We invest in Nordic founders with global ambitions

Deckmatch, an AI company streamlining private market workflows, has secured $3.1M in an oversubscribed seed round. The company is expanding with a new office in Palo Alto, California, and has launched the beta version of AlphaLens, a product-centric AI search engine. The round was co-led by Alliance VC and Luminar Ventures, with participation from First Degree Capital and Skyfall Ventures. Notably, all investors were Deckmatch customers before investing.

See coverage by Business Insider ($), Tech.eu, EU-Startups and Shifter (🇳🇴).

Ardoq has acquired ShiftX, representing a full exit for Alliance VC after first investing in 2020.

See ShiftX blog post and Shifter article for more information.

Medal is using the new funds to invest in Highlight, a newly unveiled cross-platform desktop app that acts as a contextual AI assistant for users, and new AI capabilities for the core game video platform.

See the founder announcement on X and Techcrunch article.

Versiro, a startup providing real-time multi-market decision support for electrical power assets, just announced its €2.3M seed round led by Alliance VC with participation from Johannes Teyssen, Sondo Capital, angels and existing investors. We are thrilled to back the founders and company on the mission to enable flexibility and help integrate renewables into the grid.

See coverage by Tech Funding News, EU-Startups, Startup Rise EU, ArcticStartup, Handelsblatt (🇩🇪) and Shifter (🇳🇴), as well as our Medium article.

Steep, makers of a modern analytics platform, has raised a €4 million seed round from Connect Ventures, Inventure, Alliance VC, Greens, and Antler.

See company announcement and articles in Tech.eu and Breakit (🇸🇪).

Ciloo, a software company with Dutch and Norwegian roots, has closed its first funding round led by Alliance VC, joined by quality angels, to fuel its mission to transform internal eCommerce for global enterprises. By facilitating a shift from centralized mass production to local and on-demand production on its platform, Ciloo is set to redefine how companies manage internal eCommerce, promising substantial reductions in carbon emissions, enhanced brand control, and lower costs.

See company announcement and Shifter article.

AlexisHR has announced that it is joining forces with the Simployer Group. This move is about alignment of mission and the ability to serve customers even better with the combined HR innovation and expertise.

See company announcement and articles from Breakit, Shifter and Finansavisen.

Hemi Health, a pioneering digital healthcare company dedicated to making a meaningful impact on the lives of millions by addressing the pressing issue of headaches and migraine, has raised a €2.1M pre-seed round from Crowberry Capital, Alliance VC, Sondo Capital Sequoia Scout and Founders. The announcement comes as Hemi launched in Denmark.

See Shifter article (🇳🇴).

The AI and robotics company, producing androids to benefit society and meet the world’s labor demand, has raised a $100M Series B. The new capital will be utilized to bring to market 1X’s second generation android, NEO, a bipedal humanoid built for the consumer market.

See company announcement and TechCrunch, Sifted and Finansavisen articles.

Mjuk has raised €2.5M to continue to build their furniture re-commerce marketplace that helps furniture brands minimize waste and consumers find the best prices. Alliance VC participated in an investor syndicate including Trind VC, Superhero Capital, Lifeline Ventures and angel investors.

See articles from EU-Startups, ArcticStartup and Tech Funding News.

Deckmatch raised a €1M pre-seed round for the mission to improve the investment process for both investors and founders using AI. Alliance co-led the round with Skyfall Ventures and a great group of international angels joined the syndicate.

See articles by TechCrunch, Tech Funding News and Shifter (🇳🇴,$) for more details.

Bits Technology announced a €4M seed round that will help the company further its mission of reshaping how future fintech products are built. The round was led by Unusual Ventures. Fin Capital also participated with investors from the fall's pre-seed round, Alliance VC, Cherry Ventures, Forward VC and Greens Ventures.

See company blog and articles from Di Digital (🇸🇪) and Tech.eu.

1X, a company producing androids capable of human-like movements and behaviors, has raised a $23.5M round led by Sam Altman / OpenAI and Tiger Global with a syndicate including Alliance, Sandwater, Skagerak Capital and a strong set of angels.

Check out our blog, 1X blog, Tech.eu, Shifter (🇳🇴), Finansavisen (🇳🇴, $) and Wired.

Two, a company on a mission to fix b-commerce with BNPL for B2B, has raised a €18M Series A led by Shine Capital. Alliance also investing in the round together with Antler, Sequoia Capital, Day One Ventures, LocalGlobe and Sondo Capital.

Check out articles by TechCrunch, Sifted and Shifter (🇳🇴).

APEXX, delivering a truly global Payment Orchestration Layer built for enterprise customers, has announced its Series B round of $25M. The round was led by MMC Ventures and included new and existing investors. Alliance participated in the round to continue a strong relationship. 

Check out coverage by Finextra.

Kvist Solutions, a provider of digital solutions for environmental certifications in construction, has raised a 17 MNOK seed round led by ArkwrightX and DNB Ventures to accelerate its roll-out. Alliance led the pre-seed round a year ago and followed-on in the seed round.

Check out Shifter article (in 🇳🇴).

Equlity Check, a company helping organisations create more equal workplaces for all, has raised a new $1.6M equity round. Alliance VC co-invested with Unconventional Ventures and other investors in the round.

See article in Shifter.no for more (in Norwegian)

TouchNetix, a rapidly growing, global leader in next generation human machine interface (HMI) semiconductor chips and sensor modules, today announced a 120 MNOK ($12M) funding round, where Alliance Venture participated. TouchNetix provides intuitive and safety-enhancing user experiences for touchscreens and smart touch surfaces.

See media coverage and company announcement.

Steep, the next-generation analytics platform powered by design, has raised €1M a pre-seed round co-led by Alliance and Inventure and participation from The Nordic Web Ventures, Antler, Greens and a list of well-known angel investors. Steep‘s new funding will facilitate the company’s plans to accelerate its product launch across European and US markets, continue product development and recruit key hires.

Check out articles from Tech.eu, TFN, Shifter (🇳🇴) and founder announcement.

Stockholm-based Ripe has raised a$2M pre-seed round to power the product-led economy. Ripe makes it easy for companies to respond immediately to their best customers, in-product, by coupling together key data sources and turn data into revenue. Alliance co-invested with Earlybird Venture Capital in the round.

See TechCrunch article and company blog for more info.

Xeneta has raised an additional $80M in funding led by Apax Digital with participation from existing investor, Luxor Capital (Lugard Road Capital). This funding highlights the value of data in the ocean shipping and air cargo market.

See TechCrunch article and company blog for further details.

Bits Technology has closed a €1M pre-seed funding round to rethink and ultimately reshape how global fintechs build financial services. The round was led by Cherry Ventures with Alliance Venture, Forward VC and Greens Ventures also joining the round.

See company announcement, as well as articles in Tech.eu and Di Digital (🇸🇪).

Ark Kapital has raised another €15M from new (like Annika Falkengren and Timo Soininen) and existing (LocalGlobe, Creandum, Hjalmar Winbladh, Jacob de Geer, Patrick Söderlund and others) investors.

Alliance is happy to participate and increase our investment, as Oliver Hildebrandt, Henrik Landgren, Axel Bruzelius and the team are building a modern, data-driven lender to companies with predictable revenue.

See coverage in Shifted.

Aquabyte, which uses computer vision and AI to give fish farms unprecedented insight into the health, growth, and sustainability of their fish, today announced the completion of its Series B round of $25M. The round was led by SoftBank Ventures Asia. Existing investors NEA, Costanoa Ventures, ArcTern Ventures, Struck Capital and Alliance Venture participated in the round.

Check out coverage by Dagens Næringsliv (🇳🇴,$) & press release.

Globus.ai, a staffing AI company, has raised a $4.8M seed round co-led Alliance Venture and Scale Capital, as it ramps up presence in the UK and prepares for further expansion. Globus is growing rapidly by enabling customers to process more vacancies by automating time-consuming and manual recruitment and staffing processes.

Check out coverage by Tech Funding News and Finansavisen (🇳🇴,$) + press release.

The wind energy SaaS leader has secured a $7.5M funding round led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF), with Ferd Capital and Blue Bear Capital participating in the syndicate. The funding will support rapid scaleup, accelerate market expansion and increase the company’s unique scenario modeling capabilities. 

See company announcement for further details.

A new model of home care is emerging – Finnish care platform Helppy raises €3M to expand to Europe from Alliance Venture.

Helppy has developed a neighborhood care model, empowered by tech, as a new alternative to elderly home care. The model, utilizing platform logistics, allows for more personal care, full transparency and higher productivity than the traditional route-based shift worker model. The company has proven its concept in Finland and is now expanding its operations to multiple European countries.

Read full article at Eu-Startups.com

Mjuk, the rapidly growing second-hand furniture marketplace has raised €4 million from Allliance Venture and Lifeline Ventures in its second funding round. The funding will mainly be used for product development and to support growth in the Nordics ahead of a wider European expansion.

See Di.se article.

ArK Kapital has raised €165 million (€150 million in debt funding and €15 million in equity), now providing Stockholm with an entrant into the game of alternative funding options for startups.

See Tech.eu article.

Unleash is scaling its open source feature management platform in the U.S. and Europe. The platform provides enterprise developer teams greater flexibility and control over data leading to faster, higher quality, and the most secure feature management and deployment. The new round was led by Spark Capital with Alliance joining a strong investor syndicate.

See TechCrunch article, company blog post and press release.

This includes a $45M Series C led by OMERS Ventures, shortly following a previously unannounced $15M Series B from Makers Fund, Horizons Ventures and Dune Ventures. Alliance Venture participated in both rounds. The company also announced further acquisitions.

See coverage from VentureBeat, Finansavisen (Norw./$) and Shifter (Norw.)

The round was co-led by Prosus Ventures and Lugard Road Capital, with Slack Fund and Acequia Capital also participating. The funding follows a hugely impressive period of efficient and strong growth, and landing an equally impressive list of premium clients.

See TechCrunch article.

This was a 5.5 MNOK ($600k) round, where other investors included StartupLab and Vater. Kvist is on a mission to make the building and construction industries more sustainable, and has shown great early customer value and traction.

See Shifter article (in Norw.)

The funding round enables Novelda to accelerate growth, product development and strengthen its position as the global leader in UWB sensing. The round was oversubscribed and included Tier 1 institutional investors joining existing investors.

See Medium post from Novelda.

Further details about the round have not been disclosed.

See Finansavisen article (Norw. / $)

We are excited to join Lasse Andresen & the whole IndyKite team on the mission to change the digital identity space - again! Today the company came out of stealth and announced its $2.5M funding round co-led by Alliance Venture and SpeedInvest.

See our Medium post and coverage by Tech.eu, Finansavisen (Norw.) & Shifter (Norw.).

We are very happy to welcome Henrik to the team!

Previously Henrik was the CEO of Lifesum and an executive at Spotify and Stardoll, as well as an angel investor in TeamTailor, Fishbrain, Videoplaza and others.

Read more at Dagens Industri and Shifter.

Equality Check is on a mission to help organizations improve their Diversity & Inclusion performance. Alliance Venture is excited to lead EC's seed round

See article in DN (in Norwegian).

ServiceNow has announced the acquistion of Swarm64 to enable a more effective and efficient data management across many different use cases to execute complex, high-speed data analytics at a mass scale. We are proud to have been the first investor in Swarm64. Congratulations to both ServiceNow and the team!

See announcement from from ServiceNow.

Oda just announced a secondary transaction at company valuation of $ 1.2 billion, on the back of its $ 265 million Softbank/Prosus-led round in April. This means that Oda is now a unicorn!

Read more at Medium

Excited to join &Repeat in their quest to make takeaway packaging better for the environment.

Read the full story in DI Digital

The investement in the HR data platform marks Alliance first investment in Sweden.

Read more at Breakit (in Swedish).

Portfolio company Aquabyte raised 10M USD from ArcTern Ventures and existing investors.

Read more (in Norwegian)

H1 2020 ended up being an all-time high for follow-on investment in the Alliance Venture portfolio. Eight companies raised a total of 479 MNOK (approx. 50 MUSD). Six of the funding rounds have already been announced, Apexx Global, Shoreline, Aprila Bank, Boost.ai, Novelda and poLight, while two deals are not yet public.

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We are very happy and proud to be able to close a sizable early-stage venture fund in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. This will enable us to invest in a very challenging time for the startup ecosystem. And though this post is written while most of us are still in lock-down it is our firm belief that we as a society will fight through these difficult times.

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Now is the time for investors to prove themselves as great long-term partners to entrepreneurs and that it’s not just a marketing gimmick.

Read more.

Swarm64, the leader in FPGA-accelerated database management solutions, today announced that Xilinx, the FPGA inventor, has invested in Swarm64. The two companies will work together to deliver high-performance analytic databases that are easy to deploy and scale at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than existing solutions in the market.

See press release.

Medal.tv, the largest short-form video clip sharing platform in gaming, has today announced the acquisition of Megacool.co, the mobile game clipping and sharing startup (an Alliance Venture portfolio company).

See article and blog post.

Providing opportunity for global design talent to serve and impact Enterprises.

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Superside, provider of hassle-free design services for enterprise teams, just raised a 3.5 MUSD funding round. Alliance Venture participated in the round with Freestyle Capital, High Alpha Ventures, and Y Combinator.

See TechCrunch article.

I’d like to congratulate the team of LeadX, Smart Innovation Norway, and Nordic Media Lab on the documentary miniseries from their recent…

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I have been a SaaStr fan and follower of the SaaStr community and best practices for years, yet I attended my first SaaStr Annual last week. The conference prides itself on “actionable advice and learnings to help grow SaaS businesses from $0 to $100M ARR”.

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… is probably the most frequent question I get, when I explain who I am and what I do. This is not a hostile question or bullying tactic, but simply an indication of genuine curiosity and some confusion.

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