Growth Readiness Programme – Connecting Swedish tech start-ups with London based investors

The Growth Readiness Programme is designed for start-ups or businesses looking to expand their networks in the UK and get first-hand advice from experienced venture capital investors on their growth journey. The programme, and its mentors, offers support, guidance and help in understanding the invesment landscape and funding options available for businesses, tips on how to approach and work with investors, and connects you with one of the largest investment communities in the world. The Application round for the programme of 2020/2021 is currently open.

Contents of the programme

The programme offers a combination of workshops, presentations, mentoring, wider access to a powerful network of Swedish-British investment and tech professionals.

The programme includes four in-person evening meet-ups in London over the course of one year. Facilitated by a programme director, the meet-ups address topics that are relevant in preparing your business for growth and ‘getting your ducks in a row’. What type of investors and finance options are available to you? What are investors looking for? How do you work with your investor once onboard? During the meet-ups all the businesses and mentors will get to network, discuss key business topics and ways forward. It will help you develop practical skills, tools and knowledge to bring your business to the next level. In addition to the joint meet-ups, and throughout the year, the mentors are available to assist you based on your needs and their relevant expertise.

The Programme will help you to

Accelerate your business’ journey to raising capital
Better understand the various sources of finance and capital available to growth businesses in the largest financial centre in the world
Develop practical understanding of what investors will be looking for, and how to prepare appropriately
Develop a unique eco-system of connections and potential door openers in the London based investment community
Share experiences with other businesses on similar journeys to yours
Increase your brand awareness and gain marketing exposure towards the Swedish-British business community
Gain free access to events and courses hosted by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce and partnering organisations in conjunction with the meet-ups in London

Said about the Growth Readiness Programme

"Wow - what a great set of companies and founders! It has been really great year, working with the participants as well as with the other mentors and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. A year not without challenges, but which also made it all the more insightful and rewarding."

Ulrika Werdelin, Chief Platform Officer, Accel

Said about the Growth Readiness Programme

“The SCC Growth Readiness Programme gave me a chance to meet with lots of new and innovative start ups from Sweden and enabled me to share my experiences on scaling, expanding into the UK, and building high performing teams.”

Yusuf Özdalga, Partner, QED Investors

Said about the Growth Readiness Programme

"Amazing founders - continuing to impress during a challenging year! Working together with such high-quality startups and excellent mentors with different perspectives has been truly rewarding. It was made all the better by the highly structured approach of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. I am excited to follow these startups as they grow into unicorns!"

Malin Holmberg, Partner, Target Global

Said about the Growth Readiness Programme

"For us the Growth Readiness Programme has been an excellent way to further grow our UK network of investors and industry professionals. The programme has given us a never before experienced connection to investors, with conversations on business opportunities and challenges, both during our 1-2-1s and in settings together with other entrepreneurs. A big praise to the SCC for being agile and restructuring the programme in order to continue creating value, when the world turned upside-down during covid-19."

Erik Wallin, CMO and Co-founder of Northfork

Strengthening Swedish-British business ties

"We want to be the bridge between Swedish companies seeking growth capital and the large ecosystem of investors in London." Read the feature on the Chamber's Growth Readiness Programme in Sweden's leading business daily, Dagens Industri.

Read the full article: https://bit.ly/2meqjY8

Peter Sandberg, Managing Director, Swedish Chamber of Commerce

Growth Readiness Programme 2019/2020: Meetup 1

The first meetup featured a panel discussion followed by a speed dating session between mentors and mentees.

See more photos from the first meetup here: https://bit.ly/34V0jSK

Confirmed Mentors for 2020/2021

William Mercer

Venture Director, Zag

William is an early stage business strategist, who helps entrepreneurs turn ideas into sustainable businesses. His experience spans finance, venture capital and consultancy. William has founded four ventures and is an adviser to five tech start-ups. He is currently Venture Director at Zag, a hands-on early stage venture fund.

Ulrika Werdelin

Chief Platform Officer, Accel

Ulrika Werdelin is responsible for talent, organisation, brand and the broader Accel eco-system in Europe. She is an experienced senior manager of investment companies, including PE, growth, VC, distressed debt and real estate with a focus on managing projects, people and transactions. Ulrika Werdelin has twenty years of experience in the Financial Services industry including positions as MD and European COO of Goldman Sachs PIA and COO of Lapithus.

Conor Scanlan

Principal, Frog Capital

Conor Scanlan is a Principal at Frog Capital, and a core part of their deal origination, execution and due diligence activity. He is part of the investment team that led Frog’s investments and ongoing work in Dealflo and Vulog. Prior to Frog, Conor spent 4 years at Arma Partners, where he advised on several high profile European technology transactions, including the sales of Momondo, CarTrawler and Metrologic. He also has spent time at Forward Partners, an early stage VC based in London, investing in Applied AI, ecommerce and marketplace start-ups.

Yusuf Özdalga

Partner, QED Investors

Yusuf is a London based Partner at QED Investors with a focus on European financial technology and consumer fi- nance companies. Yusuf joined QED in 2017, and his career has spanned roles as an operator, advisor, entrepreneur and investor. His current portfolio of investments include Wage- stream, Zopa, and GAIN Credit.

Henry Gladwyn

Principal, OMERS Ventures

Henry Gladwyn, Principal at OMERS Ventures, is responsible for research and execution of investment opportunities as well as of supporting portfolio companies post-investment. Prior to joining OMERS Ventures, Gladwyn was an investor at BGF Ventures where he led several Series A & B investments including the Cybersecurity startup, Garrison Technology, and the biometric identity platform, AimBrain.

Hussein Kanji

Analyst, Hoxton Ventures

Hussein Kanji is a London-based venture capitalist, who backs tech start-ups to become “giants in their field”. He is a founding partner of London-based VC Hoxton Ventures. Prior to Hoxton, Kanji spent time at Accel in London and at Microsoft in the U.S., as well as at various companies in Silicon Valley. Kanji has a strong background in enterprise software, internet infrastructure and consumer internet products.

Triin Linamagi

VP Investments, The Venture Collective

Lina Wenner

Principal, firstminute capital

Lina Wenner joined firstminute from the Boston Consulting Group, where she worked alongside global corporates across Consumer, Energy and Heavy Industrials, advising on digital strategy, restructuring and M&A as a member of the corporate finance team. At firstminute, Wenner leads on sourcing for the Nordic and German-speaking regions and has a strong interest in digital health, robotics, direct-to-consumer brands and femtech.

Joe Knowles

Principal, Smedvig Capital

Joe Knowles is Principal at Smedvig Capital, having joined in 2015. He is currently a board member of Infinity, Poq, Adzuna and Masabi and was on the board of Picture Production Company prior to exit in 2017 and My Home Move in 2019. Joe spends half his time finding and executing investments. This means meeting with hundreds of ambitious founders to understand their mission to improve the world we live in by bringing technology to life (the fascinating part). He spends the other half of his time working with the teams he has backed to help them achieve their ambition (the rewarding part).

Malin Holmberg

Partner, Target Global

Malin Holmberg, Partner at Target Global, works with inspirational startups, challenging old industries and building new category leaders. Her role is both to find and invest in the right entrepreneurs, as well as support them post investment. Prior to this, Malin was the CEO of large subscription-based businesses and has experience in scaling up teams and processes, driving hyper-growth and restructuring/pivoting businesses.

Daniel Glazer

London Office Managing Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Daniel Glazer is an American technology lawyer, strategic business advisor, and the founding partner of WSGR's London office. Since the 2010 launch of the UK Government's "Tech City" initiative, he has focused on supporting high-growth UK and other European companies with U.S. expansion and fundraising, and connecting the UK and wider European tech communities with U.S. investors, corporates, advisors and other stakeholders.

Archie Mason

Director, True

Archie is Director at retail and consumer innovation and in- vestment firm True. Archie works with True’s global Partners, including M&S, John Lewis Partnership, TJX and Shell Retail, to provide sustained, filtered, pre-emptive access to a flow of relevant technology innovation supporting their most materi- al corporate priorities. Archie previously lead JLP Ventures, the innovation team of the John Lewis Partnership, and prior to that, was a Strategy Consultant at at PwC.

Jenny Tooth

Chief Executive, UK Business Angels Association

Jenny Tooth has since July 2012 taken the role of CEO of the UK Business Angels Association, the trade body for angel and early stage investing, which superseded the British Business Angels Association. Jenny provided strategic support to BBAA since its establishment in 2004, supporting both policy and interfacing with Government, as well as developing the trade body’s major annual events, before becoming the founding CEO of UKBAA. Jenny has over 20 years’ experience of supporting SMEs access to investment, both in the UK and internationally.

Mentors 2019/2020

Daniel Freeman

Managing Partner, C5 Capital

Henry Gladwyn

Principal, OMERS Ventures

Malin Holmberg

Partner, Target Global

Hussein Kanji

Analyst, Hoxton Ventures

Joe Knowles

Principal, Smedvig Capital

Triin Linamagi

VP Investments, The Venture Collective

William Mercer

Venture Director, Zag

Conor Scanlan

Principal, Frog Capital

Sitar Teli

Managing Partner, Connect Ventures

Jenny Tooth

Chief Executive, UK Business Angels Association

Lina Wenner

Principal, firstminute capital

Ulrika Werdelin

Chief Platform Officer, Accel

Yusuf Özdalga

Partner, QED Investors

Archie Mason

Director, True

Daniel Glazer

London Office Managing Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Participating Companies 2019/2020

Beleco

Sebastian Rudenstam

Beleco is a design-tech startup that offers furniture on-demand. Their concept brings together high-quality design with simplicity and high availability letting users access items both shorter and longer time. Sebastian is co-founder and CBDO at Beleco. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

debricked

Daniel Wisenhoff

debricked creates automated tools and services to make the digital landscape a safer place for companies. Its focus area is on how businesses can use open source components to speed up the development of their products and services but by avoiding the risks associated with open source.

GoFrendly

Claudia Gård, CEO & Ulrika Lilja, COO

Friendship is a fundamental need for women around the world. GoFrendly is an all-female friendship app that provides women with a safe match-making tool for meeting new friends and maintaining friendship. GoFrendly is the fastest growing platform for friendship in the Nordics and is now taking the next step to revolutionize friendship for millions around the world.

HomeMaker

Sebastian Karlsson

A SaaS company digitizing the Real Estate and Construction industry. Creating and enhancing revenue streams, enables construction efficiency. Sebastian is the CEO of Homemaker. The company was founded in 2014 and is currently based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Humly

Kristoffer Persson & Gustav Bild

A digital marketplace that connects schools with educators that makes a difference.
Kristoffer, CPO and Gustav, CEO are the co-founders of Humly. The company was founded in 2015 and is currently expanding to Norway and the UK.

Natta

Jon Sprank

Natta is a voice first technology platform building apps on Amazon Alexa / Google Assistant / Siri Smart Speakers. Jon is the founder of Natta and has previously work with Swedish Startups on their growth journeys, from fintech to unicorn. The company is in an early stage and will begin to launch in the UK market.

Northfork

Erik Wallin & Robin Rendahl

Northfork enables a user journey based on recipe and meal plan shopping that reduce time to check out, leading to higher conversion. Erik, CMO and Robin, CEO are co-founders of Northfork. The company was founded in 2014 and is active in Europe and the US. They are now planning to expand to the UK.

StoryTourist

Anderas Jansson & Johanna Forsman

StoryTourist is a tourism experience where books, films and other stories come to life, turning the world around us into a playground for the imagination.

Spiideo

Fredrik Ademar & Patrik Olsson

Spiideo makes advanced sports video recording easy, useful and accessible for athletes and coaches. In practice as well as competition, Spiideo solutions are successfully used within a wide variety of areas, ranging from individual sports like track and field, swimming, skiing to field team sports like soccer, handball etc.

Tipser

Marcus Jacobsson

Tipser is the e-commerce backbone for publishers. A customized Concept Store with full inventory, e-commerce tools for editors and buyable content. Marcus is the founder and CEO of Tipser. The company was founded in 2012 and will soon be expanding to the UK.

YourPdi

Patricia Ingemarsson & Jenny Wouri

YourPDi is the GO-TO app that makes life easy to get organised of what is important about yourself, your home, family, things and your project. Everything in one place - securly stored in the cloud. Patricia and Jenny are the co-founders of YourPDi. The company was founded in 2017 and is currently expanding to the UK.

Programme Director

Katarina Sallerfors

Katarina has more than a decade of experience advising financial services and investment firms on reputation management and strategic communications, particularly around corporate positioning, financial transactions and crisis situations. She is a Director at Greenbrook Communications and before that she worked for The Carlyle Group, as an Associate Vice President in their EMEA External Affairs team.

Participation fees

SCC member, member of partner organisation and alumni: 7500 SEK + VAT / £615 + VAT
Non-members: 15,000 SEK + VAT / £1,230 + VAT

Application

The programme is now open for applications.

APPLY HERE

Hosted in partnership with SUP46, Findec, Handelskammaren Jönköpings Län, Stockholms Handelskammare, Sting, Skåne Startups, E-Commerce Park of Sweden, Minc and other Swedish accelerators and incubators.

Get in touch

Are you interested in finding out more about the Growth Readiness Mentorship Programme? Please get in contact with Business Services Manager Anna Crona.

Anna Crona

Business Services Manager

crona@scc.org.uk

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