Wellstreet Journal - 6 / 2023

Published:

October 26, 2023

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Hello friends,

The fall is upon us, and in this edition of our newsletter, we invite you to get a deeper look at the work we do with the portfolio. You'll get a peek into what we mean by having a unique hands-on approach and being proactive. As usual, we'll also have some exciting portfolio news and a few reading recommendations.

This newsletter is a first sent to our subscribers a few days prior its publication on the website. To receive the next Wellstreet Journals in your inbox, sign up here.

Let’s go!
Team Wellstreet

Wellstreet News.

🛎️ In September, we hosted our largest Wellstreet Launchpad so far – a two-day event completely dedicated to fast-forwarding our portfolio companies' sales and commercialisation strategies and processes. This year, we welcomed 22 companies to our Launchpad. Founders had the opportunity to learn from 9 speakers from companies like Google, Meta, Ayden, iZettle, Fishbrain, and Norrsken. We're also grateful for the 26 mentors who generously shared their time and wisdom to guide our founders through their current challenges. A big thank you to all our speakers and mentors for their valuable contributions! Read more about the Launchpad here.

🛎️ In case you haven’t heard yet, we are beyond glad to share that Maria Lindholm is our latest addition to the team as our Head of Partnerships. Do you think we could do something together to boost the Nordic startup community? Send an email to Maria at: maria.lindholm@wellstreet.vc.

🛎️ Join us for a casual afterwork gathering of fintech industry leaders in November! Our Fintech Fund is actively seeking new investment opportunities, and we're eager to reconnect with our fintech network while also meeting new faces. Are there any exciting developments or startups in the industry that you're excited about? We're open to discussing all things Fintech! If you want to join, send an email to: marcela.mendes@wellstreet.vc.

Portfolio Highlights.

Wellstreet Ventures News.

⬥ Anatomic Studios exhibited their 3D-printed products at the Swedish prosthetics & orthotics conference, Ortopedteknik 2023, and the Female Founders speed-dating event.

⬥ Brink Commerce has partnered up with Lekmer, Alexandalexa and Melijoe. Plus, Breakit nominated the Head of Business Development, Christian Zanders, as a SaaS Power Player. 😎

⬥ DanAds won Breakit’s SaaS Rocket of the Year award! The company is also a finalist for ExchangeWire’s award as Best New Product or Service: Buy Side. 🏆

⬥ Flipnbid’s new online marketplace is live! The community interested in fashion, collector items, high value / limited edition sneakers has a new home.

⬥ Gamifiera provides a personalised loyalty experience through their 3D avatars, and now customers at Scandinavian Photo and MaxGaming also get to pick their own wallpaper/skin.

⬥ Hyber launched their new concept, Hyber RESCUED, with a pop-up store. The company was also featured in Impact Loop, highlighting that a circular economy is good for the planet and a great solution for high inflation times. ♻️

⬥ ICIW launched their latest Reboot Collection, which looks like the right end-of-year gift!

⬥ Joina also offers special packages for companies that wish to help their employees live healthier, just like ARC Arise / Curamando is doing. 🤸

⬥ Sisterly Tribe’s Founder and CEO Kristin Hars was a guest in two podcasts: USA’s Modern Retail and Swedish Framtidens E-Handel. Also, their first pop-up store, in Gothenburg, was a huge success.

Wellstreet Fintech News.

⬥ Enable Banking announced a new partnership with CRIF and Strands. The team has been busy spreading the open banking word at Business Espoo, Nordic Fintech Week 2023 and Nordic Banking Forum.

⬥ Future of Retail has signed SIX new partnerships: Fisk.se, Jakt.se, Blankens of Sweden, Royal RepubliQ, Horizn Studios and Sheperd of Sweden. That must be why they were finalists for this year's “SAAS-Newcomer” award by Breakit! 🤯

‍⬥ Pensure just partnered up with UCS One Business. Find out what partners say about their collaboration with Pensure here.

✨ NEW ✨

⬥ Waytobill is our latest addition to the portfolio! Waytobill provides seamless payment solutions for businesses with subscriptions as a business model, and it has already established a strong presence in the market.

Food for thought.

⬥ Put together by Nathan Benaich and the Air Street Capital team, the newly released The State of AI Report analyses the most interesting developments in AI.

⬥ A report from European Women in VC found that for every 10% increase in representation of women at a senior level, a fund's internal rate of return (IRR) improved by 1.3% points.

⬥ Ten cities in Europe received an award by the the EU Commission for their plans to become climate neutral by 2030, and Stockholm is one of them.

⬥ Is it time to break the Silicon Valley monopoly? In an interview with the Financial Times, the entrepreneur and investor Niklas Zennström reflects on how to achieve the feat.

⬥ European investors are using SPVs more and more. Steph Bailey at Sifted created an “SPV 101” where you can see how it actually works.

⬥ Check out this Google Cloud article on “Five generative AI use cases for the financial services industry” that our friend at Google Sweden, Joseph Michael, shared with his LinkedIn community.