What industries saw the most investments in Scandinavia in 2017?

We have looked at our data and identified the sectors that attracted the most investment funding in the Nordics in 2017. 

These run from manufacturing (be them garments, heavy machinery or electrical batteries), to health services, financial services, gaming, ecommerce (retail operations or dedicated software solutions), energy (cleantech, customized products) or education.

• manufacturing: 114 deals | $306M
• health services: 102 deals | $289M
• financial services: 98 deals | $293M
• gaming: 66 deals | $120M
• ecommerce: 57 deals | $144M
• energy: 48 deals | $158M
• education: 48 deals | $69M

Preliminary observations:

- manufacturing, health services and financial services each had 100 and more investments - they are preponderent as they're fairly large, complex sectors still embbeding traditional paradigms that technology can improve in a dramatic way. That's a pace of at least 10 investments per month.

- they're followed by a second cluster of 50-70 investments per vertical, with gaming (a Nordic traditional), ecommerce (still underdeveloped in the region, huge future potential), education and energy (also traditional verticals ready to be disrupted)

- most of the investments are in the $1-5M range, 100 investments have financial specifics undisclosed. 

- almost 40% of the energy sector money comes from 3 investment rounds closed by Northvolt, which wants to build the largest electric battery factory from Europe.

- small tickets in the ecommerce sector, the vertical seems to be underinvested + put this in context with Amazon announcing its official opening in the Nordics and local traditional retailers which start to wet their toes in the online commerce.

- also for context, collateral M&A deals in retail - Bygghema (bought 6 companies in 12 months), Musti Ja Mirri (1, 2), Orkla, Babyshop, Mustad and Sunkost, Linas Matkasse, Mos Mosh, RevolutionRace, Happy Socks, Outnorth or Skin City.

- oh, and let's not forget about NA-KD, one of the fastest growing ecommerce operations from the Nordics, which added local investors Jonas Nordlander and Filip Engelbert in an undisclosed round in April 2017.

- the state-owned investment firms are very active in all the verticals - SEED, Tekes, Almi, Industrifonden

- with some exceptions (Klarna, iZettle, Bima, Mathem, Hydroline), most of the money from the largest rounds is followup investment capital provided by venture firms. Those companies are expected to grow at a dramatic pace and accordingly generate handsome returns in a liquidity event, 3-5 years from now on

- higher proportions of angel money in financial services, gaming and ecommerce as opposed to the other verticals where the entry level is more costly and the knowledge/experience bar required is higher

Manufacturing

114 investments | $306M
Median investment*: $1M
Average investment: $3.2M
% of Angel Investors / All Investors: 38%

Active investors:
angel: Mathias Hedström, Martin Larsson, Laurent Leksell, Harald Mix
other: Almi, Tekes, SEED, Lifeline, EQT Ventures, Ascend Capital, Innovestor

Largest investments:
Hydroline - $22.4M
Orbital Systems - $18.7M
Glo - 2 rounds: $14.7 & $8.1M
Canatu - $14.3M
Northvolt - $11.75M

Recently funded:
Northvolt
Ganni
Tendo
Grundium
Tactotek

Health services

102 investments | $289M
Median investment: $823k
Average investment: $3.6M
% of Angel Investors / All Investors: 33%

Active investors:
angel: Mattias Weinhandl, Laurent Leksell, Anders Nyrén, Yngve Sævik, Thorleif Krarup, Thomas Eklund
other: Almi, SEED, Tekes, Chalmers, EQT Ventures, Sunstone, Norrsken Foundation, Capio, Add Health Media

Largest investments:
Natural Cycles - $30M
Min Doktor - $25M
Oncoinvent- $25M
Evondos- $24M
Kry - $23M

Recently funded:
Evondos
Doctrin
Tendo
PlayPulse
tiimo

Financial Services

98 investments | $293M
Median investment: $1.3M
Average investment: $3.4M
% of Angel Investors / All Investors: 55%

Active investors:
angel: Bo Mattsson, Thord Wilkne, Thomas Eriksson, Staffan Persson, Lena Apler, Claes Dinkelspiel
other: NFT Ventures, SEED, Collector Ventures, SEB Venture Capital, Svea Ekonomi, Founders Fund

Largest investments:
iZettle - $47M
Bima - $30M
Vertaa Ensin - $21M
Klarna - $20M
Tink - $16M

Recent investments
Coinify
Bima
Grandhood
MakerDAO
Roger.ai

Gaming

66 investments | $120M
Median investment: $1.5M
% of Angel Investors / All Investors: 55%

Active investors
angel: David Helgason, Andreas Kleerup, Karl Magnus Troedsson, Fredrik Åhlberg, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Tommy Ahlers
others: Sisu Game Ventures, Creandum, Wellstreet, Initial Capital, The VR Fund, Nordisk Film, Coffee Stain Studios

Largest investments:
Avalanche Studios - $11M
Kahoot - $10M
Mag Interactive - $9.7M
Varjo - $8M
RFRSH Entertainment - $8M

Recently funded
Cortopia
Like a Boss Games
Peppy Pals
Raw Fury
Poio

Ecommerce

57 investments | $144M
Median investment: $1.1M
Average investment: $3.7M
% of Angel Investors / All Investors: 51%



Active investors
angel: Richard Båge, Mathias Hedström, Martin Larsson, Klas Berggren, Karl-Johan Persson
others: Wellstreet, Tekes, Industrifonden, Kichi Invest, Inbox Capital, Creades, Verdane, Nordic Etail

Largest investments:
Mathem - 2 rounds: $26M, $18M)
Kolonial - $18M
Babyshop - $17.4M
Matsmart - $9M
KidsBrandStore - $7M
Kaching - $4.7M

Recent investments
Barnebys
KidsBrandStore
Mathem
Daisy Grace
Ivyrevel
Matsmart

Energy

48 investments | $158M
Median investment: $1.22M
Average investment: $3.7M
% of Angel Investors / All Investors: 22%

Active investors:
angel: Ludvig Linge, Petter Stordalen, Peter Jensen, Peter Engberg
others: Almi Invest, Soläng Invest, Investinor, Teknoinvest, Tekes, Skagerak Maturo, E.ON Denmark, Energimyndigheten, Proventure Management, FAM

Largest investments
Sol Voltaics - $21.3M
Orbital Systems - $18.7M
Northvolt - 3 rounds: $13.3M, $12M, $12M
Enevo - $12M
Eneo Solutions - $11.3M

Recent investments
Save by Solar
Northvolt
Deeds
4light AB

Education

48 investments | $69M
Median investment: $750k
Average investment: $1.7M
% of Angel Investors / All Investors: 43%

Active investors:
angel: Sophia Bendz, Joen Bonnier, Veli-Pekka Saarnivaara, Tero Lehtonen, Terhi Vapola, Sven Hagströmer
others: Propel Capital, Vækstfonden, SEED, Northzone, Nordic Makers

Largest investments:
Labster - $10M
Kahoot - $10M
Attensi - $6.3M
Lexplore - $5.6M
Lix Technologies - $5.4M

Recent investments
Peergrade
Peppy Pals
Learnlink
3D Bear
tiimo

You can explore the data in a granular way, by each industry, in a synthetic, table-format way or in a graphical manner from here.

*The median is the middle point of a number set, in which half the numbers are above the median and half are below. Figures are calculated considering only deals with available data.

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