All Technology And who doesn’t know the so-called PayPal mafia? Famous figures like Elon Musk, Max Levchin and Steve Chen went on to further fame by founding Tesla, Affirm and YouTube, among others.
Similarly, Sweden and Denmark have their own foundries. A successful technology company whose graduates have launched venture capital-backed start-ups.
in fact, Founder factories have existed throughout the history of modern VC, and VCs believe boasting experience running a VC helps build new startups.
But which are the top foundries in Denmark and Sweden?.european union In cooperation with Signal, A Copenhagen-based data company that helps venture capitalists and investors make investment decisions digs into the data.
According to the data, fintech Klarna Former employees of music streaming service Spotify have launched more than 200 VC-backed startups over the past decade.
Topping the list is Spotify, with a whopping 124 alumni who have founded venture-backed startups, beating out Klarna (91) and third-placed mobile gaming startup King (39).
Spotify, valued at over $60 billion; Klarna, The company is reportedly considering a $20 billion U.S. IPO. And King, which was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2016 for $5.9 billion, is one of Scandinavia’s three most successful technology companies.
According to the Signal founder, early stage VCs are “actively engaging” with founder factory talent, creating a “talent war.”
Co-founder Jacob Haulberg signalSaid:
“From the PayPal Mafia in the US to Spotify in Sweden, founder factories have always been a key part of the venture capital industry, but today, their impressive track record of producing successful founders makes them more visible than ever before, as VC investors actively seek out their graduates.”
Simon Botkjær, Co-Founder signalSaid:
“The rise of founder factories in a cyclical funding environment is creating a war for talent. Early stage VCs are actively engaging with talented people from founder factories to establish relationships early in case they decide to start a new company.”
Kevin Chong, General Partner, Outward The VC said:
“People learn and unlearn valuable lessons from scaling startups and partnering with venture capitalists. Experience is a real advantage. That’s why we track our alumni, especially early team members who have been driving businesses for 10+ years. Inflection point.”
The study lists the top founder factories in Sweden and Denmark and the number of alumni from each factory who go on to VC-backed companies. have It has been released.
Sweden
Spotify (music streaming) -124
Klarna (Fintech) -91
King (Mobile Game) – 39
Zettle (Fintech) -29
Tink (Fintech) -14
Denmark
Unity Technologies (Software Development) -38
Trustpilot (review site) – 21
Tradeshift (Fintech) -19
Pleo (Fintech) -12
Peakon (Employee Engagement Platform) -9
The data was compiled by Signal, which identified all founders of venture capital-backed companies in Denmark (approximately 800 people) and Sweden (over 1,000 people) and then calculated the top founder factories and the startups they have built.
So what are some of the venture capital-backed companies launched by graduates of these founder factories?
In Sweden, electronic signature company Scrive It was co-founded by former Klarna engineer Gracjan Polak. Climate Technology Cloover was co-founded by Cameron Borrett, product manager at Klarna.
Examples of Spotify include growth forecasting firm Gilion, It was co-founded by Henrik Lundgren, former VP of analytics at Spotify, and financial wellbeing startup Anyfin. The company was co-founded by Sven Perkmann, who previously worked as head of risk products at Klarna and a reporting analyst at Spotify.
In Denmark, Pleo, a spend management platform, was co-founded by early Tradeshift employees Jeppe Rindom and Niccolo Perra, while Sune Theodorsen, a senior product designer at Tradeshift, was co-founder of shared living startup LifeX.
Meanwhile, former Unity R&D executive Martin Zielinski is the co-founder of Yaak Technologies. Issuu is an autonomous driving platform, while Issuu is an electronic publishing platform. Co-founders Rubin Bjerg Hansen, Head of Product at Unity.
