Top News

1. Schibsted has made a non-binding agreement to spin off its media department, potentially selling it to shareholder Tinius Trust, while retaining its marketplaces. (link)
2. Morten Korsveien from Sandwater shares their latest 2023 funding data for Norway, comparing it with Sweden and the EU. (link)
3. Verdane invests in a Fountain Venture portfolio, which includes Meltwater and Jobylon. The venture firm was co-founded by Meltwater’s co-founder and Executive Chairman Jørn Lyseggen. (link)
4. Idékapital makes its first Swedish investment in Quinyx, a SaaS company using AI. (link)
5. Crowdworks partners with DNB to develop DNB NXT Arena further. (link)
6. Keep a look out for the 14 female-led companies in 2024. (link)
7. Masterchannel, launches Wez Clarke AI, an AI with skills from the famous sound engineer Wez Clarke who worked with Beyoncé, Tinie Tempah, Rudimental and more. (link)
8. Fredrik Winther predicts the next decades’ trends, highlighting areas such as Deeptech and AI’s influence on venture capital. (link)
9. Google unveils Gemini, a generative AI model with three different versions: Pro, Ultra and Nano. So far, Pro has been rolling out to Bard. (link)
10. Finansavisen highlights the startups growing despite the down market. (link)

Latest on Funding

🖥️ Mistral AI, OpenAI’s European rival, raised another €385 million in its second round led by Andreessen-Horowitz joined by LightSpeed Ventures, Salesforce and Motier Ventures. (link)

🇫🇮 Kvanted, an early-stage Finnish VC, closed its first industrial tech fund of €70 million. (link)

🔬 Artbio, a radiopharmaceutical company, raised an oversubscribed round of $90 million from new and existing shareholders. (link)

⚡️ Brudeli, an electric transmission technology company, raised 15.3 million NOK led by Hexagon Composites ASA and Leax Group AB along with existing and new shareholders. (link)

☀️ Over Easy Solar, delivering solar units, raised 9.4 million NOK from existing investors such as Hafslund, Eidsiva, Stratel, Aura and new investor Katapult Climate Fund along with a grant from Innovation Norway. (link)

🖥️ Schibsted invests 7.3 million SEK in Demando, a Swedish recruitment platform, contributing to total fundraising of 10.3 million SEK along with Swedish owners and existing angel investors. (link)

🎯 Wittario, edtech platform, secured 4 million NOK so far from Trond Riiber Knudsen and MagnusChess, the investment company of Magnus Carlsen. (link)

🇳🇴 Friar Venture, is a new fund that is being launched and will focus on the Telemark and Vestfold area. Led by Skagerak Capital and members of Powered by Telemark. (link)

🎨 Adobe and Figma mutually terminated the merger agreement due to regulations in the EU and UK. (link)

Latest on Talent

🌏 Sifted’s list of 13 of Europe’s Female Partners. (link)

🤘 Philip Hess, former President and CEO of Bose becomes the new CEO at Remarkable. (link)

💛 Karen Dolva steps down as CEO of No Isolation and Morten Jørgensen will take over. (link)

👩‍💻 Jarle Nordby-Bøe becomes CTO at Norkon. (link)

🚀 Anita Krohn Traaseth becomes CEO at family-owned investment company DSD. (link)

🖥️ Anders Skar, previously the CEO of Nordnet, will be the chairman and investor of the fintech Fixrate. (link)