Top News

1. Per Einar Dybvik (Startuplab) believes the government lacks concrete ambitions to support growth companies after the recent budget announcements. (link)
2. Anders Mjåset also emphasizes the need to focus on technology and innovation, similar to the attention and budget given to climate goals. (link)
3. CPH townhall and Aarhus townhall were a big hit, combining the two events made it easy to visit both cities and mingle with both networks. (link)
4. Karianne Tung, CEO of Trondheim Tech Port becomes the new Minister for Digitalization. Thor Richard Isaksen from 6AM shares his experience working with her. (link)
5. Marc Andreesen (a16z) shares their Techno-Optimism Manifesto. Worth a read.. 🧠 (link)
6. Have you seen a robot clean your office kitchen? EVE (1X) is currently being tested in an office environment in Moss, showcasing its cutting-edge technology and efficiency. (link)
7. “Technology and innovation not only solves primary problems, but also creates secondary and tertiary solutions” — Jon Kåre Stene on why we should think big. (link)
8. Eirik Jørgensen, CEO at Amina Charging, predicts that there will be acquisitions and consolidations taking place in the car charger industry in Europe. (link)
9. BitPanda is the first foreign fintech to get approval from the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. (link)
10. Shifter’s list of 22 businesses to keep an eye on from Northern Norway. (link)

Latest on Funding

💻 Scrimba, a code learning platform, gets Schibsted on board. Schibsted purchased 4,5 % of the company (link)

🏗️ Fonn, a construction industry platform, raised 35 million NOK from existing and new investors including Investinor and Idékapital through convertible loans and new share issues. (link)

🎮 Finnish Grapho Group raised just over 25 million NOK from three Finnish family offices, the accelerator Superstructure Ventures and Norwegian investors. (link)

🎒 Aiba, helping to protect children in games and social media, raised 17 million NOK, led by Spintop Ventures joined by Futurum Ventures, Skattum Vekst, Antler, Sondo and others. (link)

⚡️ Smartwatt raised 14.8 million NOK, led by new shareholders DNV and Hafslund Invest. They are joined by existing shareholders Startuplab, ScaleupXQ and Boitano. (link)

💸 Danish fintech Dealflow, where Norwegian Seb Haugeto is part of the team, raised $700k from international investors. (link)

🛥️ Arne Magnus Berge bought electric boat startup Freepower, which filed for bankruptcy a few weeks ago. (link)

🚀 GoDigitalChina announces bankruptcy. The platform was created to help Western companies get exposure in China (link)

Latest on Talent

🎶 Sensorita’s co-founder is leaving the company to pursue a new and exciting career in music. (link)

🌟 Feature piece in Tech Crunch of Katapult and their 23 new investments. (link)

❓When is it time for a board member to leave? Stine Mølgaard Sørensen, Alliance VC partner shares her tips with Sifted. (link)

👓 Learn the Lingo! Top words you should know before talking with VCs. (link)

👗 Fjong rebranded to Vibrent, after a challenging launch in Sweden due to issues with the brand name. (link)

🚲 Ei Solutions recruits Mathias Wahl as CTO, former cofounder of Loopfront. (link)

🎥 For all Loom users out there, Loom is joining Atlassian. (link)