According to a recent study by The Telegraph, Stockholm is the second most prolific tech hub in the world on a per capita basis producing 6.3 billion-dollar companies per million people, after Silicon Valley which produces 8.1 billion-dollar companies per million people.
Here is a short list of Sweden’s top tech company start-ups:
1. SoundCloud
The world’s leading social sound platform SoundCloud was founded by Alexander Ljung (CEO) and Eric Wahlforss (CTO) in 2007 and launched in October 2008. Berlin-based tech company allows its users to record, upload and share their original sounds on blogs, websites, and several social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook. The music website is written in JRuby and ranks the 162nd globally on Alexa as of September 27, 2015. The site has 40 million registered users as of July 2013, and 175 million unique monthly listeners as of last December. The is no wonder why SoundCloud is one of the most used music websites by musicians and DJs nowadays.
2. Mojang
Stockholm-based video game developer Mojang was founded in May 2009 by Markus Persson, Carl Manneh, and H. Jakob porser. The company is well known for developing Minecraft and Scrolls video games. Since November 9, 2014, Mojang has been acquired by microsoft for $2.5 billion. According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the main reason why Microsoft acquired Mojang was HoloLens. As of September 2015, Mojang has 50 employees. This year the company has released a game called Cobalt and Minecraft Story Mode, which is still in development.
3. Instabridge
The company was founded in 2012 and was launched with the sole purpose to build the world’s biggest WiFi network by allowing users to easily connect to their friends' and families' Wi-Fi networks via Facebook. “When I was [working] at Ericsson, we were launching mobile TV. Everyone was expecting that most usage would be when people were mobile. It turned out to be the other way around. Most usage was in people's homes. The typical use case was that the kids were occupying the TV, while the parents were lying on the sofa behind the kids watching mobile TV. So from there I learned that most data usage on smartphones is in people homes,” Instabridge CEO Niklas Agevik said for Wired.co.uk.
4. Spotify
Music streaming giant Spotify was founded in October 2006 by Stardoll former CTO Daniel Ek,and TradeDoubler co-founder Martin Lorentzon. The site launched on October 7, 2008 and is now available in over 50 languages.
According to Wikipedia, As of May 2015, Spotify is available for Android, BlackBerry, Boxee, iOS, Linux, MeeGo,Microsoft Windows desktop, Openpandora, OS X, Roku, S60 (Symbian), Samsung Smart TV,Sonos, HEOS by Denon,[16][17] PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Squeezebox, Telia Digital-tv, TiVo,WD TV, webOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone. Stockholm - based music streaming site is written in C++ and currently has 75 million users worldwide.
5. Klarna
Stockholm-based e-commerce company Klarna was founded in 2005 by CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth, and Victor Jacobsson who first presented their start-up idea at the Stockholm School of Economics annual entrepreneurship award.
Written in Erlang, Klarna offers its customers a simplified way of buying items online. It is way easier compared to PayPal and according to Klarna’s official website, ‘the easier it is for people to shop, the more you'll sell.’ The payment platform offers its services in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech republic, and the US.
6. Wrapp
Founded in Stockholm in 2011 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs, Wrapp allows its users to send their Facebook friends free and paid gift cards in an easy way, without having to know their e-mails or addresses. Wrapp’s investors and board of directors include Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and former global CEO of H&M and Eddie Bauer Fabian Månsson are some of Wrapp’s investors and board of directors’ members.
“We believe in making shopping better. Smarter, personal and more rewarding. That’s why we introduce the new Wrapp, an app that comes with a credit card. Together they add IQ to every purchase. They give you the offers and rewards you deserve, from the brands you like — on your terms,” according to Wrapp’s official website.
7. King
Dublin-based social games company King Digital Entertainment (King) is a Swedish company founded in August 2003 by Riccardo Zacconi (CEO) and Melvyn Morris. King, best known as the maker of Candy Crush, is Facebook’s biggest game developer. As of 2014 the company has a revenue of $2.260 billion, an operating income of $661.00 million, and a net income of $575.00 million. According to King’s official website, the company has developed over 200 fun titles, and offers games in over 200 countries and regions worldwide.
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