Spotify, Skype, King, Mojang, Klarna… but also SoundCloud, Izettle, Truecaller, Northvolt… And these are only the best known, among hundreds of start-ups, which have become giants in their sector. What they have in common: all these companies were founded in Sweden, a country of 10 million inhabitants among the most taxed in the world, whose economy has long given pride of place to behemoths, such as Volvo, Scania, Ericsson or Vattenfall.
Since the early 2000s, the tech scene has been the dream of young Swedish graduates. We can understand them: after Silicon Valley, Stockholm is the place in the world with the highest number of unicorns per capita – these start-ups valued at more than 1 billion dollars (890 million euros). The leading figures of an ecosystem which now weighs almost as much as traditional industries in the country’s gross domestic product (28 billion euros in 2020), and accounts for 6% of exports and more than 200,000 jobs.
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On October 4, 2021, the government instructed its agencies Vinnova (innovation) and Tillväxtsverige (economic and regional development) to map the needs of the sector and to propose initiatives to “strengthen the financing opportunities for businesses”. Across the country, public authorities are already supporting start-ups, mainly through incubators or accelerators.
The “home PC” revolution
“Companies there can benefit from different types of grants,” says Arash Sangari, Startup Sweden program manager at Tillväxtsverige. The government agency also participates in seed funds, allowing start-ups to obtain funding at an early stage.
But behind the success of the Swedish tech scene is above all a generation of young entrepreneurs, all of whom cite “home PC reform” as a key factor in their success. Thanks to this reform adopted in 1997, tens of thousands of Swedes were able to rent a computer from their employer. Add to this the deployment of fiber and a very high level of smartphone penetration a few years later: the conditions were met to give birth to vocations.
Success has led to others. Most successful entrepreneurs have founded their investment firms and are quick to support new businesses. Daniel Ek, the co-founder of the music streaming site Spotify, has thus pledged to invest 1 billion euros over ten years in European start-ups. “This kind of funding plays a very important role. This is really what characterizes the Swedish model, ”notes Arash Sangari.
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