Top News

1. McKinsey released an in-depth report on the impact of AI on productivity. (link)
2. In his piece titled “The Shadow Price of Venture Capital,” Nnamdi Iregbulem argues that valuations for startups are still too high and will eventually fall further. Worth the read. (link)
3. According to DN, Fundingpartner has increased lending by 50% within one year. Geir Atle Bore shares his insights on the current state of high interest rates and funding. (link)
4. The government has introduced new regulations on gender quotas in board rooms. Monika Inde Zsak and Rolv-Erik Spilling share their thoughts on this. (link)
5. Sage, one of the World’s largest publishers acquired Norwegian Hubro Education, the business simulation platform. (link)
6. Easee no longer allowed to sell their products in Europe & Norway. Next step is to collect funding and relaunch their products under a new brand. (link)
7. New fund established to focus on early-stage investments in Trøndelag, Møre and Romsdal. (link)
8. Female founded Fellow Fools make its first investment in Simli (link)
9. Voima Ventures launches a $90 million fund to invest in science-based startups in the Nordics and Baltics. (link)
10. Take a look at the pitch deck of Mistral AI, the startup that received €105 million just four weeks after its inception. (link)

Latest on Funding

📚Brighteye Ventures closed their second fund at €100 million, continuing their mission to invest in early-stage edtech companies in the Nordics and Europe. (link)

🔬 Cytovation ASA, biotech developing CyPep-1 targeting tumor membranes, has raised a 85 million NOK Series A from Sandwater and Canica. (link)

🔌 Amina, electric car chargers, raised 80 million NOK from Stratkraft Ventures (link)

🏠 Defigo, proptech startup, raised 43.5 million NOK, led by Scale Leap Capital and joined by Malling & Co Venture and Selmer Capital. (link)

📈 Intelecy, a no-code Industrial AI platform, raised 38 million NOK, led by Yara, valuing the company at 193 million NOK. (link)

🪴 Plaato, the fermentation insights platform, has raised 20 million NOK from RunwayFBU, as well as angel investors and well-known entrepreneurs. (link)

🖥️ Metric, a multi-channel marketing app for SMB’s, secured 10 million NOK from TRY. (link)

💻 Swipeload, a smart cloud-based transport system, raised 9 million NOK from existing investors The Factory, DSD and Skagerak Capital as well as new investors. (link)

🦾 Pickr, providing a robot workforce, raised 8 million NOK from new and existing investors, Trond Riiber Knudsen and Brage W. Johansen join as new investors. (link)

🏠 Proptly, the proptech platform, raised 6.25 million NOK from existing investors PT1 Ventures and Styx Urban Investment and Startuplab Ventures joined as well. (link)

🩺 Norsk Helseportal, a portal aimed at doctors, raised 2 million NOK from doctors, with a pre-money valuation of 60 million NOK. (link)

🕸️ Investorweb, an investor network platform, raised 2 million NOK from 38 different investors including customers and users of the platform. (link)

🌃 Ezbench Solutions, a measurement system for graphics and flow performance on software and hardware, raised 1.4 million NOK from Agens Venture and Elastisk. (link)

💸 Folkeinvest, the crowdfunding platform acquired Monio, giving the ability to offer equity capital and loans. Sparebank 1 SR-Bank will have 38% of the shares in Folkeinvest. (link)

Latest on Talent

🛋️ GoGood, the re-use platform for office furniture, is looking for a co-founder (link)

🚚 På(fyll), the digital platform service that delivers and picks up popular home goods, is looking for a Content & Marketing specialist (link)

💫 Improve Startups & Scaleups AS is on the lookout for 3 people to join their team. (link)

🤝 Daniel Caetanya Fossum has joined Apex Capital as a Venture Partner for the Nordics fund. (link)

👩‍💻 Idekapital welcomes Krisztina Horvath to their team. (link)

🤘 HER partners with Microsoft to inspire women to start their own business or hobby. (link)