VC deals in the Nordics
VC funds completed 322 transactions in Nordic startups and growth companies per Q3. It is the first time in our monitoring that there have been more than 300 venture investments in the period. The amount invested in the segment has also skyrocketed, 2.5 billion euros in total, which is an increase of 159 per cent compared to the average investment level in the last five years.
Compared with the average in the last five years, Nordic venture deals have increased by 54 % per Q3 2021.
In the past five years, the number of investments per YTDQ3 has been stable, between 170 and 240 deals each year. In 2021, we found a significant bump in the deal amount, with over 300 investments for the first time in our tracking. The increase affects all countries and sectors we follow (see sector and country distribution).
The amount invested in the Nordic venture has never been higher, neither per YTDQ3 nor in a calendar year. Compared to the average for the period, the amount is three times as high, and no outlier transactions drive the trend. The investment level is high throughout the period.
Sector and country distribution
The strong growth applied to all sectors we follow, so everyone experienced increased investment activity. It’s still the ICT sector that has the largest share of investments (52 %), even though it has gone down compared to the average. In other words, transactions are spread more evenly across several sectors.
Technology still has the largest share of investments. However, the percentage is somewhat lower than in the same period in recent years, and transactions are spread more evenly between sectors.
Health care and life sciences attracted 16 per cent of investments, an increase of 73 per cent compared to the average of the last five years. In the consumer sector, which has a share of 11 per cent, the growth is even more prominent: the number is up 86 per cent compared to the average for the period. The financials and renewables sectors, with shares of 6 and 4 per cent of the deals, are attracting more and more investors.
There was high activity in all Nordic countries in the period, with an increase compared to previous years:
- In Denmark, the number of investments increased by 113 per cent compared with the average for the last five years. Danish companies attracted 26 per cent of the venture transactions, a higher level than usual.
- However, it is Swedish companies that still attract the most investments. Sweden accounted for 37 per cent of the market, also with a significant growth compared with the corresponding period last five years (up 45 %).
- Activity in Finnish VC has had a more moderate upswing with an increase of 15 per cent compared to the average for H1 in the last five years and accounted for 20 per cent of the market.
- Norwegian companies attracted 16 per cent of the deals in the region, which was 72 per cent higher than the average.
In the first half of the year, the number of investments in the venture segment increases in all the Nordic countries, compared with the average over the past five years. In Denmark, it increased by a whopping 113 %. Swedish companies still receive the largest share of the deals.
If we look at the share of the invested amount, it primarily reflects the number of deals without any large individual transactions driving the level of the invested amount. 33 per cent of invested capital in the venture segment was invested in Swedish companies. The second-largest share went to Danish companies with 32 %, followed by Finnish companies with 20 %. Norwegian VC companies attracted the smallest amount of capital with 15 %.
Large single transactions
Below are the ten most significant transactions in the period. Seven are in the ICT sector, two are health and life sciences, and one is within financials.
Technology
- In January, the Finnish home delivery app Wolt, a competitor to Foodora, raised 432 million euros from eleven investors. Five of them, including EQT Growth, were new investors (read more).
- Stockholm-based Epidemic Sound, a company that produces copyright-free music for creators on the internet, acquired EQT Growth and Blackstone Growth (US) on the owner side in March. The investments totalled 383 million euros, with the company priced at 1.4 billion dollars (read more).
- Norwegian Gelato, which connects digital printing companies worldwide, raised 202 million euros in a round led by Insight Partners (US) in August (read more).
- Most wine connoisseurs actively use Vivino. In February, Sprints Capital (GB) invested in the Danish company in a finance round of 128 million euros. Creandum also made a follow-up investment (read more).
- Cognite raised 126 million euros from TCV, which valued the Norwegian SaaS company that analyses and compiles industry data at 1.6 billion dollars (read more).
- Finland-based Aiven, which offers cloud storage infrastructure to app developers, raised more than 80 million euros in March. Atomico Ventures (UK) led the investment round. In addition, Aiven had another finance round in October that amounted to 50 million euros, in which Atomico participated together with, among others, Institutional Venture Partners. With that, Aiven became Finland’s latest unicorn (read more).
- Dixa, a Danish customer service platform, raised close to 90 million euros in July in an investment round led by General Atlantic (UK) [read more].
Health care and life sciences
- The Danish oncology company IO Biotech raised 127 million euros in January from a range of investors. Several venture funds participated in the financing round: Avoro, EIR Ventures, Idinvest Partners, Kurma Life Sciences Partners, RA Capital, Samsara BioCapital, Soleus and Vivo Capital (read more).
- Nordic Bioscience, a Danish company that develops biomarkers used in diagnostics, received 83 million euros in funding from KKR’s Health Care Strategic Growth Fund (read more).
Financials
- In August, Pleo, a solution for expense management for companies, raised close to 130 million euros in an investment round led by US Bain Capital and Thrive Capital - in addition to Creandum and Stripes (US), which had follow-up investments (read more). In December, Pleo had a new round with the same investors of over 175 million euros that valued the company at 4.7 billion dollars (read more).
These ten companies received about half of the capital invested in the first three quarters of 2021. In contrast to previous years, where one or two investments have claimed large chunks of the total invested amount, there were many medium-sized transactions. We see the same development in the buyout segment.