Swedish cold freezes Nordic summer

Startup investments in the Nordic and Baltic region fell to just a fourth from last summer as funding sunk by 93 percent in Sweden, the largest market in the region, data from Funderbeam showed on Tuesday.

Startups in the region raised $250 million in June-to-August, compared with $979 million in the year-earlier period, when the data was boosted by Spotify, Truecaller, and iZettle.

Some industry watchers have warned of a startup bubble, and capital inflows to the sector have eased also elsewhere in the world since last year.

Sweden saw investments falling to just $64 million from $864.6 million.

Denmark and Norway were the star performers, with funding roughly doubling in both – to $41 million and to $38 million, respectively. Norway’s data was boosted by poLight raising $20 million for its autofocus lens business, while Denmark was lifted by Samlino’s $18 million and Blackwood Seven’s $15 million round.

Finland saw investments rising 25 percent to $73 million, lifted by online analytics firm Verto’s $16.1 million round.

Among smaller markets Icelandic investments surged to $12 million, with Mint Solutions and GreenQloud raising nice rounds, and Estonia was roughly par from last year at $17 million, thanks to Skeleton’s $14.6 million round

The funding data for our wrap-ups is provided by Funderbeam.com – a platform for discovering, tracking and analyzing startups.