As sustainable battery maker Northvolt joins the list of major Stockholm success stories with a $3.9 billion valuation, and Candela's all-electric C-7 speedboat takes on the US, the next cohort of Stockholm startups is navigating how to make an impact. You'll find the Swedish version of Instacart (Vembla) and a European rival to Cameo (Memmo) alongside a host of fresh ideas and ambitious experiments in food, climate, health and business.
“We benefit a lot from world-class, free education, with stellar engineering universities that are producing great talent,” says Joel Hellermark, CEO of AI education startup Sana Labs, “as well as the ratio of talent to companies, which makes it easier to recruit, and an increasing number of executives who have gone through this journey at the likes of Klarna and Spotify. This combination makes Stockholm one of the best places to build a tech company today.”
Volta Greentech
Inside a 500-square-metre factory in Lysekil, on Sweden's Stångenäs peninsula, the red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis is growing. When fed to cows as a 100g daily feed supplement, its bioactive compounds can block the production of methane, reducing emissions by up to 80 per cent. Volta Greentech is tweaking conditions, such as nitrogen sources, in its Stockholm labs; in Lysekil, the seaweed is growing in tanks of up to 15,000 litres. "We're developing a blueprint for seaweed factories that can be replicated with access to seawater and waste heat," says CEO Fredrik Åkerman. With €2.5m in funding and testing underway this summer on a commercial farm, the startup plans to launch its first products, certified for their emission-reducing credentials, this autumn. voltagreentech.com
Anyone
Got five minutes? That's the simple premise behind Anyone, a one-to-one audio calling app, founded in 2020 and looking to solve “the advice problem”. "You can achieve so much more in a short period of time than you think," says CEO David Orlic, "as long as you set the context correctly." The invite-only app caps calls at five minutes and lets its advisers set prices (taking a 20 per cent cut). The result? A 10,000+ waitlist and advisers offering micro-mentoring on business and careers, mental health, long-distance running and even gardening. Transcription is in development, and Anyone is exploring free call-fellowships, individual subscriptions and bundles: "Think four or five people as your external advisory board". Every caller has the chance to become an adviser, too. "It lowers the barriers for you to admit to yourself that you know a ton of shit," says Orlic. callinganyone.com
Grace Health
Period-tracking apps are nothing new to the startup space, but Grace Health is going a step further, offering the first iteration of an accessible, digital women's health clinic. Starting out as a Facebook Messenger chatbot offering tracking and advice on menstrual cycles, Grace Health is now a low-storage 5.3MB androids app aimed at women in emerging markets. In fact, it's the most downloaded health app in Nigeria and the second in Kenya and Ghana. "We've seen strong organic interest in conception here, as well as prevention," says co-founder Thérèse Mannheimer, former head of R&D at health app Lifesum. Assisted telehealth is on the roadmap, but for the next year, the team will build out its guided health assistance with audio, a forum to connect users and a push to engage male partners in discussions where appropriate. grace.health
Curb
Carl Tengberg and Felipe Gutierrez want to make dark kitchens transparent. With four delivery-first kitchens in Stockholm and Copenhagen serving nine “food concepts”, they're trying to answer the question: what does having a coffee together in 2035 look like? Tengberg's focus is on data and efficiency gains; he's also looking ahead to semi-automation, but Curb does also have collective bargaining agreements in place with its kitchen staff: "increasing margins by decreasing labour standards is the wrong way to go." curbfood.com
Teemyco
The remote work giants have yet to crack the art of the office hangout, or the "togetherness feeling" as Teemyco's CEO Charlotte Ekelund puts it. Its virtual office – for Windows and Mac, with mobiles in the pipeline – is clean and customisable with the ability to hop in and out of rooms, switch to video-only, or use walkie-talkie features. "Our team of ten people in four countries has never met," Ekelund says. teemyco.com
Off Script
"People trust people, not companies," says Pontus Karlsson, one of the co-founders of social commerce startup Off Script, which allows influencers to build their own shop in minutes out of a virtual inventory of direct-to-consumer brands. Off Script takes an average 20-25 per cent commission per sale, with two thirds of this going to the creator. Next up: expansion of its marketplace across Europe and the US. offscript.io
Sana Labs
During the pandemic, Sana Labs' AI-powered upskilling and reskilling platform trained over 80,000 health workers in 2,000 hospitals on Covid-19 treatment and prevention. "We reduced onboarding time by 37 per cent, and 98 per cent of the learners improved," says CEO Joel Hellermark. Following an $18m Series A round, it's working with Novartis and Amgen as well as tech, e-commerce and furniture companies. A learning assistant to boost engagement and knowledge retention is in development. sanalabs.com
Stockeld Dreamery
In the race to create a tasty plant-based cheese, many eyes are turned to Stockeld Dreamery's first product, the feta-inspired Chunk. Two years in development, Chunk is based on peas, fava beans and secret flavouring (though they don't like “the V-word”); it's produced via fermentation with 13 per cent protein per serving. Chunk is already in a few Stockholm cafes, and the spreadable Spread and meltable Melt are in the works. "We have very promising prototypes for both," says head of R&D Anja Leissner. stockeld.com
Lassie
"The idea with Lassie is to offer the first proactive and preventive pet insurance," says co-founder Hedda Båverud Olsson. With funding from early stage investors and apps for ioses and androids, Lassie is focusing on cat and dog owners, post pandemic-pet-boom. Users get regular advice on keeping their pets well and preventing common injuries with health and vaccine tips. This data feeds its risk profiling model, allowing the startup to offer discounts on insurance. lassie.co
Leetify
Esports gamers should have Leetify firmly in their crosshairs. Its AI coaching tool, launched in 2019, already has 50,000 users a month. Why? They want to go pro, of course. Leetify analyses your CS:GO gameplay, spitting out actionable guidance on everything from positioning to recoil control, breaking down your weaknesses. Co-founder Anders Ekman is focused on offering esports team matching and in-game exercises to users and expanding to more titles. leetify.com
Updated 05.08.21, 13:37 BST: J12 Ventures is not an investor in Lassie.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
