Top News

1. Startup Extreme attracted 1000 entrepreneurs, investors, and startups, including 50+ from the Mesh Community. A double in attendance from last year, congrats to the entire SX team!
2. Our hubs in Copenhagen and Trondheim, Matrikel1 and Digs are finalists for Nordic Startup Awards in Norway and Denmark! We’d appreciate it if you vote. (link & link)
3. The Hub’s latest report shows there were 70% more applications per job and 33% fewer jobs listed, a result of the layoffs. (link)
4. Schibsted became the majority owner of Shifter. (link)
5. Swedish authorities won’t lift the sales ban of Easee products. The company still plans to raise 150 million NOK to 300 million NOK before the summer. (link)
6. Dr.Dropin together with Simli, a VR training platform, offer VR training for social anxiety. (link)
7. Danish angel investor and former co-founder of SaaS company Penneo is on the hunt for new companies to invest in Norway. (link)
8. Shifter reports a drop in Fintech investments in the first quarter of the year. (link)
9. VCs that adopt AI will overtake VC firms that won’t adopt AI. Frederik Winther from Katapult shares his take on the value of using AI for data and analyses. (link)
10. Is Norway and the EU falling behind? Trygve Totsås Weglo shares his thoughts on why it is important to not fall behind in industries like space. (link)

Latest on Funding

✈️ Norsk e-Fuel, focused on creating synthetic fuel, raised 50 million NOK from Norwegian. (link)

😄 Proptech company, Lifeatwork, raised 25 million NOK from Herfo. (link)

🚀 Eduplaytion, an edtech company with a math game Numetry, raised 20 million NOK from existing and new investors. (link)

🔋 Znl Energy, a battery technology company, raised 16.8 million NOK through Dealflow. (link)

🏠 Finit, helping home buyers with deposits, raised 13.3 million NOK from new investors and conversions of loans. The company is valued at 40 million NOK after money. (link)

📚 We Are Learning, a soft skills training tool founded by experienced entrepreneurs from Kahoot!, raised 11 million NOK from Skyfall Ventures & Sondo Capital. (link)

🧖‍♀️ Olio, beauty chain under Askeladden, raised just over 8 million NOK through Dealflow from existing and new investors. (link)

📱 Kakadu, training for non-tech savvy folks, valued at 15 million NOK before money raised 6 million NOK led by Right Side Capital Management, Lyse Vekst AS and Validé Invest ll. (link)

🏡 Placepoint, proptech platform for property developers, raised 9.2 million NOK from existing and new investors. (link)

👷‍♀️ Flor, creating workwear for women, has raised over 6 million NOK through Folkeinvest. (link)

👋 Venn raised 5.3 million NOK with a value of 55 million NOK, from existing and new investors including Vestlandet’s innovation company and Sande Holding. (link)

👩‍💻 Sensorita, Woid, Aiba, Medsensio, Nomy, Pinova, Agoprene and Vignita are the 8 Norwegian companies that received grants from the EU. All are female-founded companies. (link)

Latest on Talent

📣 Mesh Community is looking for a Head of Partnerships, Head of Events and a Business Controller. Are you interested or know someone who would be interested? We’d love to hear from you. (link)

📈 The Hub surpassed 30K applications submitted by 15K applicants on the platform in one month. (link)

🏆 Ardoq named best SaaS company in the Nordics at Saasiest conference. (link)

✉️ Per Kristian Næss-Fladset joins DNB as their new innovation director. (link)

🤘 Mathilde Tuv Kverneland moves from Arkwright X to London-based venture fund Target Global (link)

⚡️ Toril Lag leaves Lyse and joins HitecVision as a senior partner. (link)

🌎 Adrian Arnsvik Bjurefalk, investor at Inventure, shares his best tips for expanding internationally. (link)

📝 What similarities are there with VCs and founders? Atomico’s diagram shows what founders look for vs what VCs think is important. Shared by Arne Tonning. (link)