Pocket Law
15. SEB
16. Swedbank
17. Synch Law
18. Verksamt.se
19. Vinge

• Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces (note: “official” office space goes in 3.1.a. Infrastructure)

1. 7A
2. Alma
3. Base10
4. BlockStockholm 
5. Box Space (Malmö)
6. Cecil
7. Changer’s Hub
8. Convendum
9. East Sweden Game
10. Embassy House
11. Epicenter Stockholm
12. Flora Workspace
13. GoTo10
14. Hera Hub
15. H2 Health Hub
16. Helio
17. Hive Workspace
18. Impact Hub Stockholm
19. KNACKERIET
20. Lamb Work
21. MindPark (Lund)
22. No. 18
23. Norrsken 
24. OpenLab
25. SBG18
26. Skrapan
27. STHLM Music City
28. SUP46
29. The Castle
30. The Factory
31. The Park
32. THINGS Stockholm
33. United Spaces
34. WeWork

B. Develop

• Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups

1. Amrop
2. Bokio
3. Bolageriet 
4. Cornerstone International Group
5. Doberman
6. Dooer
7. E&Y
8. Empiric
9. Fortnox
10. Futurice
11. Företagarna
12. Grant Thornton
13. KPMG
14. Leinonen Sweden
15. PWC
16. Revideco
17. Slagkryssaren
18. Softhouse
19. Speedledger
20. Spoke Digital Agency
21. Stockholm/Sweden
22. The Books
23. Varvet
24. Wint

• Prepare for Seed: Incubators and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS)

1. Antler
2. Care of Business
3. Founder Institute
4. InnoEnergy
5. KTH Innovation
6. SSE Business Lab
7. SU Inkubator

C. Launch

• Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)

1. Ericsson Garage
2. Sting
3. The Springfield Project
4. Whale Shark

• Pitch & Demo: Show local startups for investment (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment)

1. Afterwork Startup
2. Startup Day
3. Sthlm Pitch Meetup
4. Sweden Demo Day

3. Growth Stage

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

A. Recognition

• Investor Networking:  Connect professional investors with founders. (i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors)

1. Angelr
2. Connect Sweden
3. Keiretsu Forum Nordics
4. Nordic Business Forum
5. Scandinavian Investment Network
6. Startup Angels
7. Stockholm Business Angels - STOAF

• Major Media: Mainstream local business press. (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses)

1. Dagens Industri
2. Dagens Nyheter
3. Expressen
4. Metro
5. Mitti 
6. Svenska Dagbladet
7. The Local
8. Veckans Affärer
9. The Local

B. Funding

• Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors (search AngelList, Gust, Crunchbase)

1. Anil Hansjee
2. Christer K Andersson
3. Daniel Blomquist
4. Erik Byrenius
5. Erik Kahlin
6. Fredrik Cassel
7. Henrik Torstensson
8. Krim Talia
9. Lars Roth
10. Linus Dahg
11. Mattias Miksche
12. Meg Charles Horn
13. Michael Hoy
14. Patric Blixt
15. Peter Sjunnesson
16. Simon Josefsson
17. Stefan Lennhammer
18. Västerås Tech Invest 
19. XY Ventures

• Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. Almi Invest
2. BackingMinds
3. Balderton Capital
4. Blueyard Capital
5. Bonnier Ventures
6. Brightly Ventures
7. Capital A Partners
8. Cherry Ventures
9. Creandum
10. Eequity
11. EQT Ventures
12. GP Bullhound
13. Graviton
14. Gullspång Invest
15. HealthCap
16. Icebreaker.vc
17. Inbox Capital
18. Industrifonden
19. Inventure
20. MOOR Capital
21. Nordic Capital
22. Nordic Makers
23. Northzone
24. Open Ocean
25. PunktB
26. SEB Venture Capital
27. Spintop Ventures
28. Sunstone Capital
29. Swedavia Capital
30. The Nordic Web Ventures
31. Verdane Capital
32. Vostok New Ventures
33. Walerud Ventures

C. Growth

• Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. Allianz
2. Bondi Executive Search
3. Hays
4. IF Försäkringar
5. Instant Offices
6. Länsförsäkringar Stockholm
7. Moderna
8. Officebroker
9. Randstad
10. Regus
11. Rektra
12. Relier
13. Sweden HR Group
14. Talentor
15. Universum
16. Verksamhetslokaler
17. Zurich Insurance

• Expansion: Growth accelerators/consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. Accenture
2. AT Kearney
3. Atkins
4. Bain & Company
5. BearingPoint
6. Boston Consulting Group
7. BTS
8. Capgemini
9. Cognizant
10. Deloitte
11. Desifer
12. Ernst & Young
13. Gartner
14. Grant Thornton
15. Hill+Knowlton Strategies
16. Infosys
17. KPMG
18. McKinsey & Company
19. Mercer
20. PwC
21. Roland Berger
22. Sogeti
23. Tata Consultancy Service

4. Success Stories

Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.

1. Acast
2. Albacross
3. Amuse
4. Apica
5. BehavioSec
6. Challengermode
7. Detectify
8. Dynamic Code
9. Epidemic Sound
10. Ericsson
11. Fishbrain
12. Funnel
13. Instabridge
14. iZettle
15. Karma
16. Klarna
17. Kognity
18. KRY
19. Lendify
20. Lifesum
21. MAG Interactive
22. Mentimeter
23. Natural Cycles
24. Northvolt
25. Oatly
26. Paradox Interactive
27. Readly
28. Peltarion
29. Spotify
30. Storytel
31. Tictail
32. Tink
33. Transfer Galaxy
34. Truecaller
35. Trustly
36. TrusTrace
37. Wrapp

Supporters

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To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. Evangelists

Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.  (i.e. Local leaders who have taken a leadership position, speak at a lot of startup events, mentor all the programs, etc)

1. Anders Moberg
2. Andreas Kennemar
3. Anna Lindbäck
4. Baard Eilertsen
5. Barry O’Brian
6. Benjamin Ratz
7. Camilla Sandström
8. Cathy Xiao Chen
9. Donnie SC Lygonis
10. Erik Kruse
11. Fredrik Heghammar
12. Funda Sezgi
13. Håkan Ozan
14. Henna Keranen 
15. Ishtar Touailat
16. Ivo Kukavica
17. Jack Melcher-Claësson
18. Jenny Lindblad
19. Jenny Theolin
20. Jesper Kjellerås 
21. Johan Bäckman
22. Johan Jörgensen
23. Jonas Almeling
24. Jonas Hombert
25. Lukas Gräf
26. Mala Valroy
27. Marwan Ayache
28. Mehkar Sheikh 
29. Mizgîn Kanat
30. Naimul Abd
31. Randy Cottin
32. Simon Moritz
33. Sjoerd De Jong
34. Sofie Lindblom
35. Sokol Vjerdha
36. ​​Tatiana Solodko Krurca
37. Ted Elvhage
38. Tetiana Siianko
39. Therese Gedda
40. Tor Adamsson

2. Government

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

1. Almi
2. American Chamber of Commerce in Sweden
3. Brazilian Chamber of Commerce
4. British-Swedish Chamber of Commerce
5. Dutch Chamber of Commerce
6. FDI Unit Italian Trade Agency Stockholm
7. German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce
8. Innovation in Sweden
9. Invest Stockholm
10. Kista Science City
11. Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation
12. Smart City Stockholm
13. Stockholm Chamber of Commerce
14. Stockholm Green Digital Finance
15. Swedish Incubators & Science parks
16. Swiss Chamber of Commerce
17. Tillväxtverket
18. Vinnova

3. Talent

Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.

• Local Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)

1. Karolinska Institute
2. Konstfack
3. KTH Royal Institute of Technology
4. Royal Institute of Art
5. Södertörn University
6. Stockholm School of Economics
7. Stockholm University

• Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices

1. Amazon
2. Apple
3. Cisco
4. Electrolux
5. Ericsson
6. Facebook
7. GE
8. Google
9. HP
10. IBM
11. IKEA
12. iZettle
13. King
14. Klarna
15. Microsoft
16. NetEnt
17. Netlight
18. Nokia
19. Oracle
20. Spotify
21. Tele2
22. Tieto
23. Tobii

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Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the Sweden Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a draft, and more input is needed!)

Are you looking to build a startup in Sweden? Then apply to the Sweden Founder Institute today