June 2024 - Henrik Torstensson's Weblog

Sweden Tech 30

Björn Jeffery (technology analyst for SvD and more) has created Sweden Tech 30 an equal-weighted index of the 30 largest publically-traded Swedish technology companies. From Cint to Spotify.

Björn has also written an article about Swedish technology stocks. Very short version: share prices are still down for most Swedish companies since the end of 2021 despite US big tech having bounced back.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski (CEO & founder Klarna) talks Klarna and payments with Acquired

Acquired has talked with Sebastian Siemiatkowski about the payments landscape and the history of Klarna. And good listen, or read if you prefer the transcript.

Many interesting comments, but a few I liked:

Sebastian’s comment on doing the work when times are tough: “I’m not saying that it makes it easy because it’s not, it’s really difficult. Again, as I said, all the other things are true, but I’ve also come to some degree to say, this is it. This is what I trained for. I wanted to be in this difficult situation. I want to see if I can master this situation, if I can solve it, if I can resolve it in a good way. To some degree, I also started to cherish the fact that I have the privilege of being challenged to a level where it’s sweaty.”

Also an interesting comment (not least in the shadow of today’s news that Klarna is selling its Checkout product) on how seeing that Klarna Checkout wasn’t as good as Adyen and Stripe internationally in 2015 led to the focus away from Checkout towards today’s focus.

And, finally for this post, I liked the story about how the launch of a browser in the Klarna app helped Klarna compete with Afterpay in the US in 2019/2020 (when Afterpay had stronger momentum with merchants).

Lifesum acquires Lykon

Lifesum has acquired Germany-based Lykon, a biomarker-based personal nutrion company. Read more at DI Digital (Swedish), Breakit (Swedish) and Athletech News (English).

Update June 24: Lifesum press release and Tech.eu.

20VC interviews Danny Rimer of Index Ventures

An interesting interview with Danny Rimer of Index Ventures, one of the top venture capital firms in Europe (and globally with five partners on the Midas List for 2024).

Is this a good time to fundraise?

The answer to that question for an individual startup is always “it depends”, but in general Alliance VC believes that the Nordic seed market has been open for business in the first half of 2024 and that valuations have been higher than in the second half of 2023. The higher valuations have been driven by strong interest in startups with very strong teams that are using AI to build new generation products for large markets that have initial traction (e.g. Leya Law and similar companies).

We shared our thoughts in slightly longer format on LinkedIn.

FT interviews Danny Rimer of Index Ventures

Financial Times interviews Danny Rimer, partner at Index Ventures. A long and wide ranging read about different approaches to venture capital (talent, market, technology), the demands on being good enough as a VC (top quartile performance), AI , TAM and new products expanding TAM and much more.

Midas List 2024

Forbes has published the 2024 edition of the Midas List, the list of the most successful venture capitalists in the world.

I believe the fundamental methodology makes sense, has a venture capitalist invested in companies that have made exits or had significant uprounds?

Mostly well-known investors and firms at the top of the list that have invested in some of the most important startups of the last 10-12 years. And US-based investors dominate every other geography.