Chasing the tale of the unicorn: A study of stockholm's misty meadows

Chasing the Tale of the Unicorn
- A study of Sweden’s misty meadows
Albin Skog
Mats Lewan
Michael Karlström
Sergey Morgulis-Yakushev
Yixin Lu
Robin Teigland
Innovative Internet: Report 1
May 2016

2
Chasing the Tale of the Unicorn - Innovative Internet Report 1

1
Albin Skog
Mats Lewan
Michael Karlström
Sergey Morgulis-Yakushev
Yixin Lu
Robin Teigland
Center for Strategy and Competitiveness
Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research
Stockholm, Sweden
May 2016

2
SIR, Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research
Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research is an independent research foundation, founded
in 2010. The overall aim is to conduct qualified academic research within the economic sciences, which
aims to unite scientific stringency with empirical relevance. The Institute´s Board consists of professors
and other representatives from the faculty of Stockholm School of Economics. The Institute encour-
ages and supports the affiliated researchers to communicate their research findings. The purpose of the
Institute’s publications is to disseminate research concerning corporate enterprises and society.
Chairman of the Board: Professor Richard Wahlund
Head of the Institute: Johan Söderholm
Address
Box 6501, SE–113 83 Stockholm, Sverige
Visiting Address: Sveavägen 65, Stockholm
Telefon: +46 (0)8–736 90 00
www.economicresearch.se
publications@hhs.se

3
Innovative Internet: Report 1
Center for Strategy and Competitiveness,
Albin Skog, Mats Lewan, Michael Karlström, Sergey Morgulis-Yakushev,
Yixin Lu, Robin Teigland
May 2016
ISBN: 978-91-86797-24-9.
Cover photo:
“Needlework” by Jenny Downing (Flickr), licensed under CC BY 2.0
Graphic design:
Göran Lindqvist
Albin Skog
Author contact:
Albin Skog: albin.skog@hhs.se
Mats Lewan: mats@matslewan.se
Michael Karlström: michael.a.karlstrom@gmail.com
Sergey Morgulis-Yakushev: sergey.morgulis-yakushev@hhs.se
Yixin Lu: y2.lu@vu.nl
Robin Teigland: robin.teigland@hhs.se
This report is made available under a Creative Commons license, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Distributed by:
SIR, Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research
Box 6501, S-113 83 Stockholm, Sweden

4

5
Foreword....................................................................................................7
Executive summary.................................................................................8
Introduction............................................................................................12
Part I
1.Thefirststeps.....................................................................................21
2. The beginning of the Internet as we know it.................................24
3. The Internet becoming accessible for a wider public...................27
4. The inception of the IT-bubble........................................................30
5. The peak and the burst of the IT-bubble........................................34
6. The early stages of broadband and mobile Internet....................38
7. New technology, new possibilities..................................................43
8. Mobile Internet growing mature......................................................45
9. The first smartphones......................................................................49
10. Continuing development of mobile and fiber technology........52
Part II
1. Back from the boom........................................................................57
2. Connecting the dots.........................................................................62
3. The second wave..............................................................................65
4. An embedded network.....................................................................69
5. Measuring the unicorn......................................................................74
6. Embedded through formal networks.............................................80
Table of contents

6
Part III
1. Sweden’s misty meadows..............................................................93
2. Stockholm as a high technology hub............................................98
3. Conclusions.....................................................................................106
4. Moving forward...............................................................................110
Appendices
1. Methodology and limitations........................................................114
2. Literature.........................................................................................129
3. The authors.....................................................................................137
4. Center for Strategy and Competitiveness...................................140
5. Acknowledgements.......................................................................141

7
This is the first report from the three-year project, The Innovative Internet,
which is funded by the Internet Foundation in Sweden (IIS - Internetstiftels-
en i Sverige) and for which we are very grateful. In this project our primary
objective is to examine how the Internet and digitalization have influenced
entrepreneurship and innovation in Sweden.
Since this is the first report in a larger project, we would like to point out
that the results we show here should not be seen as final but rather as the
starting point of a more extensive study of a highly dynamic phenomenon.
In the future, more is most definitely to come. Indeed, what you will find
here is more descriptive material as our next step will be to continue with
our analysis, for example by extending our research net from Stockholm to
other cities within Sweden, such as Gothenburg, Linköping, Malmö, Umeå,
Uppsala, and Västerås, as we move our focus from unicorns to a broader set
of high technology startups.
We welcome feedback on the report of any kind as we believe that trans-
parency and cooperation outside our research team are key to ensuring that
our research is as thorough as possible. Furthermore, if you think you could
help us in anyway, please do not hesitate to contact us so we could discuss a
possible cooperation. If you like the report, we would be more than happy if
you could help us to spread it so that as many as possible can access the results
if they are interested.
We hope you will find the report interesting and that you will enjoy the read!
Foreword

8
Sweden, and in particular its capital city of Stockholm, is remarkably com-
petitive in the IT-sector. This is especially true when looking at the amount
of highly valued startups that Stockholm has produced during the last few
years. When counting the number of “unicorns”, i.e., high-tech startup com-
panies that achieve a valuation of at least USD 1 billion within 10 years,
Stockholm stands out as the city with the most unicorns per capita in the
world and as a region second only to Silicon Valley. This is one reason why
Stockholm in the international press has been called the “unicorn capital of
the world”.
How did Sweden arrive at this position? Indeed if one were to look at Swe-
den in the early 1990s, quite a different story would be painted. At this time,
the country experienced a deep banking crisis, in which the GDP dropped
by a total of 6% between the summers of 1990 and 1993 and unemployment
quadrupled from 3 to 12% of the labor force while the public sector deficit
worsened to as much as 12% of GDP. There were numerous bankruptcies,
and the words startup, entrepreneur, and venture capital were rarely used in
the vocabulary of Stockholm’s business circles and in the media.
This report explores the roots of this success and takes us on an initial jour-
ney through the technological developments from the 1980s to today and
through the first and second waves of IT startups in the country. While the
Swedish ecosystem is quite fertile, providing access to valuable resources such
as venture capital, human capital, and technology, Sweden does not stand
out, however, in any of these aspects. Instead we propose that it is the conver-
gence of a number of different factors over time that has created Sweden’s ex-
ceptionally fertile breeding ground. These include factors such as an enabling
business climate fueled by the highly connected informal and formal social
networks among entrepreneurs, experienced business people, politicians,
Executive summary

9
and university researchers, especially in Stockholm, that has its base in a long
history of multinational, engineering-based firms and in the 1990s IT boom
and bust as well as longsighted public initiatives and supportive government
policies, such as the highly developed and continuously maintained techni-
cal infrastructure that enabled the early adoption, development and spread
of information technology (IT) in Sweden. In this initial report, we take a
closer look at these factors.
First, we present a section that describes in detail the development of IT
and the Internet in Sweden from the 1980s until today. Among the things
the report emphasizes within this section is the state subsidy for home com-
puters, the “hem-pc-reformen”, and Stockholm city’s investment in dark-fib-
er under the name of Stokab. We further focus on how various private and
public actors promoted a competitive environment by restraining potential
monopoly positions.
Second, we discuss what happened in the late 1990s and early 2000s in
what has been the called the IT boom and bust and how this first wave of
startups have been of importance for today’s situation. It is common to dis-
cuss the IT boom primarily in terms of the bubble and the following bust in
which it was suggested that the 31 most notable IT-related companies listed
on the Stockholm stock exchange lost over SEK 300 billion in value dur-
ing the crash. However, this report shows that there is a strong connection
between the IT boom and bust and the current situation. Thus while even
if a lot of the companies of that time did not succeed in the long run, the
experience and resources that the people gained and the networks that were
created should not be underestimated in terms of their influence on today’s
competitiveness of Sweden’s high technology sector.
Continuing on this angle of networks, we turned to the entrepreneurship
literature, which has found that successful startups in fast-paced environ-
ments are those that are able to leverage their formal and informal networks
to gain access to necessary resources. Startups face two challenges to success:
1) the liability of newness and 2) the liability of smallness. These liabilities
occur as startups lack the necessary financial capital and knowledge as well as
the legitimacy of older firms, that make it difficult for the startups to search
for and acquire further resources or to develop business relationships with
suppliers, customers, partners, and other actors in their ecosystem.
Thus, we initiated an investigation of the business networks of a set of
fifteen startups divided into two groups: 1) four startups that have reached
unicorn status: Avito, Klarna, Mojang and Spotify, and 2) eleven startups
that are considered by some to have the potential to reach unicorn status:

10
FishBrain, FootWay, Fyndiq, iZettle, KnCMiner1
, LeoVegas, MAG Interac-
tive, ShapeUp, Tictail, TrueSoftware and Zound. For this research, we gath-
ered data on 17,377 individuals holding 84,568 board and leadership po-
sitions at 4,414 companies, which included our group of 15 startups and
all companies connected to them through interlocking directorates and top
management positions, during the period January 2007 to January 2016. An
interlocking directorate occurs between two companies when the same per-
son sits on the board of directors of these two companies, and they are of
interest as an interlocking directorate indicates a formal network connection
between two companies. (It should be noted that while we have extensive data
on individuals, we are primarily interested in the aggregated data at the com-
pany level and not individual data.)
In our analysis we find that there is no one “recipe for success” in terms
of the composition of the individuals holding leading positions at these 15
firms and that they become more diverse over time in terms of age and in-
ternational diversity. Furthermore, we find very few direct connections be-
tween these startups, indicating a broad set of individuals involved in these
companies within the startup ecosystem. However, when we expanded our
investigation to include the indirect connections created by board mem-
bers and top management individuals sitting together on a third company’s
board, we do find a more connected network with seven startups interlinked.
In addition, we examined to what degree approximately 100 influential
individuals from the first wave of IT boom companies were active in this
second wave. We found some direct and indirect connections indicating how
a few actors can provide the necessary resources such as capital, experience,
and know-how within a startup network.
Finally, we discuss some of the direct and indirect effects of Sweden’s gov-
ernment policies in terms of encouraging an entrepreneurial and innovative
climate as well as take a deeper look into the startup ecosystem of Stockholm.
In Stockholm alone there are more than 22,000 technology companies, and
approximately 18% of the city’s workforce is employed in technology-related
roles, with the most popular job being a programmer. Furthermore, 21,000
of the 43,000 employment positions in the ICT & Digital sector have been
created since 2008 with a heavy concentration of companies all within a dis-
tance of around 6 km within central Stockholm.2
This heavy concentration
of companies interspersed with universities, incubators and accelerators,
1. After the writing of this report had been finalized, it was announced on May 27, 2016 that KnCMiner
had filed for bankruptcy.
2. Sölvell, Örjan, Fohlin, Carl & Protsiv, Sergiy. Ekosystemet ICT & Digital: kartläggning av styrkeom-
råden i Stockholmsregionen, Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015.

11
venture capitalists and co-working spaces within the same area does much
to facilitate informal networking within the city. One aspect highlighted by
many is Stockholm’s trusting, “pay-it-forward” culture characterized by serial
entrepreneurs sharing their expertise and reinvesting in new firms as well as
by knowledge sharing among entrepreneurs, students, foreigners, and others
in informal settings or at a variety of networking events. Thus, while Stock-
holm is large enough to find the right multi-disciplinary skill set, it is still
small enough to accommodate a highly open culture and trusting relation-
ships that allow for deep levels of knowledge sharing and collaboration, even
among competitors.
We then conclude the report with a discussion and summary of the factors
we identified as leading to Sweden’s “unicorn” success followed by our next
steps. As mentioned, this report is the first in an ongoing study and we plan
to extend our investigation beyond the 15 startups to other companies in
Stockholm as well as in other cities. If you are interested in contributing or
joining our project in some form or fashion, please drop us an email. And if
there is anything you think we have misrepresented or failed to cover, please
let us know.

12
Some say we live in the age of the unicorns.
During the last few years an impressive number of Swedish companies
have risen to extreme success in a short time.3
Companies, such as Spoti-
fy, King, Mojang, Skype, and Klarna, have reached the status of a unicorn,
meaning that they are technology-driven startups that within a few years of
existence attain a valuation of one billion US dollars or more4
, while other
startups such as Tictail, Footway, Fyndiq and iZettle are considered to have
the potential to reach unicorn status. Indeed, Stockholm, the capital of Swe-
den, has more billion dollar-valued companies per capita than any other city
in the world and as a region is second in the world only to Silicon Valley.
3. How Stockholm Became a “Unicorn factory”. 2015. Knowledge@Wharton. Wharton University of
Pennsylvania. November 9. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-stockholm-became-a-
unicorn-factory/ (Accessed 2016-03-30).
4. Unicorn is a buzzword and as such the definition varies with whom you ask. Our definition is the
following: “A technology-based startup that attains a valuation of at least one billion USD within 10
years of founding and that has not been acquired by another company.”
Introduction
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Sweden Norway Denmark Finland
Number of exits
Exit value
Number of IPO
Company value at IPO
263
$23,7 Bn.
$10,5 Bn.
$7,4 Bn.
$6,3 Bn.75
58
91
Figure 1. Nordic exits and exit value per country 2000-2014.
Source: Blomqvist, Daniel. 2015. Nordic tech is on fire – almost 10% of global BUSD exits over past 10 years.
Creandum. March 16.

13
Furthermore, Sweden, with fewer than 10 million inhabitants, had 263 exits
at a total value of $23.7 billion from 2000 to 2014 (figure 1).5
Additionally, Sweden represents more than 50% of all exits and exit value
in the Nordics during the past 10 years. On a global scale, 10% of all USD
billion tech exits worldwide from 2004 to 2014 were from the Nordics, trail-
ing behind only the USA and China - quite remarkable considering that the
Nordics account for only 2% of global GDP.6
Indeed, the Nordics have the
highest ratio of exit value to GDP – 4.5%, compared to that 3.0% in the
USA or 0.3% in the Rest of EU as indicated in figure 2.7
The flow of capital into the region has not abated in 2014 and 2015 as
Swedish companies received USD 788 million of venture and growth capi-
tal, excluding private equity deals, in 20148
, and nearly USD 960 million
were invested in Sweden’s tech sector during the first nine months of 2015.9
Looking forward it will be interesting to see whether this high level of invest-
ment activity can be sustained. In the final quarter of 2015, there was already
some indication that global VC investments were slowing down as the num-
5. Blomqvist, Daniel. 2015. Nordic tech is on fire – almost 10% of global BUSD exits over past 10 years.
Creandum. March 16. http://www.creandum.com/nordic-tech-is-on-fire-almost-10-of-all-busd-exits-
last-10-years (Accessed 1016-03-30).
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
Pennsylvania.. November 9. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-stockholm-became-a-
9. Lundell, Stefan. 2015. 2015 sees record breaking venture capital rain on Swedish tech companies.
Swedish Startup Space. October 8. http://swedishstartupspace.com/2015/10/08/vcs-make-it-rain-on-
swedish-tech-companies-records-will-be-broken-this-year/ (Accessed 2016-03-30).
Nordics Rest of EU US
Rest of the WorldChina
GDP GDP GDP
GDPGDP
BUSD
Exits
BUSD
Exits
BUSD
Exits
BUSD
Exits
BUSD
Exits
2%
9% 27%
66%
22%8%
12%
13%
36%
5%
0,1x
1,1x
4,5x
0,3x 3,0x
Source: Blomqvist, Daniel. 2015. Nordic tech is on fire – almost 10% of global BUSD exits over past 10 years.
Creandum. March 16.
Figure 2. Nordic exits and exit value per region 2000-2014.

14
ber of deals fell to a quarterly level not seen since the beginning of 2013.10
Within the Nordics, the majority of the startup activity occurs in Stock-
holm, and a study by GP Bullhound found that six of a total of 40 European
Unicorns founded 2000 or later were from Stockholm (Avito, Skype, King,
Klarna, Mojang, and Spotify) while the other capital cities of Helsinki and
Copenhagen each had one (Supercell and Zendesk, respectively) and Oslo
produced none.11
Atomico suggested that Stockholm is the second most
prolific tech hub globally after Silicon Valley on a per capita basis - with 6.3
billion-dollar companies per million people compared to Silicon Valley with
8.1.12
Furthermore, Stockholm tends to command 15% of the total foreign
direct investment in the European technology sector.13
One of the areas that attracts considerable attention and investment in
Stockholm is FinTech. From 2010 to 2014, Stockholm was the number two
city in the EU, second only to London, when it comes to FinTech invest-
ments.14
From 2011 to 2015, Stockholm attracted approximately USD 659
million in investments with fifteen FinTech deals attracting USD 266 mil-
lion in investments in 2014 only, accounting for 18% of the total USD 1.5
billion FinTech investments across Europe15
as well as 32% of Sweden’s total
USD 826 million16
in investments in private companies.
It is no wonder that Sweden and its capital city of Stockholm as a fertile
breeding ground have been the subject of numerous media reports of late.
How did Sweden arrive at this position? Indeed if one were to look at Swe-
den in the early 1990s, quite a different story would be painted. At this time,
the country experienced a deep banking crisis, in which GDP dropped by
a total of 6% between the summers of 1990 and 1993 and unemployment
quadrupled from 3 to 12% of the labor force while the public sector deficit
10. RIP Good Times? Venture Capital Funding, Unicorn Births, And Mega-Deals Plummet in Q4’15.
2016. CB Insights – Blog. January 7. https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/venture-capital-fall/ (Accessed
2016-03-30).
11. GP. Bullhound. Independent technology research- European billion dollar companies 2015:
European unicorns: Do They Have Legs? 2015. http://www.gpbullhound.com/wp-content/
uploads/2015/06/GP-Bullhound-Research-Billion-Dollar-Companies-2015.pdf (Accessed 1016-03-
30).
12. Atomico. Billion dollar+ software companies founded since 2003. Year n.a. http://www.atomico.
com/explore-d3 (Accessed 1016-03-30).
14. Wesley-James, N., Ingram, C., Källstrand, C., & Teigland, R., Stockholm as a FinTech Hub,
Stockholm Business Region, June 2015.
15. Skan et al. 2015, The Future of FinTech and Banking: Digitally Disrupted or Reimagined?,
Accenture Report,
16. RIP Good Times? Venture Capital Funding, Unicorn Births, And Mega-Deals Plummet in Q4’15.
2016-03-30).

15
worsened to as much as 12% of GDP.17
There were numerous bankruptcies,
and the words entrepreneur, startup, and venture capital were rarely used in
the vocabulary of Stockholm’s business circles or in the media. Here, in the
introduction, we will present the background that is important to under-
stand before moving further in the report.
A long history of multinational, engineering-based firms
Sweden boasts a long history of numerous multinational success stories. On
the one hand, Sweden was home to Alfred Nobel who established the No-
bel Prizes - perhaps the world’s most prestigious awards inspiring innovation,
while on the other hand Sweden has produced multinational companies in
a wide variety of industries from mining, steel, pulp & paper, and industri-
al machinery to consumer products such as clothing and home appliances.
MultinationalssuchasEricssonandAtlasCopcodateasfarbackasthe1870s
and more recent success stories include IKEA and H&M that were founded
in the 1940s. Regardless of the industry, the tendency for Swedish multina-
tionals has been to pursue global strategies in order to exploit technologies
developed at home.18
These multinationals have invested significantly in in-
house R&D as well as at universities through the years, and together with
funding from the Swedish government and other sources have led Sweden to
be a global leader in terms of R&D investment. Indeed Sweden today invests
around 3.4% of its GDP in R&D, compared with the EU-wide target of 3%
in 2020, and the country has one of the highest expenditures in R&D per
capita in the world, with around 17% of research funding coming from pri-
vate funds, nonprofits, and companies, which is comparable to the US and
higher than that of many EU countries.19 20
What were the reasons for the innovative success of Sweden’s first mul-
tinationals? A study in the late 1980s by Professors Örjan Sölvell and Ivo
Zander proposed that Sweden’s industrial environment was characterized by
strong industry clusters of firms that located their core activities in a sup-
portive home base while tapping into additional resources outside the coun-
17. Bäckström, Urban. What lessons Can Be Learned from Recent Financial Crises? The Swedish
Experience. Remarks by Mr. Urban Bäckström, Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, at the Federal Reserve
Symposium “Maintaining Financial Stability in a Global Economy”, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA
August 29, 1997. http://www.riksbank.se/pagefolders/1722/970829e.pdf (Accessed 2016-03-30).
18. Sölvell, Örjan, Zander, Ivo & Porter, Michael E., Advantage Sweden, Norstedt, Stockholm, 1991.
19. Vetenskapsrådet. The Swedish system of research funding. 2015. http://www.vr.se/
inenglish/researchfunding/applyforgrants/theswedishsystemofresearchfunding.4.aad30e310ab
cb9735780007228.html (Accessed 2016-03-30).
20. Mitzner, Dennis. 2016. Sweden Is A Tech Superstar From The North. 26 January. Tech Crunch.
Crunch Network.. http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/26/sweden-is-a-tech-superstar-from-the-north/
(Accessed 2016-03-30).

16
try through their global operations.21
First, the home base facilitated inno-
vation as it provided the necessary specialized inputs such as highly skilled
labor, specialized machinery and a research infrastructure and sophisticated
demand while encouraging knowledge spill-overs due to advanced suppliers
and related industries along with a high level of domestic rivalry not only
in price competition but also in terms of quality and service. Furthermore,
within these clusters, dense formal and informal networks between firms and
their buyers, suppliers, other firms in related industries and even their com-
petitors enabled knowledge flows and promoted innovation and continuous
upgrading.22
A strong engineering background encouraged a focus on problem solv-
ing through collaboration, a collaboration that was supported through in-
formal networks as many knew each other from university, having studied
together at universities such as the Royal Institute of Technology. Finally,
global operations in which products and services developed in Sweden were
sold through the multinational’s foreign operations and at times modified
for local conditions led to international sales often accounting for the vast
majority of the multinational’s total sales. These operations enabled not only
access to additional resources but also the development of an international
orientation among managers across the organization as well as skills in or-
chestrating a variety of foreign activities and the ability to manage risks due
to shifting geopolitical and market conditions.
Moving forward, this same study by Sölvell and Zander questioned the
degree to which Sweden would be capable of making the transition from
raw-material intensive industries and “mature” industries to newer technol-
ogies as well as continuing to encourage innovation at home. The authors
countered the first point by arguing that Swedish firms were committed to
their industries, preferring not to “escape” industry crises through diversifica-
tion, such as in the USA, but to remain committed to their industry and to
survive through upgrading their products by innovating around difficulties,
investing in automation and mechanization, and seeking new product nich-
es. In this manner, they argued, Swedish firms would develop new methods,
products, systems and even new industries by building on existing strengths
as opposed to shifting resources to new and unrelated industries for which
they had no competence.
However, a more troubling issue at the time was the second point re-
lated to encouraging innovation at home. Up to the 1990s there had been
a cartelization of Swedish industry in which large firms acquired domestic

17
rivals and their spinoffs with the government supporting the development
of economies of scale through large domestic markets and reduced competi-
tion, thereby suppressing innovation. Indeed in the late 1980s, the Swedish
institutional environment stifled entrepreneurship due to employment laws
restricting small firm growth, personal and corporate taxes favoring larger
firms, and limited access to startup capital due to a lack of venture capital
markets, a business angel culture, and government programs and soft loans.
Thus, while Sweden’s history of successful multinationals has led to some
factors that can explain today’s unicorn boom, such as an underlying climate
that encourages continuous innovation and a driving interest in improve-
ment, a guiding principle that a product or service is not to be developed
for the home market of Sweden but for the global marketplace, and an inter-
national orientation and skill set among Swedish managers and even trade
unions, the same home environment that produced these multinationals did
little to promote the level of entrepreneurship the country experienced in the
first wave of Internet startups and that we continue to see growing today. We
examine this below.
From engineering multinationals to high technology
startups
In this report, we explore Sweden’s story from the first early steps or wave of
Internet-related activity in the country in the 1990s, through its populariza-
tion and the IT boom and bust in the late 1990s and early 2000s, up until the
recent developments of today or what could be seen as the second wave of
Sweden’s Internet boom. While the main focus in this report is the unicorn-
boom we are experiencing today, as we move forward with our study we will
continue to develop a broader approach to explore how the Internet and dig-
italization relate to entrepreneurship and innovation as a whole in Sweden.
Throughout our story, we have taken a special interest in social networks
by highlighting the individuals who have played an instrumental role in
some way in either the development of the technology or of a startup as well
as the networks of these individuals and their startups. We have chosen to
take such a social network perspective as there is considerable evidence that
one of the critical success factors for startups is the degree to which the start-
up leverages its external networks, and in particular those networks that are
within its region.23
Today’s highly competitive environment is characterized
by a rapidly increasing pace of innovation and shrinking product lifecycles,
23. Lechner, Christian, and Michael Dowling, ‘Firm Networks: External Relationships as Sources for
the Growth and Competitiveness of Entrepreneurial Firms’, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development,
15 (2003), 1–26.

18
the need for integration across a high diversity of exponential technologies,
and rising levels of competition from a stream of new competitors crossing
not only geographical but industrial borders as well, further fueled by falling
barriers to entry due to factors such as the cloud and falling IT startup costs.
Startups face considerable challenges to success in this fast-paced environ-
ment due to two primary factors: 1) the liability of newness24
and 2) the
liability of smallness25
. These liabilities occur as startups lack the necessary
resources such as financial capital and knowledge as well as the legitimacy of
older firms that make it difficult for the startups to search for and acquire re-
sources or to develop business relationships with suppliers, customers, part-
ners, and other actors in their ecosystem. Research shows that those startups
that are able to leverage their external networks, especially those within their
region, tend to achieve greater growth rates, as measured by revenues.
In our story below, we present three parts that we find important to high-
light in our quest to understand Sweden’s unicorn success. First, we begin by
describing how the Technology developed and penetrated Sweden’s society.
In particular, we are interested in the technological advancements and in-
novations and how they constructed the bases for and/or are a result of in-
novativeness and entrepreneurial practices. This relates to both the hardware
and software advancements and innovations.
We then discuss in more detail the first wave of Internet startups in the
1990s. Here we turn to a discussion of Money and Influence, by taking a look
at the money that was invested and earned in IT startups during the first
wave of the Internet boom and which individuals were influential during this
time and who benefited from these investments and their subsequent role, if
any, in the second wave. In the final thread of Networks, we analyze the social
networks of 15 unicorn and potential unicorn startups today by mapping
the networks of the individuals in the leading positions of these startup. In
addition to analyzing these more formal networks, we also begin our investi-
gation of the informal networks in the Stockholm region.
In this report we take these three parts and their intertwining as a basis
for understanding the recent unicorn phenomenon in Sweden. Although
the threads are single entities, they are also heavily interconnected with, and
heavily influenced by, each other. We hope to shine a light on the story from
different angles with the help of these three perspectives. And hopefully our
results will be more accessible and understandable.
If you are interested in the methodology we have used, you will find the
24. Stinchcombe, Arthur L. “Organizations and social structure.” Handbook of organizations 44.2
(1965): 142-193.
25. Baum, Joel AC, and Helaine J. Korn. “Competitive dynamics of interfirm rivalry.” Academy of
Management journal 39.2 (1996): 255-291.

19
methodology section in the end of the report. One final note, as noted
above, is that this report is only the first step in our study so we welcome any
feedback or comments you may have.

20
Part I

21
The Internet reached Sweden in the early 1980s. In April 1983, computer
engineer Björn Eriksen employed at Enea Data received what is sometimes
referred to as the first email sent to Sweden via the Internet. In 1986, Eriksen
also registered the Swedish top domain, .se, that he managed personally for
over ten years.
The first direct Internet connection was established in 1988 when the
Swedish University Computer Network, SUNET, was connected to Prince-
ton University via the Nordic University Network, Nordunet. The connec-
tion supported a total bitrate of 56 kilobit/s. As a reference, today a fiber-
based household broadband connection has more than a thousand times
higher bitrate than this first connection, and Nordunet’s total connectivity
to the Internet has almost half a million times higher bitrate than in 1988.
The choice of the Internet protocol, IP, for communication in Nordunet,
was not evident at this time since other established protocols were compet-
ing. Early Internet applications were mainly e-mail, FTP (file transfer pro-
tocol) and discussion groups or newsgroups—Usenet. It was first in 1990
that Tim Berners-Lee and his team at CERN developed the tools necessary
for the World Wide Web, www—the application protocol http, the markup
language html, the first web server and the first web browser. In December
Berners-Lee published the world’s first web page.
According to the Swedish Internet pioneer, Patrik Fältström, those who
primarily took advantage of communication via the Internet were physicists
who needed the connection to send large datasets to computer centers for
processing for example from the space observatory in Onsala, Sweden. 26
Commercial activities were not initially allowed on SUNET, but in 1991,
Swedish companies obtained access to the Internet through the first Swedish
26. Fältström, Patrik; Head of Research and Development at Netnod. Interview 2016-02-04
1. The first steps

22
commercial Internet service provider Swipnet, a subsidiary of Comvik Sky-
port, later Tele2. This initiative was driven by the association Swedish Net-
work Users’ Society (SNUS), which had initially approached the Swedish
telecommunications agency Televerket. Televerket, however, had declined to
build an IP-based network. Later the same year, Televerket launched its own
competing network, Tipnet.
Patrik Fältström considers the choice of IP as a protocol, in Nordunet,
SUNET and other networks, to be of fundamental importance since it
made it possible to run virtually any kind of application over the network.
He argues that when the cost of communication was detached from distance,
worldwide exchange of information was transformed and started involving
culture, values, norms and new business models, independently of whether
you had money or not.27
Bengt Nordström, founder and CEO of the Sweden-based international
mobile network consultancy firm, Northstream, raises another perspective.
He recalls that the ISDN technology, which made it possible to integrate
voice and data communication over the copper-based telecom network, was
developed and aggressively marketed by Ericsson and other telecom vendors
in the beginning of the 1980s. Yet, no one had a good explanation at that
time as to what ISDN should be used for.
Nordström points out that the answer came only with the Internet and
the www in the 1990s, but that ISDN fairly quickly then turned out to have
a capacity that was too poor for a good quality experience of using the www
and other Internet applications.
He believes that from an innovation point of view, the fundamental shift
that the introduction of the Internet brought was that network-based inno-
vation was moved away from telecom operators and vendors to a free market,
building products and services based on creativity and on a wide variety of
business cases.
Nordström argues that we should be extremely grateful for this shift, and
makes a point of noting that incumbent telecom operators made various ef-
forts to maintain their monopoly position, e.g., by prohibiting phones not
sold by themselves to be connected to the telephone network until the late
1990s, claiming technical reasons for such a restriction.28
A first step in breaking up the old telecom monopolies was the deregula-
tion of the telecom markets. In Sweden, Televerket was divided into several
parts in 1993. The regulatory role was moved to the governmental authority
Telestyrelsen, later the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, PTS; the broad-
28. Nordström, Bengt; CEO and co-founder of Northstream. Interview 2016-01-27

23
cast networks were transferred to the state-owned company Teracom while
both telecom networks and services remained tied to each other in another
state-owned company, Telia.
During the late 1980s and beginning of 1990s, several propositions from
political parties (e.g., Moderaterna, Folkpartiet), agencies and other organi-
zations had highlighted the importance of separating services and networks
for increased competition, but Televerket strongly opposed this model and
obtained support from the Social Democrats. On two occasions, 1991 and
1992, the parliament voted against such a division of Televerket.
In a master thesis from 1999, Bertil Andersson at the Royal Institute of
Technology (KTH), in Stockholm analyzes the discussions and investi-
gations on this topic. He compares it with the analogue separation of the
Swedish railway system and of the Swedish electric power system, and he
concludes that the consequences of the decisions regarding Televerket were
poorly examined, while there was also an important inertia in the telecom-
munication system due to a homogeneous system culture.
He also notes that the strong financial crisis at the time for the decisions
in 1991 and 1992 reasonably made policymakers less prone to making risky
decisions, particularly since Televerket provided important revenues to the
state.29
According to Bengt G Mölleryd, Ph.D. and Senior Analyst at PTS, what
seems to be politically-initiated processes often depend less on actions by
policymakers and more on events that happen for other reasons. For exam-
ple, he sees the poor network quality of British Telecom and a weak financial
situation for the British State as important reasons for bringing private capi-
tal into the British telecom sector.
He also believes that entrepreneurs play an important role in market devel-
opment through introducing new products and services and also influencing
the market, e.g., Jan Stenbeck who through his company Kinnevik put signif-
icant pressure on the incumbent operator Telia to keep up with competition
and to comply with regulations, e.g., regarding access to its infrastructure.30
In the following years, the Internet then reached a wider audience.
29. Andersson, Bertil. Varför avskiljdes inte Telias nätverksamhet? Dissertation, KTH 1999, ISSN
1103-5277.
30. Mölleryd, Bengt G; Ph. D. and Senior Analyst at PTS. Interview 2016-01-26.

24
The first Swedish website was published by the computer association Lysator
at the University of Linköping in 1993. In 1994 the Swedish Prime Minister
Carl Bildt sent an email to President Bill Clinton, and the same year the
Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet launched its website that still is one of Sweden’s
most visited.
Partly as a reaction to Telia’s ownership of both networks and services,
and partly to avoid a difficult situation in large cities such as London where
some streets were constantly excavated to lay down fiber networks, the city
of Stockholm founded the municipal fiber infrastructure company Stokab in
1994. That is how Anders Broberg, Chief Communications Officer at Stok-
ab describes the background of the company, indicating Carl Cederschiöld,
Mayor of Stockholm, at the time, and Mats Hulth, leader of the opposition
and Mayor of Stockholm before and after Cederschiöld, as the main propo-
nents. 31
Following a model almost unique in the world, Stokab started building a
network in Stockholm based on dark fiber, i.e., optic fibers, without any com-
munication or laser equipment attached, inviting anyone to install equip-
ment for activating the fibers, and investing all resulting profits in further ex-
pansion of the network. Early customers were banks that wanted controlled
connections between their branches, the county healthcare administration
Landstinget, and the city of Stockholm itself.
In the following 19 years, Stokab would invest SEK 5.4 billion in the net-
work, resulting in benefits for the municipality, the county, businesses and
end users at a value of SEK 16 billion, according to a report by the Swedish
consultancy firm Acreo.32
31. Broberg, Anders; Chief Communications Officer at Stokab. Interview 2016-01-27.
32. M. Forzati, C. Mattsson. Stokab, a socio-economic study, Acreo report acr055698, Stockholm: Acreo,
2013.
2. The beginning of the Internet
as we know it

25
In 1994 the results from the Swedish general elections were also distrib-
uted to media via e-mail for the first time. According to Patrik Fältström,
who was involved in this project, this meant that all Swedish newspapers,
TV and radio networks had to obtain access to email, which in turn made
them invite their readers and audience to contact them via email, giving or-
dinary people a reason to obtain Internet access.33
That same year, consumers were offered Internet access through telephone
modems by Swedish Algonet, which launched in 1994. Contributing to user
friendliness on the Internet was the release of the first Netscape web browser
in 1994, introducing on-the-fly display of text and graphics on web pages
while they loaded which made the web experience more tolerable on slow
dial-up connections. Developed mainly by Marc Andreessen, Netscape was
now freely available for non-commercial use.
The year after, in 1995, the major Swedish discussion forum Flashback
opened its website as well as the web portal Spray Network, and in 1996,
Swedish Posten launched its web portal Torget.se and the Internet consultan-
cy firm Icon MediaLab was founded. Maybe not incidentally, in 1996, the
Swedish Trade Federation-owned consultancy firm HUI Research, declared
the Christmas Gift of the Year to be an Internet connection kit.34
In1997,Telia’sdominantpositionwasdiscussedagainpolitically,thistime
with a focus on the copper-based access network—the last mile—which was
proposed to be put in a separate company or at least subject to transparent
and separate economic reports. The parliament chose the latter. In his thesis,
Bertil Andersson concludes that while the telecom system culture was less
homogeneous at this point, a political interest to strengthen Telia before an
upcoming IPO and also an idea of promoting the Swedish telecom market
by supporting one strong player might have influenced the decision.35
Also in 1997, The Internet Foundation in Sweden (IIS), which was pre-
viously called .SE, was founded through a cooperation between the Royal
Institute of Technology and the aforementioned Internet pioneer, Björn
Eriksen, as a non-profit organization with two major objectives. The first ob-
jective was to take over the management of the Swedish top domain .se from
Björn Eriksen, initially through the subsidiary NIC-SE. The second was to
support the development of Internet infrastructure in Sweden36
through ac-
tivities such as its own research and providing in-depth statistics on every
aspect of Swedish Internet and computer usage. IIS also funds external re-
34. HUI Research. Årets julklapp. http://www.hui.se/arets-julklapp (Accessed 2016-02-08).
35. Andersson, Bertil. Varför avskiljdes inte Telias nätverksamhet? Dissertation, KTH 1999, ISSN
1103-5277.
36. IIS. Historik. https://www.iis.se/om/historik/ (Accessed 2016.04.10).

26
search connected to its field of interest, such as this report.
Arguably, one of the most important events in 1997 from an Internet
point of view was the political decision on the Home PC reform. The re-
form, which became effective 1998, made it possible for employees to rent a
personal computer at favorable conditions, paying for the rent with a deduc-
tion on the salary before tax. After an agreed period, often three years, the
computer could be bought at a second-hand market rate.

27
Between January 1998 and December 2001, 850,000 Home PCs were deliv-
ered. Of these, 100,000 replaced earlier Home PCs, while 375,000 went to
households already owning a personal computer. Thus 375,000 households
received their first computer through the reform. Counting all households,
maybe one million individuals obtained their first computer, or around 11%
of the Swedish population at that time.
The cost of the Home PC reform during these years turned out to be high-
er than expected—about SEK 3.9 billion in lost tax revenues. It also favored
people with high income rather than those with a low income, employed
rather than retired, and those with good health rather than sick people,
meaning that those who were already largely excluded from the new oppor-
tunities that Internet technology brought were not helped by the reform.
On the other hand, it could be argued that the money required to imple-
ment the reform should not be seen as a cost but as an investment, just as any
investment in computer technology made by private companies and other
organizations.37
The advantageous conditions of the Home PC reform were reduced in
2007 through benefit taxation. Until then 2.2 million Home PCs had been
delivered, but at that point the reform was not considered to contribute ef-
fectively to increasing computer penetration in Sweden any longer, and was
mostly requested by companies making a profit on selling the Home PCs
through different agreements. Overall, however, it is probable that the re-
form increased IT maturity in Sweden since Sweden later was top ranked as
an IT country, together with countries such as Denmark and Norway that
37. 4 miljarder notan för hem-pc-reformen. Computer Sweden, IDG. 2002-08-02. http://
computersweden.idg.se/2.2683/1.40813/4-miljarder-notan-for-hem-pc-reformen (Accessed 2016-02-
08).
3. The Internet becoming accessible
for a wider public

28
also had implemented similar programs.38
In 1998, Google was founded and soon outpaced the search engine Al-
tavista, established in 1995, which in turn had outpaced search engines and
portals such as Lycos, Infoseek, Webcrawler, and to some extent Yahoo.
Google’s innovation was to add information on links to the indexing/re-
trieval algorithms, which made them significantly more effective.
An important event from a digitization and Internet perspective was the
launch of the file sharing system Napster in June 1999. File sharing was not
new—it was a natural part of people’s interest to exchange information, orig-
inally using removable media.
Napster, however, is considered to be the first peer-to-peer file sharing sys-
tem, meaning that users could announce what files they had on their com-
puters and share files with people whom they did not know, without storing
the files on an intermediate location.
Maybe P2P file sharing, more than anything else before, made evident the
fact that the marginal cost of copying digital content was almost zero, there-
by disrupting earlier prospering business models, the music industry being
the first to be affected.
Copying and sharing music files without the consent of the rights holder
was and still is illegal, but this did not change the innovative impact that the
digital technology would have on business models.
Napster faced litigation, and this might have encouraged technical inno-
vation—Napster required a central server for file indexing and peer discov-
ery. Later file sharing systems, such as Gnutella, eDonkey2000, Freenet and
Limewire released in 2000, and Kazaa, Poisoned and Bittorrent in 2001,
were distributed, meaning that no central server was required. Some of them
also included anonymity and encryption.
Early uptake of music file sharing seems to have been stronger in Sweden
than globally, concluding from the decline in revenue from sales of registered
music. Globally, the revenue decreased by about 20% from 1999 to 200439
,
while the corresponding value in Sweden was about 35%.40
Possibly an early uptake of file sharing combined with early computer and
Internet penetration in Sweden laid the foundation for innovation of ser-
38. Ilijason , Robert. Hem-pc:n på väg ut – så klarar du dig. Computer Sweden, IDG. 2007-08-21. www.
idg.se/2.1085/1.98978 (Accessed 2016-02-08).
39. McDuling, John. Meet Charles Caldas, the Aussie who took on Apple with Taylor Swift. The Sydney
Morning Herald. 2015-10-23. http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/the-aussie-
who-stared-down-apple-and-won-20151020-gkeb23.html (Accessed 2016-02-08).
40. Larsson, Markus. Förhållandet mellan CD-försäljning, digital musikförsäljning,
framföranderättigheter, privatkopieringsersättning och konsertintäkter. Dissertation, KTH, 2009.
https://www.nada.kth.se/utbildning/grukth/exjobb/rapportlistor/2009/rapporter09/larsson_
markus_09065.pdf

29
vices such as Spotify, as is sometimes claimed.
Blogging was another Internet application that increased significantly at
the end of the 1990s, with the term ‘weblog’ coined in 1997. It started many
years earlier, but tools making it easy to update the blog without html edit-
ing—e.g., Blogger, Pitas—were launched in 1999, strengthening the uptake.
Much attention to Internet services in the late 1990s was focused on ‘dot-
com’ companies, trying to figure out the new business models that digital
technology both required and made possible.
Many of them failed after the ‘dot-com bubble’ bust in 2000, one of the
most well-known being Swedish online commerce company Boo.com. From
a technological point of view, many of the tools for creating an attractive
web shop online were already available. The problem, specifically in the case
of Boo.com, was that such features made the websites much too heavy to
load for most customers who normally still relied on dial-up Internet con-
nections.
Another Swedish dot-com company was Bredbandsbolaget, founded in
1998, offering fixed broadband connections. In 1999, co-founder Jonas Birg-
ersson obtained a framework agreement with the cooperative housing asso-
ciation HSB, involving 350,000 households. Telia immediately announced
plans to invest SEK 1.4 billion in broadband access networks.41
Bredbandsbolaget was among those dot-com companies that survived
and were fairly successful after the bust, suggesting that modern digital infra-
structure offered an early viable business case. Another company that went
well was the auction site Tradera, maybe indicating industries where the con-
ditions to develop successful digital business models were already present.
41. Ericsson, AnnCharlotte. Nu blir det strid om nätsurfarna. Aftonbladet. 1999-08-27. http://wwwc.
aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9908/27/bredband.html (Accessed 2016-02-08).

30
The IT boom or dot-com bubble as it is also called, started to expand aggres-
sively around 1997, before it reached its peak in 2000. “The New Economy”
became a widespread term used to describe the new economic conditions,
which were considered to have arisen in the wake of Internet penetration.42
In “The New Economy”, rapid growth and global expansion was the name of
the game, and profitability was considered less important.
The IPO of Netscape in August 1995 is often considered the starting point
for the bubble.43
The share price had been set to be offered at US$14, but a
last-minute decision doubled the initial offering to US$28 per share. During
the first day of trading, Netscape’s stock value soared to US$75.44
At the end
of the day Netscape was worth two billion US dollars in the stock market,
although most of the users never had paid for the company’s only product -
the Navigator browser.45
The Swedish journalist and author Björn Elmbrant,
remembers how exaggerated expectations of future profits became the driv-
ing force of company valuations during the heydays of the IT boom.46
To
exemplify this, Elmbrant refers to an article written in 1999 by Björn Wilke
who estimated that the seven biggest IT-consulting companies in Sweden
needed to hire 42,000 new employees to defend their valuations.
In the radio documentary “IT-bubblan” (in English “the IT bubble”),
42. Den Nya Ekonomin. Wikipedia. 2013. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_nya_ekonomin
(Accessed 2016-02-05).
43. Dotcombubblan. IDG.se IT-ord. nd. http://it-ord.idg.se/ord/dotcombubblan/ (Accessed 2016-
02-24); IT-bubblan. Internetmuseum.se. nd. http://www.internetmuseum.se/tidslinjen/it-bubblan/
(Accessed 2016-02-24); Berg, Anton. P3 Dokumentär - IT-bubblan [Radio]. Stockholm: Sveriges
Radio. 2007. http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/93814?programid=2519. 35-39 min.
44. Netscape. Wikipedia. 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape (Accessed 2016-02-24)
45. Dotcombubblan. IDG.se IT-ord. nd. http://it-ord.idg.se/ord/dotcombubblan/ (Accessed 2016-02-
24).
46. Berg, Anton. P3 Dokumentär - IT-bubblan [Radio]. Stockholm: Sveriges Radio. 2007. http://
sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/93814?programid=2519. 35-39 min.
4. The inception of the IT-bubble

31
Elmbrant mentions Icon Medialab, an IT-consulting company that was val-
ued at SEK 4.9 billion, while making a loss of SEK 299 million. Together
with Framfab, Icon Medialab is often used as a Swedish example of how the
valuations were founded on expectations rather than substance, and how the
valuations plummeted when the bubble bust. These IT-consulting compa-
nies and their founders, Johan Staël von Holstein (Icon Medialab) and Jo-
nas Birgersson (Framfab) became symbols of this time. Staël von Holstein
and Birgersson were not the sole founders, but they were the front figures,
frequently talking in the media about how the Internet would change the
world. Birgersson was often referred to as “Broadband Jesus” by journalists,
to name just one example of how these icons were presented by the media.47
Spray,CellNetworks,WineasyandHiQareothernoteworthyIT-consult-
ing companies that were founded during the inception of the IT boom. Spray
was founded in 1995 by Jonas Svensson, Johan Ihrfelt, Sebastian Knutsson,
Michael Daun, Gunnar Lindberg Årneby and Patrik Stymne. Spray started
several Internet ventures in parallel with the company’s consulting business.
These included the search engine Punkt.se and e-mail service Kurir.net,
which later became Spray Mail. The Spray.se portal was launched in 1999,
around the same time Spray sold its consulting business to Razorfish.48
Christer Sturmark founded Cell in 1996, which later became Cell Net-
works after the company merged with Mandator.49, 50
Cell Networks was
one of the world’s largest IT-consulting companies around the millennium
with more than 2000 employees. Micael Dahlén, professor at the Stockholm
School of Economics, mentioned Sturmark’s frequent appearances in the
media as a contributing factor to the soaring valuation of the company in an
interview with journalisten.se.51
Sturmark managed to receive a lot of press,
which created credibility for the company. This was essential during the new
economy according to Dahlén, as the valuations primarily were based on
projections with high degrees of uncertainty.
The story behind Wineasy is quite remarkable and a good example of how
the new economy had opened up possibilities for aspiring entrepreneurs. Jo-
hannes Bertorp was only 17 years old when he founded Wineasy in the attic
of his parents’ house in the Swedish suburb, Lidingö. He offered Internet ac-
47. Nilsson, Elisabeth. Jonas Birgersson – från rollspelare till Bredbandsjesus. IIS. 2015-10-02. https://
www.iis.se/blogg/jonas-birgersson-fran-rollspelare-till-bredbandsjesus/ (Accessed 2016-02-05).
48. Spray.se. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray.se (Accessed 2016-02-05).
49. Rönn, Cina. Cell och Mandator går ihop?. Aftonbladet. 2000-02-07. http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/
nyheter/0002/07/itjatte.html (Accessed 2016-02-05).
50. Christer Sturmark. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christer_Sturmark (Accessed
2016-02-05).
51. Nilsson, Julia. Press är guld värd för företagen. Journalisten.se. 2000-11-22. http://www.journalisten.
se/nyheter/press-ar-guld-vard-foretagen (Accessed 2016-02-05).

32
cess to companies and consumers for a lower price than the competition, and
his business grew quickly despite the lack of a marketing budget. Later at 22
years old, Bertorp sold the company to a telecom operator and made about
SEK 100 million in the deal.52
HiQ was founded in 1995 by Hans Karlsson, Rolf Andersson, Ken Ger-
hardsen and Ragnar ter Vehn,53
and is one of the few IT-consulting com-
panies that focused primarily on organic growth instead of acquisitions.54
Today, the company has managed to recover from the crash and reached a
revenue of SEK 1.5 billion in 2015.55
The opto-boom is a term used to describe the massive influx of capital
directed towards companies developing fiber-optic communication technol-
ogy. Altitun, founded in 1997 by five researchers at the Royal Institute of
Technology in Stockholm, is one of the more famous examples. Altitun de-
veloped a tunable laser, i.e., a laser that can be set to different wavelengths.
The idea was that it would become a key component of the fiber-optic broad-
band networks. The value of Altitun went from zero to SEK 8 billion in less
than three years, making it one of the companies from the new economy
with the highest valuation.56
Boss Media was founded by Joel Wikell in 1996 and is one of the few
companies during this era that was profitable.57
The company launched Gold
Club Casino in 1997, and soon thereafter Casino.com, a casino news portal.
After some time, the focus shifted towards licensing their software as a white
label solution for other online casinos.58
Another company that qualifies for this exclusive group of profitable In-
ternet companies from the mid-1990s is Blocket. Blocket is a platform for
online classifieds founded in 1996 by Henrik Nordström and Pierre Siri.59
Today, Blocket is owned by the Norwegian company Schibsted and has been
launched in more than 40 other countries. The Swedish site is familiar to
52. Cantwell, Oisin. ”Mina pengar tar inte slut”. Aftonbladet. 2000-02-28. http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/
nyheter/0002/28/wineasy.html (Accessed 2016-02-05).
53. Lindroth, Jan. Börsbubblans största vinnare. Affärsvärlden. 2002-10-30. http://www.affarsvarlden.
se/hem/nyheter/article2538053.ece (Accessed 2016-02-05).
54. HiQ. Annual Report 1999. http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/00/4C/C7/
wkr0006.pdf (Accessed 2016-02-05), p 38.
55. HiQ. Quarterly Report 2015 (Q4). http://www.hiq.se/Global/Reports_sv/Q4%20Rapport%20
2015.pdf (Accessed 2016-02-05)
56. Agerman, Per., & Pineus, Isaac. ”Världen snurrade för Altituns grundare”. Affärsvärlden. 2003-10-
22. http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article232971.ece (Accessed 2016-02-05).
57. Sjöshult, Fredrik. Wikell jagas av skattmasen. Dagens Industri. 2004-01-09. http://www.di.se/
artiklar/2004/1/9/wikell-jagas-av-skattmasen/ (Accessed 2016-02-05).
58. Boss Media. Wikipedia. 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boss_Media (Accessed 2016-02-05).
59. Blocket.se. Wikipedia. 2016. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocket.se (Accessed 2016-02-05).

33
99% of the Swedish population and receives 5 million visitors per week.60
In addition to all the Internet and technology-related companies that
came to life during these years, the Swedish market also experienced a large
number of new venture capital (VC) firms entering the market. From 1998
to 2000, a total of 24 new Swedish VC funds were founded. This was three
times more than during the substantially longer period 1983 to 1997.61
A
number of different factors could explain this trend. The Swedish govern-
ment changed strategy from actively investing to facilitating growth of the
Swedish VC industry. Institutions like Industrifonden and the Swedish Na-
tional Pension Funds were allowed to invest in small, unlisted companies.
Furthermore, the Swedish technology development also played its part as
did the soaring stock market. Thus, the combination of capital and interest-
ing projects led to a thriving Swedish VC industry.62
60. Blocket AB. Om Blocket. n.d. http://www.blocket.se/omblocket.htm (Accessed 2016-02-05).
61. Söderblom, Anna. The current state of the Venture Capital industry. In Näringspolitiskt Forum
(2012).
62. Karlén, Åse. Affärsänglarna flockas i storstäder. Esbri.se. 2007-01-15. http://www.esbri.se/referat_
utskrift_popup.asp?id=67 (Accessed 2016-03-09).

34
During the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000, there was an unprece-
dented rise in the stock market. The valuations of IT companies skyrocketed,
driven by unrealistic expectations of future growth. This period lasted until
March 2001 and was then followed by a sharp and prolonged downturn that
left many private investors in economic distress. If one accounts for indirect
investments in the stock market (e.g., through funds), 80% of the Swedish
population was exposed to the stock market during these times. Never before
had so many been affected by a financial bubble.63
Many of the most hyped
companies collapsed and belong in the history books today as warning exam-
ples of how greed and speculation can turn people blind.
The Swedish financial magazine, Affärsvärlden, concluded that the 31
most notable IT-related companies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange
lost over SEK 300 billion in value during the crash.64
However, not every-
body was hurt economically. A few individuals managed to make a fortune.
One strategy that proved successful was selling the whole company to anoth-
er organization. Altitun and Qeyton, both part of the “opto-boom”, executed
this strategy with impressive outcomes. Altitun was acquired by ADC for
SEK 8 billion in 200065
and Qeyton was acquired by Cisco for SEK 7.3 bil-
lion in 2000. Egnell, the biggest shareholder at the time, personally made
SEK 1.2 billion in the deal.66
AU-systems (acquired by Schroeder Ventures
63. Berg, Anton. P3 Dokumentär - IT-bubblan [Radio]. Stockholm: Sveriges Radio. 2007. http://
64. Agerman, Per. 300 miljarder blev luft när IT-bubblan sprack. Affärsvärlden. 2000-10-17. http://
www.affarsvarlden.se/hem/nyheter/article2565046.ece (Accessed 2016-02-24).
65. Agerman, Per., & Pineus, Isaac. ”Världen snurrade för Altituns grundare”. Affärsvärlden. 2003-10-
22. http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article232971.ece (Accessed 2016-02-05).
66. Karlberg, Lars Anders. Cisco lägger ned svenska Qeyton. Ny Teknik. 2002-10-29. http://www.
nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article227080.ece (Accessed 2016-02-24).
5. The peak and the burst
of the IT-bubble

35
in 1999, who in turn sold two spin-offs from AU to Sonera in 2000)67
, Blue-
tail (acquired by Alteon WebSystem for SEK 1.4 billion in 2000)68
, Sendit
(acquired by Microsoft for SEK 1.1 billion in 1999)69
, E*Trade (acquired by
the US E*Trade in 1999)70
, WinEasy (acquired by Tele1 Europe for SEK 150
million in 1999)71
, and Jobline (acquired by Monster for SEK 1.2 billion in
2001)72
are a few other successful examples.
Another recipe for success was selling before the crash, or at least while the
company still had a substantial value in the stock market. Several entrepre-
neurs became billionaires in a very short time but managed to get away with
“only” a couple of tens or hundreds of million Swedish crowns. The founders
of Framfab and Icon Medialab belong in this category. Birgersson, one of the
founders of Framfab, had a personal wealth of SEK 2.4 billion in September
2000, according to the Swedish journalist Andreas Cervenka.73
Bear in mind
that this is about half a year after the stock market reached its peak. However,
Birgersson did not sell his shares until his bank made him sell due to being
overleveraged, and he is estimated to have made about SEK 76 million in the
sale.74
The Vik brothers, founders of Xcelera, had better timing with their di-
vestment. The company’s share price rose by 54,000% in a single year, making
it perhaps the biggest dot-com bubble stock of the era. In March 2000, Xcel-
era was valued at $11.7 billion and Alexander and Gustav Vik are rumored to
have made about SEK 10 billion from selling their shares.75 76
Others, like Jonas Svensson, one of the founders of Spray, were not as suc-
cessful. Svensson, whose holdings were valued at SEK 1.3 billion during the
peak, ended up with SEK 15 million in debts. According to Svensson, he
67. AU-systems. Wikipedia. 2013. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/AU-System (Accessed 2016-02-24).
68. Blomén, Anna. “Affärsängeln bakom Klarna”. Privata Affärer. 2012-08-24. http://www.
privataaffarer.se/nyaaffarer/na-nyheter/affarsangeln-bakom-klarna-438925 (Accessed 2016-02-24).
69. Granlund, Fredrik. “Microsoft lägger ned Sendit”. Ny Teknik. 2002-06-03. http://www.nyteknik.
se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article224584.ece (Accessed 2016-02-24).
71. Cantwell, Oisin. ”Mina pengar tar inte slut”. Aftonbladet. 2000-02-28. http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/
72. “Guldregn över grundaren när Jobline blir USA-ägt”. Dagens Industri. 2001-05-25. http://www.
di.se/artiklar/2001/5/25/guldregn-over-grundaren-nar-jobline-blir-usa-agt/ (Accessed 2016-02-24).
73. Cervenka, Andreas. Jonas Birgersson rikare än någonsin. Affärsvärlden. 2000-09-18. http://www.
affarsvarlden.se/hem/nyheter/article2564454.ece (Accessed 2016-02-24).
74. Cervenka, Andreas. De blev rika på Framfab. Affärsvärlden. 2001-05-07. http://www.affarsvarlden.
75. Vardi, Nathan. Alexander Vik Is The Most Interesting Man In The World (As Long As He Doesn’t
Owe You Money). Forbes. 2014-03-05. http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/03/05/the-
riddle-of-alexander-vik/#4df667ae17e0 (Accessed 2016-02-24)

36
was prepared for a decline in the range of 97-98%, not 99.5%.77
The term
“burn rate”, which is a measure for how fast a company uses up its share-
holder capital, became widespread during this era.78
A high burn rate was a
sign of high ambitions and aggressive growth, something that was promoted
by investors. A low burn rate, on the other hand, was not in line with the “get
big, fast” mantra that prevailed during these times. When the market started
crumbling and investors demanded results, this strategy backfired as many
companies burned through their bank accounts without being able to raise
additional capital. However, the ones that managed to stay liquid during the
crash, for example by adopting a more conservative expansion strategy or by
managing to raise capital despite the tough market conditions, could fight
through the hard times. Some, like Tradera, Blocket and Bredbandsbolaget
came out on the other side as winners. Both Tradera (acquired by eBay in
2006)79
and Blocket (acquired by Schibsted in 2003)80
are two of the biggest
online marketplaces in Sweden today, and Bredbandsbolaget (acquired by
Telenor in 2005) is the third most popular broadband supplier in Sweden81
.
It is hard to say what caused the crash. It does not seem to be one single
event but rather several drops that finally made the glass overflow. At one
point, reality caught up with investors. According to Jonas Birgersson, the
fundamental belief that the Internet would be important to businesses, was
correct. However, to value a consulting company with 3000 employees at
SEK 42 billion was unrealistic.82
One event that signifies the end of the
boom is the bankruptcy of the fashion ecommerce site Boo.com in May
2000, named “The Ultimate Dotcom Disaster” by BBC’s Evan Davis83
. Boo.
com was founded by Ernst Malmsten, Kajsa Leander and Patrik Hedelin in
1998, who raised around SEK 1.4 billion in capital to execute their ambi-
tious expansion plans.84
The company had hundreds of employees, offices in
several countries and a burn rate of $10 million per month before it filed for
77. Edling, Lotta. Spray-grundaren ångrar ingenting. Affärsvärlden. 2001-11-22. http://www.
78. Burn rate. Wikipedia. 2014. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_rate (Accessed 2016-02-25).
79. Tradera. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradera (Accessed 2016-02-25).
80. Larsson, Johan. Ebay köper Tradera för 365 miljoner kronor. 2006-04-24. http://internetworld.idg.
se/2.1006/1.54357/ebay-koper-tradera-for-365-miljoner-kronor (Accessed 2016-02-24).
81. Bredbandsbolaget. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bredbandsbolaget (Accessed
2016-02-25).
82. Nilsson, Elisabeth. Jonas Birgersson – från rollspelare till Bredbandsjesus. IIS. 2015-10-02. https://
83. Davis, Evan. Business Nightmares: Disastrous Decisions [Television]. London: BBC. 2011. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9kgZqbCJiM (Accessed 2016-02-24).
84. Roos Svensson, Moa. Tillbaka – som pomolog. Dagens Industri. 2015-06-23. http://www.di.se/di/
artiklar/2015/6/24/tillbaka--som-pomolog/ (Accessed 2016-02-24).

37
bankruptcy only six months after launch.85
After the crash, Leander oper-
ated a small café at the train station in Malmö for some time. Now, she has
retrained as a pomologist and started an apple orchard in southern Sweden.86
This time, Leander proclaims that she will focus on organic growth.87
The VC industry also took a severe hit in the crash. The number of ven-
ture capital firms operating on the Swedish market was reduced by 65% from
2002 to 2000.88
However, compared to the US market, the venture capital
downturn in Sweden was rather gentle89
and despite the crash, the VC indus-
try was considerably bigger after the dotcom era than before.90
85. Davis, Evan. Business Nightmares: Disastrous Decisions [Television]. London: BBC. 2011. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9kgZqbCJiM (Accessed 2016-02-24).
86. Roos Svensson, Moa. Tillbaka – som pomolog. Dagens Industri. 2015-06-23. http://www.di.se/di/
87. “Då: Brände 1,4 miljarder i riskkapital Nu: Är pomolog och säljer äppeldrycker”. VA.se. 2015-06-26
http://www.va.se/nyheter/2015/06/26/da-brande-14-miljarder-pa-boo.com.-nu-ar-pomolog-och-
driver-eko-musteri/ (Accessed 2016-02-24).
(2012).
89. Karlén, Åse. Affärsänglarna flockas i storstäder. Esbri.se. 2007-01-15. http://www.esbri.se/referat_
(2012).

38
The collapse of the dot-com bubble in 2000 was seen by many as a failure
or an end to the visions of completely new and innovative business models
based on the possibilities that Internet technology provided. But in retro-
spect we can observe that what companies, such as Swedish Boo.com, failed
to make profitable at that time was implemented with great success about
a decade later by giants such as Amazon or Alibaba and by many smaller
companies.
As mentioned before, the problems encountered by Boo.com depended
partly on offerings directed towards an online market that did not yet exist,
presented on web sites with advanced design and programming which re-
quired high speed Internet connections that were not yet widespread among
consumers.
And ironically, the roll-out of high speed Internet, the focus on Internet
as an important infrastructure, and the growth of the number of consumers
using Internet, started for real around 2000 and accelerated in the following
years.
On March 28, 2000, the Swedish government submitted the bill An In-
formation Society For All (Ett informationssamhälle för alla)91
. This was only
18 days after the peak at Nasdaq with the following decline that lasted until
October 2002, with 78% of the stock value being erased.
The bill stated that IT was a priority and that Sweden, being already at the
forefront within information technologies, should become the first country
where the information society was accessible for everyone.
ThegovernmentproposedthatSEK5.8billionshouldbeavailableforsup-
91. The Swedish Goverment. Ett informationssamhälle för alla. Proposition 1999/2000:86. Stockholm,
2000.
6. The early stages of broadband
and mobile Internet

39
porting the deployment of an IT infrastructure, mainly through tax credits
and through state aids where the market was not capable of offering Internet
access at reasonable prices, e.g., in rural areas. It also proposed an investiga-
tion of how to prevent broadband providers to monopolize access networks
in apartment buildings.
In connection with the bill, the government also proposed an IPO of the
Swedish state-owned telecom operator, Telia.
In December the same year, ‘packed switched’ data communication—
GPRS—was introduced by the mobile network operator Europolitan in
Sweden. GPRS was a technology closely related to the way data were trans-
ferred on the Internet, and communication fees were based on the amount
of data transferred. Until then, mobile data communication had only been
possible through dial-up connections, meaning that a call fee was paid con-
tinuously per minute, independently of when data were sent or received.
In theory, GPRS could lower the cost for sporadic data transfer during
long sessions. However, the fees were initially high—from about SEK 30
SEK to almost SEK 200 per megabyte, which corresponds to opening only
the first page of an ordinary news website. Furthermore, the maximum data
rates were about 30 kilobit/s, which was slower than the fastest mobile dial-
up connections at that time (HSCSD).
Yet, the introduction of GPRS should be seen as an important techno-
logic move since it was the first step towards the always-connected smart
phones that people have in their pockets today.
Other Swedish mobile operators delayed their launch of GPRS to 2001
since very few handsets supporting the technology were available initially.
Also in 2000, an Internet technology that would have greater importance,
ADSL, was launched in 25 Swedish cities by Telia92
. As a parallel to GPRS
in mobile networks, ADSL (the first variant of the technology family xDSL)
was an alternative to dial-up connections in the fixed telephone network.
More specifically, ADSL made it possible to establish an always-on connec-
tion over the copper based ‘local loop’ that arrived in basically every home
and office, although the connection speed depended on the distance to the
nearest telephone exchange (the last mile).
The speed was initially up to 0,5 megabit/s—about 30 times faster than
GPRS in the mobile network—and the cost was about SEK 700 per month
plus SEK 0.50 per megabyte, thus about a hundred times less per transferred
amount of data compared to mobile data communication.93
92. IIS. Internetmuseum.se. 2000 Telia erbjuder ADSL. http://www.internetmuseum.se (Accessed
2016-02-22)
93. Casselbrant, Roland. ADSL – bredband för alla. PC Plus. May 1999.

40
Another important way of connecting to the Internet at this time was
through cable TV networks that were being upgraded to support two-way
data communication.
But the massive presence of fixed telephone connections made xDSL an
important opportunity for the mass-market, which also meant a risk that
Telia would build a dominant position, having the ownership of the copper-
based access network. This would become a heated area for conflicts, discus-
sions and regulator initiatives in the coming years.
The most important regulation on the copper-based access networks be-
came effective the next year in January 2001. It was the European regulation
No 2887/2000 on Local Loop Unbundling, also called LLUB, from Decem-
ber 2000.94
The regulation forced incumbent operators, such as Telia, to offer possi-
bilities to competing operators to install their own xDSL-equipment in local
telephone exchanges, and then using Telia’s existing copper lines—the local
loop—to access customers and offer them Internet connection.
Despite the LLUB regulation, Telia quickly built a dominant position on
the Internet access market.
As can be seen in figure 3, from 2000 through 2003, xDSL grew to rep-
resent a clear majority of high-speed Internet connections in Sweden, with
access through cable TV networks and through other fixed connections over
time dividing a minor part of the market.
94. EU. EUR-Lex. Regulation (EC) No 2887/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
18 December 2000 on unbundled access to the local loop. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/
TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32000R2887&from=SV (Accessed 16-02-22).
2000 2002 20032001 2002 20032001 20032001 2002 20032001 2002
Figure 3. Number of high-speed Internet connections in Sweden.

41
And as shown in figure 4, Telia (which in December 2002 merged with
Finnish Sonera and became Telia Sonera) controlled an overwhelming ma-
jority of all xDSL connections from 2000 through 2003, predominantly
through direct sales to customers and to a lesser extent through wholesale of
xDSL connections to other operators that in turn sold them to their custom-
ers.
Soon LLUB was not considered to be enough from a regulation point of
view. Only in larger cities could it be made profitable for other operators,
buying access from Telia Sonera. In smaller cities and rural areas, the whole-
sale product, which was not regulated, was the only profitable alternative.
The problem was that other operators could not differentiate their offering
based on the wholesale xDSL product that was completely controlled by
Telia Sonera.
An additional in-between opportunity called bitstream access was request-
ed by competitors and regulators in many countries. Bitstream access meant
that incumbents had to offer reselling of xDSL-connections, including the
exchange equipment but with opportunities for other operators to tune the
technical details, making it possible to offer differentiated offerings.
In Sweden, the regulator PTS introduced bitstream access in 2004, but it
was not until 2007 that the regulation became effective, after years of appeals
in court. During those years, the debate was heated. Competitors to Telia
Sonera such as Tele2, raised the alarm on Telia Sonera’s building a monopo-
ly95
; the Swedish Competition Authority ruled that Telia Sonera favored its
95. Lewan, Mats. Tele2 slår larm om Telias bredbandsmonopol. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2006-04-27.
http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article256476.ece (Accessed 2016-02-23).
Figure 4. Growth of number of xDSL connections.

42
own resale of xDSL over competing operators buying wholesale products96
;
and PTS conducted a whole report on the difficulties in creating competi-
tion on the market for high speed Internet, pointing to Telia Sonera’s behav-
ior as an important reason for the problems. In the report, PTS concluded
the following:
One factor that renders this situation, if possible, even more serious is that the retail
markets are currently in a phase of dynamic growth and it is usually during times
of strong growth that suppliers can attract customers. There is consequently a risk
that the market shares that are established during the growth phase will endure for
a long time into the future, for which reason protracted proceedings potentially re-
strain competition for an equally long period. The limitations for the development of
competition during the growth phase therefore risk creating serious consequences for
end-users and society, also in the long-term.97
The Swedish government commissioned a report in 2006 to investigate
what could be done. The report proposed that both consumers and operators
could claim damages if an operator with significant market power “inten-
tionally or negligently” breached its obligations and also that the possibilities
for an operator to appeal decisions by PTS should be limited.98
Meanwhile, the xDSL technology evolved quickly, with maximum down-
load rates increasing from ADSL’s starting point at 0,5 megabit/s to 12 and
finally 24 megabit/s for ADSL2 and ADSL2+, and 52 and 100 megabit/s
for VDSL and VDSL2, which was approved as a standard in 2006. Upload
rates were lower for ADSL, whereas VDSL provided equal rates for down-
load and upload.
The number of xDSL connections would peak in 2008, giving way for
connections via direct optical fiber or fiber combined with LAN (local area
network).
According to Patrik Fältström, the combination of LLUB and bitstream
access, from a regulation point of view, was of fundamental importance for
the xDSL market, and he also points out that these regulations are missing
on the market for high speed Internet via optical fiber.99
This will be dis-
cussed later.
96. Kleja, Monica. Konkurrensverket ger sig på Telia om adsl. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2003-05-06. http://
www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article230529.ece (Accessed 2016-02-23).
97. PTS. Förutsättningar för hållbar konkurrens på bredbandsområdet. PTS-ER-2005:39. Stockholm
2005-12-08.
98. Kleja, Monica. Skadestånd ska skrämma telebolag till lydnad. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2006-10-23.
99. Fältström, Patrik; Head of Research and Development at Netnod. Interview 2016-02-04.

43
During the early years of expansion of high-speed Internet, content on the
Internet started to evolve quickly. One notable example is the free-access,
free-content Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, which was launched in 2001.
The same year, Sweden was one of the first countries to get its own local
Wikipedia version.
Wikipedia could be seen as a child of the idea of peer-to-peer collabora-
tion and file sharing on the Internet—activities that were made possible by
the Internet on a global scale, independently of distances, in a way that had
never been possible before.
Illegal file sharing continued to be a part of this phenomenon, and the
worries of rights holders increased. In Sweden, a lobby group representing
companies and organizations within the Swedish film and computer game
industry was formed in 2001 under the name Svenska Antipiratbyrån.
Some notable websites that were launched in Sweden in 2001 were the
ironic site Spermaharen.se, and the Wikipedia-like Susning.nu, which was
closed a few years later due to content vandalism.100
In 2002, the online payment service PayPal, founded in the late 1990s,
had its IPO, and later the same year it became a wholly owned subsidiary of
eBay. Also in 2002, the Swedish University Computer Network, SUNET,
was upgraded from 622 megabit/s to 10 gigabit/s, which offered university
students and academics a world class Internet infrastructure. This year, 56%
of Swedish people had access to Internet at home, which grew to 65% in
2003.101
In 2003, the voice and text chat service Skype, developed by Swedish Nik-
las Zennström and Danish Janus Friis, was launched, hinting at a develop-
100. IIS. Internetmuseum.se. http://www.internetmuseum.se (Accessed 2016-02-22)
101. IIS. Internetmuseum.se. http://www.internetmuseum.se (Accessed 2016-02-22)
7. New technology, new possibilities

44
ment where the telecom industry’s high margins on voice calls and text mes-
sages would be severely challenged. Skype built on technology from the file
sharing system Kazaa, partly also developed by Zennström and Friis, and it
used the fact that voice and text could be transferred as data at an extremely
low cost over the Internet, combined with technology for connecting users
directly to each other—peer-to-peer.
Skype was acquired by eBay in September 2005 for $2.6 billion and, pass-
ing through an investor group, it was eventually bought by Microsoft in May
2011 for $8.5 billion.
Also in 2003, the Swedish think tank Piratbyrån was formed, choosing its
name in contrast to Antipiratbyrån. The think tank focused on the debate
regarding file sharing and on evolution of legislation on intellectual property
and copyright in the light of new conditions posed by the Internet.
The same year, the file-sharing site ‘The Pirate Bay’ was established by
Piratbyrån. Technically, The Pirate Bay was a so-called tracker for the file
sharing technology Bittorrent. Bittorrent makes it possible to divide a file
in small pieces that can reside on a large number of different computers, and
the tracker keeps track of where these files are and of when they are avail-
able, making it possible to re-compose the file for any user connected to the
tracker.
In this way, it was difficult to legally claim that a tracker like The Pirate Bay
was violating right holders’ copyright since no copies of the files were stored
or produced on the website.
The Pirate Bay would become one of the most well known websites for
finding and sharing illegal copies of music, movies and computer games, and
it became a target for the music and the movie industry.
On May 31, 2006, Swedish Police made a raid against The Pirate Bay, shut
down the website and confiscated its servers. However, three days later the
website was up and running again, and it is still available as of today. In 2009,
the four founders of The Pirate Bay were found guilty of assistance to copy-
right infringement in a much-acclaimed trial.

45
An important event in 2003 was the launch of 3G, based on the WCDMA
technology, in Swedish mobile networks, increasing the data speed initially
to 384 kilobit/s, and a few years later reaching several megabit/s.
Regulators over the world had chosen different methods for handing
out licenses for 3G, most of them opting for auctions bringing significant
amounts of money to the governments. In Sweden, PTS instead chose a
‘beauty contest’ where participants had to make promises of coverage and
network rollout. It resulted in four winning operators in December 2000,
promising to cover 8,860,000 inhabitants, or 99.98% of the population as
of December 2004. Somewhat surprising, the dominating mobile operator
Telia, did not receive a license. Telia later solved this situation by forming
a joint venture with one of the licensees, Tele2, building a shared network.
The licensees had some difficulties fulfilling their promises on time and
were criticized at the time, but this massive 3G coverage is often considered
to have been important for the following high usage of mobile Internet and
connected activities in Sweden.
Bengt Nordström, founder and CEO of the Sweden-based international
mobile network consultancy firm Northstream, believes that the choice of a
beautycontestwasimportant.Firstly,youavoidedtransferringlargeamounts
of money from the private to the public sector. “If it’s true that the Internet
contributes to economic growth, then it’s not very smart to tax those who
build it,” Nordström says, noting that basically the only advantage with auc-
tions is that you avoid having the regulator being sued for handing out li-
censes to the wrong operator.
Secondly, according to Nordström, when the winning operators realized
what they had promised, they were forced into network sharing for econom-
ic reasons, which has developed into a standard model 15 years later. He says
8. Mobile Internet growing mature

46
that the most important aspect of the 3G rollout was not the 3G technol-
ogy but the massive deployment of towers and transmission networks. That
constituted an investment which later made it easier to rollout the following
mobile data technology 4G, and which will also make it possible to do a
quick rollout of the next technology, 5G, in Sweden within the next four to
five years.102
Bengt G Mölleryd, Ph.D. and Senior Analyst at PTS, adds that the Swed-
ish 3G operators were pushed further by the fact that Hong Kong based
Hutchison Whampoa was one of the winning operators, establishing the
trademark ‘3’ for its 3G networks in Sweden and in several other countries.103
In Sweden, Hutchison was the first operator to launch its 3G-network in
May 2003.
However, Nordström points out that from a technological point of view,
3G was a failure. He explains that when the telecom industry started with
data communication, it had virtually no competence in that field at all, and
so the technology that was delivered during 2001 to 2003 was completely
deficient for data communication. Nordström says that 3G was based on the
observation that the Internet was growing and that mobile phones conse-
quently needed to be connected too.
But according to Nordström, the business case for the operators was a dis-
aster, and he says that the mistake was—apart from the poor technology—
the belief that who would become rich from 3G-offerings were the opera-
tors. The plan was that ARPU, Average Revenue Per User, would increase
from about 40 euros in 2000 to about 70 euros, with new revenues coming
from services such as mobile gaming and banking, offered through the op-
erators. He notes that the idea of an ecosystem, independent of the mobile
operators, was not even considered.
“With poor technology, expensive licenses and collapsed business cases,
it was a complete disaster for the industry. Among operators and network
vendors, 500,000 people lost their jobs. The expectations were huge and im-
possible to fulfill,” Nordström says.
He adds that a lot of technological improvements were made in the fol-
lowing years, and that the 3G networks eventually delivered what was ini-
tially promised but only in about 2007. And at that point, the launch of the
iPhone would change the industry.104
The improvements consisted of technologies such as HSPA—high-speed
packet access—increasing the data rate to about 7 megabit/s in 2007 and
103. Mölleryd, Bengt G; Ph. D. and Senior Analyst at PTS. Interview 2016-01-26.

47
eventually to tens of megabit/s. HSPA was launched first by Hutchison’s 3 in
2006, followed by the other operators, and in 2007, unlimited mobile high
speed data plans were offered at about SEK 100 per month.
Lowered prices and increased data rates contributed to a strong uptake in
the usage of high speed mobile Internet. According to Berg Insight, the total
European market had a value of Euro 1.1 billion in 2006, and 3.2 million
3G-modems were sold. Five million users were expected to connect their
computers to the Internet via high-speed 3G connections in 2007.105
The dramatic uptake of mobile high-speed Internet subscriptions and the
increase of mobile data traffic on the Swedish market from 2006 to 2007 is
shown in figure 5.
During these years, the content on the Internet continued to develop, with
several important websites being created. In 2005, the video website You-
Tube was launched by three former PayPal employees. YouTube gained trac-
tion by making it easy to upload and view video content on any computer.
In November 2006, YouTube was acquired by Google for USD1.65 billion.
Today Swedish Felix Kjellberg, known as Pewdiepie, has the most visited
channel on YouTube with about 30 million subscribers.
In 2006, Facebook, which was initially launched in 2004 at Harvard Col-
lage by Mark Zuckerberg and four fellow students, opened to the public. As
of 2015, Facebook has almost 1.5 billion active users. Also in 2006, the short
form ‘micro blog’ service Twitter was created and launched. In 2016, Twitter
105. Edenholm, Yvonne. Mobilt bredband växer med turbofart. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2007-06-29.
http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/mobiltele/article254281.ece (Accessed 2016-02-22).
Figure 5. Mobile data traffic and number of mobile connections. with active users of
packet-switched mobile data communication via pc-card or usb-stick
Source: PTS. Svensk telemarknad 2007. PTS-ER-2008:15. Stockholm 2008-06-12.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2005 2006 2007
Mobile data services
traffic (Tbyte)
Mobile internet
subscriptions with plug-in
cards or USB-modems
(thousands)

48
had over 300 million active users.
In Sweden the same year, the music streaming service Spotify was founded
and created by Daniel Ek, former CTO of the community game Stardoll,
and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of the digital marketing company Trade-
Doubler. The music service was launched in 2008.
Ek stated that it was obvious that something was wrong when illegal al-
ternatives defeated legal ones. And eventually, Spotify offered what the mu-
sic industry had failed to do—an alternative to illegal file sharing that was
comprehensive and user friendly enough to be more attractive. It could be
argued that this happened in Sweden since illegal file sharing was relatively
widespread with a high penetration of computers and high-speed Internet
connections.106
As the Internet continued to penetrate society through usage by people of
all ages, issues of data privacy and security began to arise. In 2005 IIS togeth-
er with several other organizations, government agencies and other promi-
nent actors within the IT sector launched a campaign called “Surfa lugnt”
(Surf easy) to raise awareness about security issues online and to educate the
public in how to deal with these.107
So far, the Internet had essentially been accessed from computers. How-
ever, all this changed with Apple’s launch of the iPhone in 2007.
106. Lewan, Mats. How piracy paved the way in Sweden. CBS Cnet News. 2009-02-17. http://www.
cnet.com/news/how-piracy-paved-the-way-in-sweden/ (Accessed 2016-02-22).
107. Svensk jättekampanjs ska sälja internet. Computer Sweden. 2005.03.15.

49
In 2007, the first iPhone was launched by Apple, which started a funda-
mental change of the telecom and Internet ecosystem. Smartphones had
existed before—for several years, Nokia and Ericsson had been produc-
ing advanced mobile phones with the operating system Symbian, making
it possible to install applications just like on a computer. There were also
other vendors and operating systems, such as Windows Phone and RIM,
but in 2006, Symbian had a staggering market share of 73% of the smart-
phone market.108
However, Symbian was not a very modern operating system, the smart-
phones required expertise to use and it was fairly difficult to find and install
applications. Furthermore, the dominating vendor, Nokia, apparently mis-
judged the importance of touchscreens. From user surveys, Nokia knew that
users wanted to be able to use their phones with only one hand. And since
touchscreens at that time required a stylus, this was impossible. Nokia’s con-
clusion was that users wanted a traditional keypad.109
Most certainly, the surveys were right, but the conclusion was wrong,
based on old touch screen technology. Anyone using modern smartphones
knows that they can be used with one hand since today’s touchscreens are
both very responsive and sensitive to fingers. Apple was one of the pioneers
in introducing this kind of so-called capacitive touch screen technology
when launching the iPhone.
The sensitive touchscreen and the user-friendly user interface were im-
portant aspects of the iPhone, which would contribute to Apple’s disruptive
108. Litchfield, Steve. Symbian market share analysis from ABI. All About Symbian. 2007-03-20.
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/5059_Symbian_market_share_analysis_.php (Accessed
2016-03-07).
109. Lewan, Mats. Nokia tänkte rätt men gjorde fel. Ny Teknik. 2010-04-29. http://it-bloggen.
nyteknik.se/2010/04/29/nokia-tankte-ratt-men-gjorde-fel/ (Accessed 2016-03-07).
9. The first smartphones

50
success on the mobile phone market. Yet, established vendors were not im-
pressed at the beginning.
Before the launch, Swedish telecom vendor Ericsson received a demo ver-
sion of the iPhone and had a team of engineers trying it out. The verdict was
merciless. The team concluded that Apple’s phone had a series of flaws and
that it did not comply with one single technical specification. This verdict
spread throughout Ericsson’s organization and would set the expectations
on the phone. And the day after the launch of the iPhone, in the fall 2007,
the Multimedia business unit at Ericsson had a meeting where someone sug-
gested that they should have a look at the iPhone since it could be considered
a piece of industrial history. But everyone else at the meeting said no since it
was known to be a ‘lousy phone’ and that ‘no-one would buy it’.110
Obviously, Ericsson misjudged the strengths of the iPhone. From an en-
gineering perspective it was true that it was not the best of breed, but these
flaws were compensated by innovative design and software. The biggest
change, however, came in 2008 with a new ecosystem—the possibility for
users to download and install apps from Apple’s App Store, and for third
party program developers to produce apps and distribute them through the
App Store. The same year, iPhone started to sell in Sweden.
At launch, the App Store had about 500 available apps111
, and seven years
later, in 2015, there were over 1.4 million apps, with users having down-
loaded over 100 billion apps since the start.112
Meanwhile, Symbian’s market
share of the smartphone market shrunk to about 30% in 2010, only to reach
zero in 2014.113
Bengt Nordström, founder and CEO of the Sweden based international
mobile network consultancy firm Northstream, believes that if we had not
had the open interface for app developers, we would not need the high data
speed we have in mobile networks today. He also believes that the mobile
industry would have stagnated.
Nordström describes mobile operators at that time as gatekeepers with a
well-developed almost criminal arrogance, proposing 50 page agreements
with hopeless conditions to third party developers—offering payments to
110. Ahlbom, Helen. Ericsson-ingenjörerna tyckte Iphone var ”en skittelefon”. Ny Teknik. 2015-10-15.
http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/article3938961.ece (Accessed 2016-03-07).
111. Apple. Apple Press Info. iPhone 3G on Sale Tomorrow. 2008-07-10. http://www.apple.com/pr/
library/2008/07/10iPhone-3G-on-Sale-Tomorrow.html (Accessed 2016-03-07).
112. Ingraham, Nathan. Apple’s App Store has passed 100 billion app downloads. The Verge. 2015-06-
08. http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/8/8739611/apple-wwdc-2015-stats-update (Accessed 2016-03-
07).
113. Statista. Global market share held by the leading smartphone operating systems in sales to end users
from 1st quarter 2009 to 4th quarter 2015. 2016. http://www.statista.com/statistics/266136/global-
market-share-held-by-smartphone-operating-systems/ (Accessed 2016-03-07).

51
the developers only if the product was launched and if it produced revenue
for the operator. Nordström concludes that operators had zero understand-
ing for the entrepreneur.114
But the change was probably inevitable. Already in 2003, the development
of the Android operating system, which would later be directed towards
smartphones and tablets, started. It was acquired by Google in 2005, and
officially announced in 2007, together with the Open Handset Alliance—a
group of Google and 33 other companies including handset vendors, mobile
carriers and chipset makers.115
The first Android-based smartphone was launched in 2008, which was the
start of Android’s quick growth, arriving at a market share of about 80% in
2015, with Apple’s iOS in second position at about 18% market share.116
The open platform model of Android, iOS and other smartphone OS:s
was one important key to the fast growth of smart phone penetration. An-
other key was a set of advanced sensors embedded in most phones—3-axis
accelerometers, gyroscopes, GPS receivers, magnetometers, proximity sen-
sors and light sensors— mentioning only the most common. Together, these
sensors made it possible for app developers to make apps that substituted for
a large number of other stand-alone devices and also to integrate their differ-
ent functions within one single device.
Some Swedish app developers had early success, such as Illusion Labs with
the game Labyrinth—a smartphone version of the classic wooden labyrinth
toy controlled by two knobs. In 2009, Illusion Labs made revenues of SEK
30 million, with a net gain of SEK 18 million.117
115. Open Handset Allience. Industry Leaders Announce Open Platform for Mobile Devices. 2007-11-
05. http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/press_110507.html (Accessed 2016-03-07).
116. Statista. Global market share held by the leading smartphone operating systems in sales to end users
117. Billner, Amanda. Svenskar långt framme på app-fronten. DN. 2010-05-08. http://www.dn.se/
ekonomi/svenskar-langt-framme-pa-app-fronten/ (Accessed 2016-03-07).

52
Over time, the iPhone and other smartphones evolved with more power-
ful processors, significantly higher data speed and better screens. And apart
from shaping the new app-based ecosystem, they contributed to extending
the Internet from desktop and laptop computers into people’s pockets, al-
ways available and always-on, bringing a fundamental change in how people
could access and share information and communicate with each other.
Meanwhile in these years, fixed infrastructure continued to be rolled out
and to create new opportunities. In 2008, the dark fiber network of Stock-
holm’s city owned company Stokab, was used for broadcasting TV images
from the Stockholm Marathon in a new, innovative way. Instead of position-
ing trucks with equipment and production staff, connected via satellite or
radio link at strategic points along the running track, a very lightweight so-
lution was implemented by Stokab in collaboration with High Definition
Resources AB, with TV4 as the customer.
Stokab provided access points for dark fiber, directly through manhole
covers in the street, at desired positions. A small, portable communication
unit was connected to the dark fiber, lighting it up, and a handheld television
camera was in turn connected to the communication unit. In this way, live
video editing and production could remain at the central TV4 headquarters,
having only camera staff and reporters located in the field.118
This method,
called Distance Outside Broadcast, DOB, was later standardized, for ex-
ample at Sveriges Television, and commercialized by the Swedish company,
Twentyfourseven.
An intense public and political debate developed in 2008 regarding a bill
118. Mynewsdesk. Stokab och HDR förser sändningar av Stockholm Marathon samt EM-fest med
senaste tekniken. 2008-05-30. http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressreleases/stokab-och-hdr-foerser-
saendningar-av-stockholm-marathon-samt-em-fest-med-senaste-tekniken-219294 (Accessed 2016-03-
07).
10. Continuing development
of mobile and fiber technology

53
called the FRA-law, FRA being the Swedish National Defence Radio Estab-
lishment. The bill proposed a series of law changes, making it possible for
FRA to intercept not only radio signals, as before, but also cable bound sig-
nals crossing the Swedish border. The reason for this was that an increasing
share of communication was being transferred from radio networks to fixed
networks as the capacity and penetration of fixed data networks increased.
The bill passed in 2008 and went into effect in 2009.
The same year, another debate regarded the IPRED-law, based on an EU-
directive with the same name—Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement
Directive—aiming at making it easier for rights holders to demand user
data from Internet service providers when there was suspicion of copyright
infringement through digital piracy. The law passed in February 2009 and
went into effect on April 1, 2009.
The same day, the total traffic through Sweden’s five main Internet con-
nection points run by Netnode suddenly decreased by about 50%.119
No de-
tailed data on what kind of traffic was reduced were available, but with the
hypothesis that the decrease depended mainly on people stopping illegal file
sharing for fear of being identified, the dramatic change in traffic gives a hint
of how wide spread illegal file sharing was. It is worth noting that the traffic
slowly increased again and roughly reached previous levels about half a year
later.120
In 2009, another event regarding illegal file sharing was the sentence in
the high-profile trial towards four individuals involved with the Swedish file
sharing tracker site Pirate Bay mentioned above. The four were sentenced to
one-year imprisonment and a total of SEK 30 million in damages for assist-
ing in copyright infringement.
Also in 2009, the world’s first 4G mobile networks were launched by
Swedish Telia Sonera in Oslo and in Stockholm simultaneously, offering
higher data speeds and lower latency than in the 3G networks. Five years
later in 2014, there were 14.4 million mobile connections in Sweden, and of
them more than four million had used services in the 4G networks.121
Much less noted in 2009 was the introduction of the digital cryptocurren-
cy Bitcoin, by the yet unknown individual or group called Satoshi Nakamo-
to. Bitcoin offers a peer-to-peer based global payment transaction system,
not controlled by any central entity. The price of one bitcoin reached over
119. Lewan, Mats. Internettrafiken halverades i går. Ny Teknik. 2009-04-02. http://www.nyteknik.se/
nyheter/it_telekom/internet/article260684.ece (Accessed 2016-03-07).
120. Svensson, Måns. Är fildelningen tillbaka på samma nivåer som före Ipredlagen?. Cybernormer.se.
2009-10-02. http://cybernormer.se/ar-fildelningen-tillbaka-pa-samma-nivaer-som-fore-ipredlagen/
(Accessed 2016-03-07).
121. PTS. Svensk telemarknad 2014. PTS-ER 2015:19. Stockholm 2015-05-25.

54
1,000 USD in the beginning of 2014, and it has lately moved between 200
and 460 USD. The underlying technology called the block chain is some-
times considered to be more important, with various possible applications,
than bitcoin itself. Indeed, Andreas Antonopolous, a leading expert on Bit-
coin and the block chain, has stated, “Saying that Bitcoin is a currency is like
saying that the Internet is email. Currency is just the first app!”122
In 2010, the image based social network Instagram was released and start-
ed to grow quickly. Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012 for about
1 billion USD.
Optic fiber alone or in combination with LAN (local area network) con-
tinued to grow in the 2010s and represented the largest growth in the num-
ber of fixed Internet connections in Sweden (figure 6).
Just from 2013 to 2014 the number of fiber based connections increased
with 17% or 214,000 to reach a total of 1.4 million.
According to a study by Acreo Swedish ICT AB, the rollout of a fiber
network has had important effects on society. The study presents a strong
correlation between fiber and both employment levels and business activi-
ties. It suggests that an increase in fiber penetration of 10% yields a 3% higher
employment level in highly urbanized municipalities and 1% in those that
are less urbanized.
Overall in the region Västra Mälardalen, with its total of 433,000 inhabit-
ants, a 10% increase in fiber penetration was calculated to result in 10,000
new jobs, corresponding to SEK 2.4 billion of increased GDP, generating
SEK 784 million of increased tax revenues, 35 new businesses, and 74 mil-
122. Start using Bitcoin. What is Bitcoin? http://startusingbitcoin.com/blog/1-what-is-bitcoin/
(Accessed 2016-05-01)
Source: PTS. Svensk telemarknad 2014. PTS-ER 2015:19. Stockholm 2015-05-25.
Figure 6. Number of fixed Internet connections (thousands)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Dial up connection
xDSL
Via cable-tv
Fiber and fiber-LAN
Other broadband connection

55
lion fewer kilometers of car driving, corresponding to a decrease of 14,000
tons of CO2
emissions.123
Crister Mattsson, Senior Advisor at Acreo and one of the authors of the
study, argues that infrastructure is essential for supporting innovation and
development of society, but that you cannot expect to cover the investments
with sales revenues only, just as it would have been impossible to build na-
tional railway networks based only on revenues from ticket sales.
According to Mattsson, the increase in fiber networks therefore depends
largely on city-owned metropolitan area networks, actively built in Sweden.
He also points out that in 2011, a 100 megabit/s business connection cost
SEK 5,000 a month in Stockholm, while the corresponding price was 10,000
in Helsinki, 9,000 in Oslo and 6,000 in Copenhagen.124
Anders Broberg, Chief Communications Officer at Stokab, states that in
many large cities around the world, a choice of four broadband providers is a
high number, whereas there are 130 in Stockholm, of which 30 are all-round
providers targeting all kinds of customers.125
The present regulation model for fiber networks in Sweden, however, is
challenged by Swedish Internet pioneer Patrik Fältström, who underlines
that the fiber market, as opposed to the copper-based local loop, is still un-
regulated, with rules lacking for letting other Internet providers obtain ac-
cess to both dark and lit fiber from network owners. Such rules would en-
able increased competition and choice for the customer. He concludes that
there is a strong ongoing expansion of fiber networks by entities that want
to reach as strong a position as possible before any regulation limits their
growth possibilities.126
Yet it is likely that Stockholm, with its particularly open dark fiber net-
work owned by Stokab, offers a market for broadband Internet connections
that helps making it an attractive location and fertile ground for the unicorns
of today.
123. M. Forzati, C. Mattsson, Samhällsekonomisk inverkan av fiber nät i Västra Mälardalen, Acreo
Rapport acr059369, Stockholm, April 2015.
124. Mattson, Crister; Senior Advisor, Acreo Swedish ICT AB. Interview 2016-01-26.
125. Broberg, Anders; Chief Communications Officer at Stokab. Interview 2016-01-27.
126. Fältström, Patrik; Head of Research and Development at Netnod. Interview 2016-02-04.

56
Part II

57
Since the dotcom crash, Sweden has seen a revival of Internet-related busi-
nesses. Stockholm has been described as a “Unicorn Factory”127
, and been
compared to Silicon Valley in terms of being the birthplace for the world’s
most successful Internet companies.128
Also, Sweden has been named the
startup capital of Europe by numerous media organizations, such as the Tel-
egraph, the Financial Times, and Forbes.129
The question is, has this happened
thanks to, or despite of, the dotcom era.
Many of the most famous companies from the late 1990s mentioned previ-
ously here are today only known as “dotcom companies” that went from bil-
lion dollar valuations to bankruptcy or were acquired for a fraction of their
former value. For example, Framfab and Icon Medialab merged in 2006130
,
changed their names to LBI International and eventually were acquired by
Obtineo in 2010.131
Spray has been the subject of a series of acquisitions and
is today an Internet portal, not an IT consultancy, owned by Keynote Media
Group.132
Also several of the big acquisitions that made headlines during the
boom have proved to be unfortunate for the buyers. ADC discontinued Al-
128. Tung, Liam. Stockholm is the ‘most prolific’ billion-dollar startup hub behind Silicon Valley.
2014-11-07. http://www.zdnet.com/article/stockholm-is-the-most-prolific-billion-dollar-startup-hub-
behind-silicon-valley/ (Accessed 2016-02-25).
129. Davidson, Lauren. How Sweden became the startup capital of Europe. 2015-06-28. http://www.
telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11689464/How-Sweden-
became-the-startup-capital-of-Europe.html (Accessed 2016-02-25).
130. Framfab. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBI_International_AB (Accessed 2016-
02-25).
131. LBI International. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBI_International_AB
(Accessed 2016-02-25).
132. Spray.se. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBI_International_AB (Accessed 2016-
02-25).
1. Back from the boom

58
titun’s operations in 2002, about 1.5 years after the acquisition.133
Cisco fired
all of Qeyton’s employees and discontinued its operations two years after the
acquisition.134
Microsoft closed down Sendit, which became their Mobile In-
ternet Business Unit, three years after the acquisition.135
The list goes on.
Ontheotherhand,therewasabiginfluxofcapitalduringthistime.Asmen-
tioned previously, research has shown that the dotcom boom spurred the VC
industry in Sweden.136
The informal venture capital market, which consists of
individuals commonly referred to as business angels, might have seen a similar
development. However, it is difficult to say so with certainty due to the practi-
cal difficulties involved in identifying informal investors. Business angels are
often anonymous and there are no official listings on which to rely, which ex-
plains the scarcity of previous research in this area.137
In lack of research, there
is an abundance of anecdotal evidence that supports the notion that the dot-
com boom caused an increase in the informal venture capital market.
The Swedish unicorn, Klarna, is a stellar example of how the development
in the late 1990s has positively affected the entrepreneurial environment in
Sweden. The three business students, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adal-
berth and Victor Jacobsson, had an idea for a new kind of online payment
service, but they lacked the technical skills to build the platform themselves.
Also, they needed capital. Luckily, things took a turn for the better after
meeting with the famous angel investor, Jane Walerud. Walerud, who was
one of the co-founders of the dotcom success Bluetail and had both capi-
tal and connections that would prove profoundly important to the future
of Klarna. Bluetail, which was sold for SEK 1.6 billion within 16 months
after it was founded, had developed software that made email systems and
websites more reliable using the programming language, Erlang. Walerud
realized that Erlang could be used in this context as well since reliability
would be essential for Klarna’s payment service. Three weeks after their ini-
tial meeting, Walerud invested €60,000 in seed capital for 10% of the shares
and introduced them to five developers (all of them former co-founders of
Bluetail), who committed to building the platform in exchange for 37% of
133. Alpman, Marie. Spiken i kistan för Altitun. 2002-11-04. http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/
it_telekom/allmant/article227154.ece (Accessed 2016-02-25).
134. Karlberg, Lars Anders. Cisco lägger ned svenska Qeyton. Ny Teknik. 2002-10-29. http://www.
nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article227080.ece (Accessed 2016-02-24).
135. Granlund, Fredrik. “Microsoft lägger ned Sendit”. Ny Teknik. 2002-06-03. http://www.nyteknik.
(2012).
137. Avdeitchikova, Sofia. “On the structure of the informal venture capital market in Sweden:
developing investment roles.” Venture Capital 10.1 (2008): 55-85.

59
the shares.138
At this point, the company was called Kreditor and had not
even been incorporated.139
Walerud’s involvement in Klarna lasted until
2010 when the venture capital giant Sequoia invested USD 70 million and
simultaneously bought out a number of previous owners, including Walerud.
However, Klarna is not the only company in which Walerud has been en-
gaged. She has been involved in at least fourteen startups, out of which she
has had an operative role in four and served on the board in all the others
except two.140
The Klarna/Walerud example clearly demonstrates how the
technology, capital and networks from the dotcom boom have positively im-
pacted the conditions for the next generation startups.
As an interesting side note, it was Mattias Miksche, former co-founder
and CEO of E*Trade, who introduced Sequoia and the Klarna founders to
each other.141
Like Walerud, Miksche has also been an active angel investor
in Sweden. He has invested in the potential future unicorn Fishbrain as well
as Euroflorist, Teamtailor and NaturalCycles, among others.142
Walerud and Miksche are not the only ones from the dotcom era who
have engaged in the informal venture capital market. Angel investing seems
to be one of the more common paths for the entrepreneurs who acquired
their wealth during the boom.
There are also several examples of dotcom entrepreneurs who both con-
tinue on the entrepreneurial path as well as invest the money they have made.
Johan Brenner is a noteworthy example. After co-founding two notable
companies, E*Trade and Tradera, during the dotcom boom, he later went on
to co-found Payson (acquired by Svea Ekonomi) and Bookatable (acquired
by Michelin). He was also an angel investor and chairman of the board of the
dotcom company, Jobline (acquired by Monster) as well as of the payment
service company DIBS (IPOd in 2007). Brenner later spent four years as
a General Partner at the renowned venture capital firm, Balderton Capital,
and is now a General Partner at the Swedish venture capital firm, Creandum.
At Creandum, Brenner is the partner responsible for the firm’s investments
in two of the most promising startups in Sweden, iZettle and Tictail.143
138. Weverbergh, Raf. Interview: from Burger King to boardroom, how Klarna became a payments
giant. Whiteboardmag. n.d. http://www.whiteboardmag.com/interview-from-burger-king-to-
boardroom-how-klarna-became-a-payments-giant/ (Accessed 2016-03-10).
139. Blomén, Anna. “Affärsängeln bakom Klarna”. Privata Affärer. 2012-08-24. http://www.
privataaffarer.se/nyaaffarer/na-nyheter/affarsangeln-bakom-klarna-438925 (Accessed 2016-02-24).
140. Ibid.
141. Ibid.
142. Mattias Miksche. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattiasmiksche (Accessed 2016-03-
10).
143. Johan Brenner. Creandum. n.d. http://www.creandum.com/team/johan-brenner/ (Accessed
2016-03-10).

60
Johan Brenner has also served on the board of two of Hjalmar Win-
bladh’s companies, Rebtel and Wrapp.144
Winbladh, the former co-found-
er of Sendit, has also been highly active on the startup scene, both as an
entrepreneur and business angel and more recently as a venture capitalist
at EQT Partners.145
One of his more notable investments as an angel inves-
tor is iZettle.146
Two of the Spray founders, Patrik Stymne and Sebastian
Knutsson, are also worth mentioning as they went on to found the hugely
successful social games company, King, which was acquired by gaming gi-
ant, Activision Blizzard, for USD 5.9 billion in 2015.147
After the acquisi-
tion, the founders have launched a venture capital firm called Sweet Capi-
tal.148
Jonas Nordlander is another prominent Swedish entrepreneur and in-
vestor with connections to Johan Brenner. Nordlander was the CEO and
part of the original startup team at Tradera, which was founded by Brenner
and the Kaplan family. Nordlander led the company during the acquisition
by eBay and served as the COO of eBay Sweden for about one year before
founding Avito, one of the Swedish unicorns, with Filip Engelbert.149
The
duo Nordlander and Engelbert recently sold a third of their shares in Avito
for SEK 1.4 billion to the South African company Naspers and have previ-
ously made several business angel investments, for example in the two prom-
ising startups, LeoVegas and KnC Miner.150
Others have chosen a more strictly entrepreneurial career. During the IT
boom, Johan Staël von Holstein founded Icon Medialab, Speed Ventures
and Letsbuyit.com and became one of the most iconic figures of the time.
Today, about 15 years later, he can be described as the entrepreneur who
never gives up. Since the crash, Staël von Holstein has started an incubator
(Iqube), founded a digital life management tool for exchanging, sharing and
144. Johan Brenner. LinkedIn. n.d. https://www.linkedin.com/in/johan-brenner-4353509 (Accessed
2016-03-10).
145. EQT. Hjalmar Winbladh Joins EQT Partners. 2015-01-19. http://www.eqt.se/Newsroom/EQT-
Updates/2015/Hjalmar-Winbladh-joins-EQT-Partners/ (Accessed 2016-03-10).
146. Ström, Viktor. Den svenska adelns favoritstartup. DI Digital. 2015-09-22. http://digital.di.se/
artikel/den-svenska-adelns-favoritstartup (Accessed 2016-03-10).
147. Needleman, Sarah E.. Activision Blizzard to Acquire King Digital for $5.9 Billion. The Wall Street
Journal. 2015.11.03. http://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-blizzard-agrees-to-acquire-king-digital-
entertainment-in-5-9-billion-deal-1446523976 (Accessed 2016-03-10).
148. Lundell, Stefan. King-grundarna startar egen fond - ska investera i svenska startups. Breakit. 2016-
01-29. http://www.breakit.se/artikel/2491/king-grundarna-startar-egen-fond-ska-investera-i-svenska-
startups (Accessed 2016-03-10).
149. Jonas Nordlander. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-nordlander-749274 (Accessed
2016-03-14).
150. Lundell, Stefan. Svenska grundarna säljer Avito-aktier för 1,4 miljarder kronor. Breakit. 2015-10-
23. http://www.breakit.se/artikel/1676/svenska-grundarna-saljer-avito-aktier-for-1-4-miljarder-kronor
(Accessed 2016-03-15).

61
selling content that interests users (Myqube), and currently has a new startup
now called “My name club”.151
Jonas Birgersson has also stayed in the entrepreneurial track. Birgersson
preached “broadband for everybody” during the late 1990s and has stayed
true to this vision, fighting for omnipresent Internet through his involve-
ment in Labs2. He refers to himself as “the Rhino from Lund”152
, probably
referring to the fact that he is the eternal entrepreneur who never quits. In
more recent years, he has been engaged in building Israel’s fiber network
through the company Via Europa where he is a shareholder.153
Not all of the dotcomers are ‘die-hard’ entrepreneurs like Birgersson and
Staël von Holstein. Magdalena Bonde, former co-founder and COO of Cell
Networks, is an example of a successful dotcom entrepreneur who has cho-
sen the path as a business executive. After the crash, Bonde has worked as a
manager in the telecom industry, a consultant, CEO of the search company
Eniro, and now just recently she returned to the entrepreneurial scene, al-
though not as a founder, but as the Chief Commercial Officer of the poten-
tial future unicorn, Fyndiq.154
Bonde is not the only one from Cell Networks
involved in Fyndiq. Jan Carlzon, another former co-founder of Cell Net-
works, is also a Fyndiq investor.155
Although there are exceptions, the key individuals from the dotcom era seem
to have continued to stay engaged in the Swedish startup scene in one way or an-
other, either through founding, advising or investing in new companies or often
a combination of all three. There are also several examples of connections to the
new generation of successful entrepreneurs. As described above, there are cases
where“dotcomers”previouslyhavebeenorareengagedinSwedishunicornsand
potential unicorns, either as founder (Avito), investor (Klarna, iZettle, Tictail,
Fyndiq, Fishbrain, KnC Miner, LeoVegas), or as a part of the top management
team(Fyndiq).Thereisalsooneindividualwhostandsoutasacentralconnector
in the network, namely Johan Brenner who founded several successful startups
during and after the dotcom era. Brenner is, with only one degree of separation,
connected to seven of the fifteen Swedish unicorns and potential unicorns.
151. Lindh, Sara. Johan Staël von Holsteins nya startup berättar allt om ditt namn. Breakit. 2015-06-15.
http://www.breakit.se/artikel/814/johan-stal-von-holsteins-nya-startup-berattar-allt-om-ditt-namn
(Accessed 2016-03-10).
152. Zachrison, Olle. Jonas Birgersson: ”Vi har straffats mycket hårdare”. Svenska Dagbladet. 2010-03-
05. http://www.svd.se/jonas-birgersson-vi-har-straffats-mycket-hardare (Accessed 2016-03-10).
153. Zeigerer, Jessica. Jonas Birgersson till Israel. Sydsvenskan. 2013-08-25. http://www.sydsvenskan.
se/lund/jonas-birgersson-till-israel/ (Accessed 2016-03-10).
154. Magdalena Bonde. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/magdalenabonde (Accessed 2016-03-
15).
155. Fyndiq. (2012). Fyndiq tar in 20 miljoner i nytt kapital - affärsänglar investerar i Ullared på nätet.
http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/fyndiq/pressreleases/fyndiq-tar-in-20-miljoner-i-nytt-kapital-
affaersaenglar-investerar-i-ullared-paa-naetet-776527 (Accessed 2016-03-15).

62
As we have seen in the previous sections, there have been several individuals
who have played influential roles in the history of Sweden’s successful start-
ups. In order to investigate in more depth the role that these individuals play,
we turned to the academic research that explores how the success of startups
is related to the social networks within which they are embedded.
In the introduction chapter, we stated that there are two liabilities that
hinder startups from succeeding: the liabilities of smallness and newness.
These liabilities make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to obtain the re-
sources they need to enable their startup to grow, such as financing, human
capital, advice, knowledge, technology, and market access. In their efforts
to obtain these resources, entrepreneurs face considerable challenges such as
rejection of their ideas, refusals to their funding requests, difficulties in hir-
ing talent, and a lack of legitimacy.156
However, entrepreneurs who are able
to develop and leverage interfirm networks or interpersonal relationships are
more likely to gain access to the resources they need.
An interesting example in Sweden of the influence of social networks on a
firm, albeit for established firms and not startups, occurred after a change in
Swedish tax policy in the late 1990s. Within a few months in 1997, around
20% of firms that were listed on Stockholm’s primary exchange transferred to
the secondary exchange. One of the major drivers of this transfer is suggested
to be that these firms’ strategic decision makers were influenced by those in
their social networks.157 158
156. Cardon, Melissa S., et al. “The nature and experience of entrepreneurial passion.” Academy of
Management Review 34.3 (2009): 511-532.
157. Social network analysis encompasses a set of methods, which are used for the analysis of social
structures, more specifically to investigate the relational aspects of these structures.
158. Edling, Christofer, and Rickard Sandell. “Social Influence and Corporate Behaviour A Case Study
of Interdependent Decision‐Making in Sweden’s Publicly Traded Firms.” European sociological review
17.4 (2001): 389-399.
2. Connecting the dots

63
Networks can be created in a variety of ways – either through formal ties,
such as interfirm contracts, or informal ties, such as friendship or previous
work colleagues. Entrepreneurs who are able to select the appropriate part-
ners for their changing needs over time as well as establish and maintain a
network of informal relationships providing access to necessary resources are
generally more successful.
In 2015 the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at SSE released a re-
port on the Stockholm ICT cluster, “Ekosystemet ICT & Digital”. In this re-
port, the authors explored the social networks of 100 of the most influential
people, e.g., founders, investors, directors, connected to a list from Dagens
Industri’s Digitalpodd of startups with unicorn status or were predicted at
the time to reach unicorn status. Through data collected on LinkedIn, they
found a highly connected network of individuals who had either studied at
the same universities or worked at the same companies (figure 7).159
.
159. Sölvell, Örjan, Fohlin, Carl & Protsiv, Sergiy, Ekosystemet ICT & Digital: kartläggning av
styrkeområden i Stockholmsregionen, Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015.
Figure 7. Work experience of founder(s), board and investors of 13 unicorns and
potential unicorns
Source: Sölvell, Örjan, Fohlin, Carl & Protsiv, Sergiy, Ekosystemet ICT & Digital: kartläggning av styrkeområden i Stockholmsre-
gionen, Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015.

64
A closer look found that the firm, Everyday.com owned by Kinnevik, and
its spinoff, Spray, were at the beginning of a chain of individuals involved in
successful startups, such as Skype and King (figure 8). The team behind King
hired Marcus Notch Persson, who then created his own company, Mojang,
while attracting other talent from King, before being sold to Microsoft for
USD 2.5 billion. Today the team behind Mojang has now started Rubber-
brain, a new gaming studio. It is worth noting that Persson managed to build
a global empire without any external capital.160
styrkeområden i Stockholmsregionen, Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015
Figure 8. The network Everyday – Spray – King – Skype - Mojang
Source: Sölvell, Örjan, Fohlin, Carl & Protsiv, Sergiy, Ekosystemet ICT & Digital: kartläggning av styrkeområden i Stockholmsre-
gionen, Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015.

65
Following this trail of investigation, we decided to explore in more depth the
unicorns and potential unicorns of today. However, this task is a challenging
one in itself as there is no one definition of what a unicorn is. The most com-
monly used definition is a startup company valued at USD 1 billion or more,
where valuations have been generated due to a bull market and high expecta-
tions built on disruptive technologies. Fortune magazine published a list of
unicorns in January 2016, with companies such as Uber, Xiaomi, Airbnb,
and Palantir topping the list.161
Atomico defined unicorns as Internet and
software companies founded within the last decade and that have reached
a valuation of over USD 1 billion.162
However, there is a lack of clarity as
to whether a unicorn should be privately-owned or if it loses its status if it is
listed on the stock market.
Several lists of unicorns in Sweden have been published, such as by Atom-
ico, CB Insights, and Dagens Industri. Some of these lists include companies
that are suggested to have the potential to reach unicorn status due to their
activities and previous funding rounds. However, as valuations are constantly
in flux as are expectations regarding markets and technologies, lists of uni-
corns and potential unicorns are highly speculative.
According to the most commonly used definition above, Sweden has pro-
duced six unicorns since 2000: Avito, King, Klarna, Mojang, Skype and Spo-
tify.163
Since we are interested in exploring the second wave of high growth
technology-based startups in Sweden, we followed Atomico’s definition and
defined a unicorn as a high technology startup that is valued at USD 1 bil-
161. The unicorn list. Fortune. 2016. http://fortune.com/unicorns/ (Accessed 1016-03-30).
162. Atomico. Billion dollar+ software companies founded since 2003. Year n.a. http://www.atomico.
com/explore-d3 (Accessed 1016-03-30).
163. Which also is in line with what other say. See for example GP. Bullhound.
3. The second wave

66
lion or more while less than 10 years old. Thus, we excluded Skype in this
research since it was first sold in 2005. Unfortunately, we were not able to
obtain data on King, which means that we have had to exclude them as well.
We are therefore left with four unicorns: Avito, Klarna, Mojang and Spotify.
Two of them, Avito (autumn 2015) and Mojang (autumn 2014) were ac-
quired by other companies but since these acquisitions happened relatively
recently, we still have chosen to include them.
In addition, we have included eleven startups that have the potential to
reach unicorn status. Several of these were indicated in our correspondence
with the venture capital firm, Creandum, as well as in the media. These com-
panies are the following: FishBrain, FootWay, Fyndiq, iZettle, KnCMiner164
,
LeoVegas, MAG Interactive, ShapeUp, Tictail, TrueSoftware and Zound.165
We have also chosen to eliminate a few, such as Tobii, because they did not
fit our definition primarily due to the 10-year timeframe. It should be noted
that there is no one definitive list of potential unicorns, and startups can en-
ter and exit this list due to changing expectations related to their market po-
tential and technology development. A summary of the 15 companies with
either unicorn status or potential unicorn status is found in table 1 (next two
pages).
164. After the writing of this report had been finalized, it was announced on May 27, 2016 that KnC-
Miner had filed for bankruptcy.
165. For information on how and why we have chosen the unicorns and the potential unicorns, please
check the methodology chapter in the end of the report.

67
Table1.Unicornsandpotentialunicorns
CompanyStatusYear
founded
DescriptionNotesPublical-
lytraded
Mostrecent
valuation
Mostrecent
valuation
date
AvitoUnicorn2008Avito.ruisawebplatformfor
freeonlineclassifiedadsin
Russia
AcquiredbyNaspersNo2.7bnUSD2015-10-01
FishBrain PotentialUnicorn2010FishBrainisasocialnetwork
thatallowssportfishersto
sharetheirfishingexperiences
withfriendsviawebandmobile
applications
Valuationatmost
recentfundinground
notdisclosed
NoNA
Footway
Group
PotentialUnicorn2010SwedishonlineshoeretailerFootwayGrouphas
preferredshares
listedontheFirst
NorthExchangebut
theseonlyrepresent
partofthecompany
PartiallyNA
FyndiqPotentialUnicorn2009TheSwedishBargainSuper-
store,connectingmerchants
withbargainhunters
Valuationatmost
recentfundinground
notdisclosed
NoNA
iZettlePotentialUnicorn2010Providesmobileintegrated
PointofSalesolution
No500mUSD2015-08-01
KlarnaUnicorn2005Klarnaprovidese-commerce
paymentsolutionsformer-
chantsandshoppers
ValuationfromSec-
ondaryShareSale
No2.25bnUSD2015-08-01
KnC-
Miner
PotentialUnicorn2013Blockchainminingandrelated
services
Valuationatmost
recentfundinground
notdisclosed
NoNA
LeoVegas PotentialUnicorn2010LeoVegasABoffersprivate
individualstheopportunityto
playcasinogamesandengage
inotherformsofonlinegaming
usingapplicationsandbrowsers
onmobiledevices.
MarketCaptaken
on18March16f
romnasdaq.com
convertedfromSEK
toUSDatarateof
0.12
Yes439mUSD
MarketCap
2016-03-17
IPO

68
CompanyStatusYear
founded
DescriptionNotesPublical-
lytraded
Mostrecent
valuation
Mostrecent
valuation
date
MAG PotentialUnicorn2011Publishingserviceallowing
contenttobeeasilycreatedfor
mobilesandtablets
Valuationatmost
recentfundinground
notdisclosed
NoNA
MojangUnicorn2009MojangisaSwedishgame
developercreatingindependent
videogamessuchasMinecraft
AcquiredbyMicro-
soft
No2.5bnUSD2014-09-01
ShapeUp PotentialUnicorn2008LifesumisaSwedishdigital
healthstartupthathelpsclients
becomehealthierbyusingap-
pliedpsychologyandtechnology
Valuationatmost
recentfundinground
notdisclosed
NoNA
SpotifyUnicorn2006MusicstreamingserviceNo8.53bnUSD2015-06-01
Tictail PotentialUnicorn2011Tictailisaglobalcommunity
thatallowsyoutodiscoverthe
world’sgreatestindependent
brands
Valuationatmost
recentfundinground
notdisclosed
NoNA
TrueSoft-
ware
PotentialUnicorn2009Truecallerisamobileappthat
let'syouseewho'scallingand
blockunwantedcalls
Valuationisaccurate
ifcurrent$100m
raisegoesthroughas
advertised
No1bnUSDCurrently
underway
ZoundPotentialUni-
corn
2008ZoundIndustriesisthehome
offuseselectronicsand
designofferingawidear-
rangeofproductsincludinga
mobilephone
Valuationgivenas
anapproximate
notexplicitely
stated
No~100m
EUR
2015-07-01

69
One of the most widely investigated social networks of companies is the net-
work of a firm’s board of directors and top management teams. Indeed there
is a large body of literature that falls under the heading of interlocking direc-
torates in which direct or indirect relationships between firms are created
when one individual sits on the boards of more than one firm. A direct in-
terlock is created when one person is a board director for two or more firms,
thereby forming a single path between these firms (figure 9). An indirect
interlock exists when a path is created through one or more third firms link-
ing two firms. For example, firms B and C are indirectly interlocked through
firm A in figure 10 (next page).
4. An embedded network
Figure 9. Illustrative diagram of interlocking directorates
Source: Pennings, J. “Interlocking directorates: Origins and consequences of connections among organizations’ Board of
Directors.” (1980).
A1
Board of
Directors
Board of
Directors
Firm BFirm A
Interlock
A1
A2 A2
A3 A3

70
Consistent with this research, our next step was to collect data from publi-
cally available datasets on each of our 15 startups. More specifically, we cre-
ated a list of the people holding the following leading positions for each of
the 15 startups for each year since the startup’s inception, or from January
2007, whichever came later, until January 2016: Bolagsman (Partner) Extern
VD (External CEO), Extern vice VD (External vice CEO), Firmatecknare
personer (Signatories), Ordförande (Chairman of the board), Prokurist
(Authorized officer), Styrelseledamöter (Board members), Styrelsesuppleant
(Deputy director), VD (CEO), Vice VD (Vice CEO). For each of these in-
dividuals, we then collected further information as listed in table 2.
Figure 10. . Illustrative diagram of an indirect interlock
Source: Pennings, J. “Interlocking directorates: Origins and consequences of connections among organizations’
Board of Directors.” (1980).
Direct
Interlock
Direct
Interlock
Indirect
Interlock
A
C
B
Table 2. Variables for individuals holding leading positions at startups during the period:
January 2007 to January 2016.
Variable Measure
Demographics • Birth year
• Gender
• Residency status: living in Sweden, in EU, or outside EU
• Leading position experience – year first held a leading position in
any company in Sweden
Startup leading
position(s)
• Current leading position at startup and date at which this posi-
tion was taken
• Previous leading position(s) at startup, if any and period of time
holding position(s)
Other company
leading position(s)
• Current leading position(s) at other companies, if any, and date
at which this position was taken
• Number of previous leading position(s) at other companies, if any
Demographics of
leading position
network
• Total number of current links with people in leading positions in
other companies
• Number of men with Swedish personal number in this network
• Number of women with Swedish personal number in this network
• Number of people residing outside of Sweden in this network
• Average age of people with Swedish personal number in this
network

71
By collecting information on the individuals in the startup leading posi-
tions, we were then able to create a list of other companies that are tied to
our set of 15 startups. This set of companies thus constitutes the startup’s
network, or what we have labeled the startup’s “cloud”. It should be noted
that we collected data for the entire time period from the startup’s incep-
tion or January 2007, whichever came later, for the cloud of other companies
tied to the startup. We then collected the following information on each of
the individuals holding the leading positions at these other companies in the
cloud as shown in table 3.
Through this data collection, we gathered data on 17,377 unique indi-
viduals holding 84,568 leading positions at 4,414 companies (startups and
their clouds) during the time period January 2007 to January 2016. It should
be noted that while we have extensive data on individuals, we are primarily
interested in the aggregated data at the company level and not individual data.
In the next step, we then created a set of descriptive variables for each start-
up based upon an aggregation of the data collected for individuals holding
leading positions at the startup and the startup’s cloud.
To give an example of the data collected, table 4 (next page) shows the
variables describing Klarna.
Table 3. Variables for individuals holding leading positions at cloud companies during the
period January 2007 to January 2016
Variable Measure
Demographics • Birth year
• Gender
• Residency status: living in Sweden, in EU, or outside EU
• Leading position experience – year first held a leading position in
any company in Sweden
Cloud company
leading position(s)
• Leading position and date at which this position was taken
• Previous leading position(s), if any and period of time holding
position(s)
Demographics of
leading position
network
• Current leading position(s) at other companies, if any, and date
at which this position was taken
• Number of previous leading position(s) at other companies, if any
Demographics of
leading position
network
• Total number of current connections with people in leading posi-
tions in other companies
• Number of men with Swedish personal number in this network
• Number of women with Swedish personal number in this network
• Number of people residing outside of Sweden in this network
• Average age of people in network with Swedish personal number

72
Table4.DatacollectedonKlarnaHoldingAB
#Company2007200820092010201120122013201420152016
1Birthyearofthekeypeople1971197119711968196819711972197219721970
2Agediversityofthecompany10,8410,8410,7615,6015,5313,1313,0312,7012,1712,93
3Genderdiversityofthecompany0,100,100,140,130,150,180,150,150,180,25
4Internationaldiversityofthecompany0,000,000,000,050,100,150,150,150,170,17
5Inhowmanycompaniespeopleareinvolved8,308,308,5910,419,728,398,208,057,266,67
6Numberofpreviouspositionsofthepeople6,706,706,837,736,835,004,604,494,004,08
7Numberofdirectlinks18,0018,0019,6626,9426,8022,3321,8921,5920,6921,36
8Genderdiversityofthenetwork0,450,450,460,550,560,500,490,500,510,52
9Internationaldiversityofthenetwork0,300,300,290,260,270,290,280,280,280,26
10Averageageofthenetwork47,3047,3047,1047,4647,2746,9246,8946,8646,9247,27

73
Inaddition,thesedataenabledustoconstructthesocialnetworkofKlarna
for each year since 2007. This social network consists of both direct and in-
direct links. For example, below is the social network graph for Klarna based
on its links to its cloud of other companies as of January 2016 (figure 11).
Figure 11. Klarnas network
AB Sveriges S..kerst..llda Obligationer (publ)
AHA World AB
AMF Pensionsf..rs..kring AB
Adalberth Invest AB
Aktiebolaget Bostadsgaranti
Almi F..retagspartner Stockholm Aktiebolag
Anralk Holding AB
Antikb..rsens F..rlag AB
Avanza Bank AB
Avanza Bank Holding AB
Ayabarus Invest AB
Barnpengar AB
Bilia AB
Billogram AB
Bokdyveln AB
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Furiren nr 6
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Furiren nr 9
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Spetsberget
Branschorganisationen Morgan Ek. f..r.
Brasserie by the Sea AB
Carhold Holding Aktiebolag
Carnegie Fonder AB
Carnegie Holding AB
Carnegie Investment Bank AB
Catena AB
Cederbalk Consulting AB
Claerenceg..rden AB
Coworks AB
Creades AB (publ)
DIBS Payment Services AB
Datawatch AB
Doberman AB
Doberman Group AB
Double Sunday AB
Ellen Aktiebolag
Fafner Holding ABFafner Invest AB
Fotografiska International AB
FriSpar Kreditkonsult AB
Frihag AB
FundedByMe Crowdfunding Sweden Aktiebolag
F..rs..kringsaktiebolaget Avanza Pension
F..rs..kringsaktiebolaget Bostadsgaranti
Ident Inkasso AB
Indif AB
Insplanet AB (publ)
Investment AB ..resund
K Opportunity AB
KPA Pensionstj..nst Aktiebolag
Klarna AB
Klarna Holding AB
Libego Aktiebolag
Lindorff AB
Lindorff Coinvest AB
Lindorff Group AB
Lindorff Institutional Management AB
Lindorff Second Holding AB
Loanland AB
Mark..ker Holding AB
Millroth F..rvaltning AB
NFCF Oneab AB
Nordic APIs AB
Pontus Frithiof p.. Brunnsgatan 1 AB
Pontus Property Tenant AB
Prodentor AB
Qliro AB
Qliro Group AB (publ)
RadioSense AB
Rockwood AB
Royal Streaming AB
SBAB Bank AB (publ)
SFS - Svensk F..rs..kring Service AB
SPP Konsult Aktiebolag
SPP Livf..rs..kring AB (publ)
SPP Spar AB
SPP Varum..rkes AB
SVNIVP Holding AB
Scandinavian Capital Partners AB
Sedarec AB
Skanditek Industrif..rvaltning AB
Stockholmsnorrskenet AB
Storebrand Holding AB
Studief..rbundet N..ringsliv och Samh..lles (SNS) Serviceaktiebolag
Svenska Fotografiska museet AB
Svolder Aktiebolag
TTS Pass AB
Tail-f Incentive AB
Tail-f Systems AB
TicWorks AB
Tictail AB
Usports AB
Unipal AB
Uppbacka Holding AB
VSN Holding AB
Vaulted Payments AB
Ven Latipac AB
Vl..rden AB
Wapa Stockholm AB
Watty AB
eWork Scandinavia AB
gotatamm16 AB
..ngmark Holding AB

74
We first take a look at the startups as a snapshot of their mean values for
each of the descriptive variables over their whole lifespan.166
When looking
at all the variables together, our cluster analysis reveals that the companies do
cluster in four different groups, which we have color coded with the color in
parentheses:
• Group A (blue): Moderate average age and homogeneity in age.
LeoVegas, Footway, FishBrain, Spotify, Mojang, KnCMiner, Avito
• Group B (red): Moderate average age and moderate homogeneity
in age. Klarna, Fyndiq, TrueSoftware, MAG
• Group C (green): High average age with moderate to high hetero
geneity in age. Zound, iZettle
• Group D (purple): Low average age with homogeneity in age.
Tictail, ShapeUp
A closer investigation of the clusters reveals that the two descriptive vari-
ables of average birth year and age diversity are those that drive the cluster
grouping (figure 12). However, when we take a look at other variables, such
as gender diversity and international diversity (figure 13), we find that the
companies fall into into three groups, which are not the same as those deter-
mined by the cluster analysis.
166. Some graphs illustrating the findings we discuss will be included here, and the rest you will find in
the appendix at the end of the report.
5. Measuring the unicorn

75
Of the four companies that have a high level of international diversity:
Avito, Klarna, Mojang and TrueSoftware, three are already unicorns. Judging
from this one could speculate that TrueSoftware in this perspective looks to
be a in a good position. If we, however, consider the fourth unicorn in our
dataset, Spotify, which has the value zero in international diversity, it makes
things more complicated.
Perhaps more interesting is to look at the composition of leading posi-
tions over time. Below we see that the general tendency of the startups is to
become more diverse over time when it comes to gender and age (figures 14
and 15).
Avito
FishBrainFootway
Fyndiq
iZettle
Klarna
KnCMiner
LeoVegas
MAG
Mojang
ShapeUp
Spotify
Tictail
TrueSoftware
Zound
5.0
7.5
10.0
12.5
15.0
1965 1970 1975 1980
birth year
agediversity
Figure 12. Average birth year and age diversity
Avito
FishBrainFootwayFyndiqiZettle
Klarna
KnCMiner LeoVegasMAG
Mojang
ShapeUpSpotifyTictail
TrueSoftware
Zound0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3
gender diversity
internationaldiversity
Figure 13. Gender diversity and international diversity

76
Furthermore, we see that the same four startups as in the first figure either
had a relatively higher level of international diversity or became more inter-
national over time (figure 16). Looking at the networks of these startups,
we find that all have some degree of international diversity in their network
(figure 17).
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
year
ratiooffemale
Companies
Avito - 1
FishBrain - 2
Footway - 3
Fyndiq - 4
IZettle - 5
Klarna - 6
Klarna
KnCMiner - 7
LeoVegas - 8
MAG - 9
Mojang - 10
ShapeUp - 11
ShapeUp
Spotify - 12
Tictail - 13
TrueSoftware - 14
Zound - 15
Zound
Figure 14. Gender diversity of the company
0
5
10
15
2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
year
SDofage
Companies
Avito - 1
FishBrain - 2
FishBrain
Footway - 3
Fyndiq - 4
iZettle - 5
iZettle
Klarna - 6
Klarna
KnCMiner - 7
LeoVegas - 8
MAG - 9
Mojang - 10
Mojang
ShapeUp - 11
Spotify - 12
Tictail - 13
TrueSoftware - 14
Zound - 15
Spotify
Fyndiq
Figure 15. Age diversity of the company

77
-
When we examined the networks of the startups as measured by the num-
ber of companies the startups are linked to, we find that the startups are
quite well connected both directly and indirectly through other individuals
in leading positions in Sweden, with a general tendency to increase their net-
work embeddedness over time (figures 18 and 19).
0.0
0.2
0.4
2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
year
ratioofexpatriates
Companies
Avito - 1
Avito
FishBrain - 2
Footway - 3
Fyndiq - 4
iZettle - 5
Klarna - 6
Klarna
KnCMiner - 7
LeoVegas - 8
MAG - 9
Mojang - 10
ShapeUp - 11
Spotify - 12
Tictail - 13
TrueSoftware - 14
TrueSoftware
Zound - 15
Mojang
Figure 16. International diversity of company
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
year
ratioofexpatriates
Companies
Avito - 1
Avito
FishBrain - 2
Footway - 3
Fyndiq - 4
iZettle - 5
iZettle
Klarna - 6
Klarna
KnCMiner - 7
LeoVegas - 8
LeoVegas
MAG - 9
Mojang - 10
Mojang
ShapeUp - 11
Spotify - 12
Spotify
TrueSoftware - 14
TrueSoftware
Zound - 15
Figure 17. International diversity of network

78
In summary, what can we make of this analysis? When we look at the dif-
ferent variables, we see groupings that are not similar to those that resulted
from the cluster analysis. This finding therefore indicates that each of these
companies is unique in its composition of leading positions in terms of these
descriptives, e.g., age diversity, gender diversity. In other words, there is no
“one recipe for success” to becoming a unicorn or potential unicorn when it
5
10
15
2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
year
numberofcompanies
Companies
Avito - 1
FishBrain - 2
FishBrain
Footway - 3
Footway
Fyndiq - 4
iZettle - 5
Klarna - 6
Klarna
KnCMiner - 7
KnCMiner
LeoVegas - 8
MAG - 9
Mojang - 10
ShapeUp - 11
Spotify - 12
Spotify
Tictail - 13
TrueSoftware - 14
Zound - 15
Zound
Figure 18. In how many companies people are involved.
10
20
30
40
2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
year
numberoflinks
Companies
Avito - 1
Avito
FishBrain - 2
Footway - 3
Footway
Fyndiq - 4
iZettle - 5
iZettle
Klarna - 6
Klarna
KnCMiner - 7
LeoVegas - 8
MAG - 9
Mojang - 10
Mojang
ShapeUp - 11
Spotify - 12
Spotify
Tictail - 13
TrueSoftware - 14
Zound - 15
Zound
Figure 19. Total number of companies that startups are linked to

79
comes to the composition of the management team based on these variables.
Each company has created its own path to success. However, they may be
similar in other dimensions, such as their network position, which we turn
to below.

80
We then conducted an analysis to see to what degree the 15 startups are con-
nected to each other either through direct links or indirect links created by
the individuals in leading positions over the years.
Below is the network of the 15 startups if we only take into consideration
current direct links among these startups (figure 20). Surprisingly there are
very few direct links among these companies, indicating that there is a broad
number of highly competent individuals behind these companies.
6. Embedded through
formal networks
Figure 20. Startups directly connected to each other currrently.
Avito AB
FishBrain AB
Footway Group AB
Fyndiq AB
Klarna Holding AB
KnCMiner AB
LeoVegas AB (publ)
MAG Interactive AB
ShapeUp Club AB
Spotify AB
Tictail AB
True Software Scandinavia AB
Zound Industries International AB
iZettle AB

81
However, when we look at the network of the startups through current
direct and indirect links created by the startups’ clouds, we see a somewhat
more connected network. Eight of the startups have their own separate
clouds while the remaining seven are connected through indirect links (fig-
ure 21). In the appendix, figures 32 to 41 show these clusters broken out so
that the startups are more readily identifiable while figures 51 to 54 provide
further detailed analysis.
Figure 21. Social network visualization of startups connected today through their clouds
A in the garden Handelsbolag
A. Aapeli Sweden AB
AB Sagax
AB avtal24
ALSA Capital AB
AMC Entertainment International Inc. (USA) filial
APG Advisory ABAPG Debt Advisory AB
APG Holding AB
APG I1 AB
APG Invest AB
ASB Sweden AB
Accedo Broadband AB
Adalberth Invest AB
Add Mikkelsen AB
Afsi AB
Aggregate Stockholm AB
Ahlen & Partners AB
Aktiebolaget Lovers
Alma Mater AB
Almaskolan AB
Altira AB
Amelie Design Sweden AB
Anchorage Capital AB
Anjassar Invest AB
Apica AB
Artemon New Media
Atelier Borgila AB
Athlete Sports Academy Sweden AB
Auctions Online Scandinavia AB
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito CheckOut Holding AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
AxFast AB
Ayabarus Invest AB
B & T Juridik AB
B-O Distribution AB
BR..DBYGGARNA KOMMANDITBOLAG
Baker & McKenzie Advokatbyr.. Kommanditbolag
Bar-dak Publishing AB
Barista FTC AB
Bas Holding AB
Bed Factory Sweden AB
BetaMed AB
Bilpunkten i Rissne Aktiebolag
Bisslinge Entreprenad och Fastigheter AB
Bisslinge F..rvaltning Aktiebolag
Bj..rkuddens Fastighetsaktiebolag
Blue and Basic Aktiebolag
Boden Industries AB
BodyMarkers AB
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Bajonetten nr 2
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Biskopsudden
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Gardisten 10
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Skatan 1
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen ..delman St..rre 7
Brandos AB (publ)
Bukowski Strandv..gen Auktioner Aktiebolag
Burt AB
By Mutti AB
C. Waldekranz AB
Carl Magnus Nilsson AB
Carl Magnus Nilsson Holding AB
Cerberus AB
Chess AB
Christel Karlsson
Christer Egnell AB
Christer Egnell Holding AB
CnV Invest AB
Cold North AB
Collegium Carpe Vitam AB
Company Jeans Holding Sweden AB
Company Jeans J..nk..ping AB
Company Jeans Sm..land AB
Company Jeans ..land AB
Concours-Cepro Aktiebolag
Consortio Fashion Group Aktiebolag
Corem Fastigheter AB
Corem G..teborg AB
Corem V..xj.. AB
Corem V..xj.. Ett AB
Corem V..xj.. Tv.. AB
Corporate Classifieds AB
Crew Communications Scandinavia (crewcom) AB
Crown Fastigheter AB
Crown Intressenter Finland AB
Cryex AB
Cryex Group AB
Cubs Club 2 AB
Cubs Club 3 AB
Danfei Holding AB
Deco Bags Aktiebolag
Design by Anna Ramm-Ericson AB
Di Luca & Di Luca Aktiebolag
Digital Agency Ryssland AB
Djursholms Glassfabrik AB
Domofond Holding AB
Double Sunday AB
Dovern Advice AB
Downward dog AB
EB elektroniska byr..n AB
Eds ..tervinning Aktiebolag
Elskling AB
Emesco Aktiebolag
Engvall Media AB
Enjoy Wine & Spirits AB
Ericpol AB
Erik Mitteregger f..rvaltnings AB
Erminia AB
Eventbook AB
Exeger Sweden AB (publ)
FORM Capital AB
Falkeskog Gruppen Aktiebolag
Falkeskog International AB
Farsee AB
Fasadglas B..cklin Aktiebolag
Firefly AB
FishBrain AB
Footway Group AB
Forste Marknadsf..ring och F..rs..ljning
Fotografiska Bar, Restaurang & Event AB
Frihag AB
Fr..landers J..rn Aktiebolag
Fyndiq AB
F..lt Communications AB
F..rvaltnings AB Lappk..rret
G-TED AB
Gaming on the tail AB
Garbergs Reklambyr.. AB
Gavald Holdings AB
Gears of Leo AB
Global Redovisning i Stockholm AB
Global Redovisning i V..sterort AB
Good Sport Foundation Sweden AB
Goodguy Svenska AB
Gornergrat Capital AB
Gota Industriutveckling Aktiebolag
Guldfrei AB
Gumbler AB
Hammar International AB
HeatCore AB
Hemi i J..nk..ping AB
Herring Holding AB
Hope Retail AB
Hyresdata i Sverige AB
Hysminai AB
IFE Group AB
IFE Group Holding AB
IFE Nordics AB
Ident Inkasso AB
Idrottsinfrastruktur i Danderyd AB
Industrif..rvaltningsaktiebolaget Kinnevik
Inksong Holding AB
Investment AB Kinnevik
Invik & Co AB
J Gunnarsson F..rvaltning AB
J. Molin AB
JdG F..rvaltning AB
Johan Persson Holding AB
Jonas Bostr..m Holding i Sollentuna AB
Junior Living Holding ABJunior Living Librob..ck AB
J..mf..rs..kring i Stockholm AB
K Opportunity AB
K von K
K von K AB
K-bro konsult AB
KRJ Holding AB
Kajdro AB
Kerku Aktiebolag
Kimoda AB
Kinnevik Consumer Finance 1 ABKinnevik Consumer Finance Holding AB
Kinnevik Consumer Services 1 AB
Kinnevik East AB
Kinnevik Internet 1 AB
Kinnevik Internet Holding AB
Kinnevik Investment Partners AB
Kinnevik Media Holding AB
Kinnevik New Ventures AB
Kinnevik Online ABKinnevik Online Holding AB
Klarna AB
Klarna Holding AB
KnC20 nm Sweden AB
KnCHosting AB KnCMiner AB
KnCResources AB
Kompetensjakt 08 Handelsbolag
Konstgr..s DaGy AB
Konsthandels Aktiebolaget Nybroviken
Kontakt East Holding AB
LINDROTH, HANS
Lappk..rret Invest AB
Lemshaga Driftsbolag Aktiebolag
LeoVegas AB
Lhotse Capital AB
Limelight Development Handelsbolag
Lingfield AB
LinusU AB
Lo Cilo Ci AB
Lokomo Systems Aktiebolag
Lovart i Stockholm AB
Lund Health Economics AB
Luxe Properties AB
MAG Interactive AB
MFH Bygg AB
Made by Tolke AB
MagnussonCole IT Handelsbolag
Manderston Investments AB
MatHem i Sverige AB
Matterhorn Advisors AB
McPhee Advisory Asset Management AB
Medcore Sweden AB
Mengus Stockholm 2005 AB
Michael Unneb..ck AB
Micvac Aktiebolag
Midsummer AB
Millcellvik AB
Mobile Access Group Sweden AB
Modern Times Group MTG AB
Movimento Group AB
My First Home AB
Myesma Consulting AB
NEEC Invest AB
NLI Fastigheter Holding AB
NLI Fastigheter Holding II AB
NLI Fastigheter Malm.. AB
NLI Fastigheter V..ster..s AB
NMS INVEST AB
NWM Consulting AB
Neppit Aktiebolag
Nextory AB
Niam Castle Borl..nge ABNiam Castle V..nn..s AB
Nobelhuset AB
Nordea AB
Nordic Wireless AB
Nordisk filial Match.com International Limited UK
Northzone Ventures Sweden AB
N..jesf..rs..ljning i Sverige AB
ORSoC AB
Orcus Partners AB
Ordfront tryckeri & f..rlag Aktiebolag
Out Company i J..nk..ping AB
Outbrain Sweden AB
Overseas Telecom Aktiebolag
PBM Technologies AB
PEMA Sweden AB
POP Invest AB
Pand AB
Pet Sounds AB
Pet Sounds Digitalt ABPomegranate Investment AB
Pop Atom AB
Powerbox International Aktiebolag
Prodentor AB
Q Industries Lars Roth AB
Qapital Insight AB
Queen Of The Clouds AB
Quesada Kapitalf..rvaltning AB
REEDA Capital Management AB Ramsmora Investment Aktiebolag
RedCyber AB
RedPrairie (Sweden) AB
Resscapital AB
Ringstrand & S..derberg AB
Rite Internet Ventures AB
Rite Internet Ventures II AB
Rizzo International AB
Rockwood AB
Rosa & Co AB
Rosfelt Holding AB
RusForest AB
SCole Holdings AB
SGS Rest AB
SIJOnline AB
SMA T..by Aktiebolag
SP Event AB
SSAH Invest AB
SVNIVP Holding AB
Sagolekhuset Junibacken AB
Sagolekhuset Junibacken Drift AB
Saltside Technologies AB
ScandMar Property Developments AB
Sch..nborgs F..rs..ljnings Aktiebolag
Sch..nborgs Holding AB
Senta AB
ShapeUp Club AB
Shoppin Norden AB
Softstructure Solutions AB
Sol Voltaics AB
Soldr..nkta Tomater AB
Soundtrack your brand Sweden AB
Stadium Aktiebolag
Starcounter AB
Stardoll AB
Starship Holding AB
Starway Aktiebolag
Sthlm house of trading Handelsbolag
Stockholms Idrottsgymnasium AB
Stockholms Stads Brandf..rs..kringskontor
Stronghold Invest AB (publ)
Stylesheet AB
St..lplogen Fastigheter AB
Super Strikers Handelsbolag
Surfing Top 12 Aktiebolag
Suxly AB
Svartinge Golf Aktiebolag
Svensk Formagentur Handelsbolag
Svenska Penninglotteriet Aktiebolag
Svolder Aktiebolag
Swe Eyewear AB
Swedish Giftstore Handelsbolag
Symantec Nordic AB
T Westlund Holding AB
T.1337 Pixels & Bytes AB
TORSTENSSON, HENRIK
TRIMAR Aktiebolag
TTS Pass AB
Talces AB
Teldar AB
Tele2 AB
Teli Holding AB
TeliaSonera F..rs..kring AB
Teryp Holding AB
Tethys Oil AB
TicWorks AB
Tictail AB
Tommy Jacobson AB
Top12 International Aktiebolag
True Software AB
True Software Scandinavia Incentive AB
Turfsk..tsel i Sollentuna Aktiebolag
Turistbyr..shopen Isberg Aktiebolag
UHU Sverige AB
UMANDO Aktiebolag
Universal Avenue AB
Up All Night AB
Uppbacka Holding AB
Uppsj.. Aktiebolag
Urban Properties AB
Urban Properties Holding AB
VS Market Gaming Systems AB
VSN Holding AB
Varenne AB
Varenne Invest I AB
Vasakronan AB (publ)
Vendo Ekonomi AB
Vendo Ekonomi Aktiebolag
Venue Retail Group Aktiebolag
Veritas (Sweden) AB
Vilandevik AB
Vitgrund AB
Vl..rden AB
Vostok New Ventures AB
V..sklagret i Bor..s Aktiebolag
V..ttern ett AB
V..ttern tv.. AB
W&D Carwash AB
WALDEKRANZ, CARL RUNE OLIVER
WF Simhold ABWF Simtranshold AB
White Birds AB
Widenfelt & Kruse Holding AB
Widespace AB
Wise Group AB
X5 Group AB
Xshore AB
Yogamakes AB
Zarringhalam Ventures AB
Zound Industries AB
Zound Industries Smartphones AB
adalIT
bloglovin' AB
iChip Holding AB
iZettle AB
iZettle Merchant Services AB
isMobile AB
..ngmark Holding AB

82
Figures 22a and 22b shows how this connected network developed. Figure
22a shows the networks of the startups in 2007 – with only three startups
present. Figure 22b shows the networks in 2012. More startups had entered
the scene; however, they are still quite separated.
Almi F..retagspartner Stockholm Aktiebolag
Claerenceg..rden AB
Datawatch AB
Dovern Advice AB
Ellen Aktiebolag
Intrum International Aktiebolag
Intrum Justitia Aktiebolag
Intrum Justitia Inkassobevakning Aktiebolag
Intrum Justitia Kredit Aktiebolag
Intrum Justitia Sweden Aktiebolag
Justitia JJB Aktiebolag Klarna AB
Klarna Holding AB
Libego Aktiebolag
Loanland AB
Millroth Konsult AB
Oscar Axhede Production
Rosfelt Holding AB
Royal Streaming AB
ShapeUp Club AB
Tail-f Incentive AB
Tail-f Systems AB
Talces AB
Teknikerl AB
Walerud Technology Transfer
Walerud & Partners Aktiebolag
Wapa Stockholm AB
Zound Industries International AB
adalIT
gotatamm16 AB
Figure 22a. Social network visualization of entire startup and cloud network
through time: 2007.

83
Figure 22b. Social network visualization of entire startup and cloud network through time: 2012
123 Pension AB
24 punkter kursiv AB
A Perfect Guide Sales Scandinavia AB
A Perfect Guide Scandinavia AB
A. Aapeli Sweden AB
ACR Aviation Capacity Resources AB
ALYCK AB
APG Advisory AB
APG Debt Advisory AB
AWP Holding AB
Abesto AB
Academic Work Solutions AB
Adalberth Invest AB
Add Mikkelsen AB
Afsi AB
Ahhaaa Group AB
Aktiebolaget J..rnkanalen
Aktiebolaget Lagerhaus - ..stra Hamngatan
Aktiebolaget Myrgranen
Aktiebolaget Syoto
Aktiebolaget dp f..rs..kring
Alma Mater AB
AlphaGeek AB
Altira AB
Altira Holding AB
Anjassar Invest AB
Anralk Holding AB
Apica AB
Arbetslivsresurs AR AB
Arc E-commerce AB
Arena Personal AktiebolagArenakoncernen AB
Artemon New Media
Atelier Borgila AB
AxFast AB
B & T Juridik AB
B Media Invest AB
B-O Distribution AB
BAS ITG AB
BAS Rex Aktiebolag
BERGSTR..MS UTBILDNINGSSERVICE NORRSKEDIKA KOMMANDITBOLAG
BMK Advokat AB
Baltic Development Aktiebolag
Bas Holding AB
Bas Sverige AB
Bed Factory Sweden Holding Aktiebolag
Bell Promotion Aktiebolag
Bellbox Holding AB
BillerudKorsn..s Skog & Industri Aktiebolag
Bj..rn Emil Madeleine Zoe (B.E.M.Z.) Design AB
Black Tree AB
Bohemian Wrappsody AB
Bohmans N..tverk Aktiebolag
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Dala 35
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Falsterbohus nr 2
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Solpiggen
Brandos AB (publ)
Brasserie by the Sea AB
Buir AB
Burt AB
By Mutti AB
Ceka Aktier AB
Ceka Capital AB
Christel Karlsson
Compricer AB
Concode i Sk..vde Aktiebolag
Contentor AB
Contentor Marketing AB
Convergys International Nordic AB
Creades AB (publ)
CrossVenture Capital AB
Crown Asset Management AB
Crown Fastigheter ABCrown Intressenter Finland AB
Cubs Club 2 AB
Cubs Club 3 AB
DESAM Utveckling AB
DIF Venture AB
Davelop
Desam Fashion Group Aktiebolag
Digital Inn AB
Digital Inn Holding AB
Digital Inn Stockholm AB
Digital Inn ..rebro AB
Djurg..rdens Elitfotboll AB
Double Sunday AB
Dovern Advice AB
Downward dog AB
Dr..mg..rden Fastighetsutveckling AB
EAC Cosmetics Group AB
EAC Cosmetics Partners AB EHANDELSE AB
Ecopress AB
Eklund Stockholm New York AB
Elskling AB
Elteam J-O Bengtsson AB
Empire AB
Engvall Media AB
Eranda AB
Erminia AB
Erminia F..rvaltnings AB
Eztrad AB
FORM Capital AB
Fanbyn2 Vindenergi AB
Fastighets AB Hallstavik
Fastighets AB Plastfabriken
Fastighets AB Rimbo
Fastighets AB Storasystern
Fastighets AB Yrkesskolan
Fidelio Capital AB
Fiholms fideikommiss aktiebolag
FishBrain AB
Flexenclosure AB (publ)
Fondeon Aktiebolag
Footway Group AB
Frihag AB
Fyndiq AB
Gamesa Energy Sweden AB
Gamesa Wind Sweden AB
General Wireless Scandinavia AB
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare AB
Goodguy Svenska AB
HolidayPhone AB
HuMarine AB
Hysminai AB
IC Inter Credit AB
IFE Group AB
IFE Nordics AB
Interesting Times Holding AB
Iwaco AB
JC & Associates Aktiebolag
Jojka Communications AB
June Morgan AB
Junior Living Librob..ck AB
Junior Living i Knivsta AB
K von K
K von K AB
K-bro konsult AB
KRJ Holding AB
Kerku Aktiebolag
Keyflow Aktiebolag
Kimoda AB
Kiruna Congress & Evenemang AB
Klarna AB Klarna Holding AB
LeoVegas AB
Ligula Hospitality Group AB
Liteframes Aktiebolag
Lo Cilo Ci AB
Loeffler Hospitality Group AB
Lyko Retail AB
MAG Interactive AB
MI B.. 4812 AB
MIS - Media Investors Sweden AB
MQ Holding AB
Magnus Bergman International AB
Mallick & Pallick AB
MamaRest AB
Marcus KE Fransson AB
Match.com Nordic AB
Mediaplanet International AB
Micael Widell Holding AB
Michael Sandstr..m Aktiebolag
Minallfo AB
NEEC Invest AB
NORBERG, FREDRIK
NWM Consulting AB
Neppit Aktiebolag
Netspine AB
Niam Castle Borl..nge AB
Niam Castle V..nn..s AB
Nordea AB
Nordic Fixed Income AB
Nordic Wireless AB
Norrt..lje Jungfrun Fastighets AB
Nya Remarkable Retail Marketing Sweden AB
N..tverk Europa AB
Original Clothing Lund
Outbrain Sweden AB
PEMA Sweden AB
POP Invest AB
Pand AB
Payson AB
ProTender Aktiebolag
ProfilEvents AB
Profilrestauranger AB
Q Lifestyle Holding AB
Quickomat AB
REEDA Capital Management AB
RNB RETAIL AND BRANDS AB (publ)
Ramstedt Holding AB
Realtid Media AB
RebTel Owners AB
RedCyber AB
Remente AB
Rite Internet Ventures ABRite Internet Ventures Holding ABRite Internet Ventures II AB
Rogersbay AB
Rosa & Co AB
Rosfelt Holding AB
Rossen 2 Fastighets AB
Royal Streaming AB
SBAB Bank AB (publ)
SGS Rest AB
SIJOnline AB
SKP Invest AB
SP Event AB
Scandinavian Air Ambulance Holding AB
Sch..nborgs F..rs..ljnings Aktiebolag
ShapeUp Club AB
Sista versen 18653 AB
Sj..eken Ekonomisk f..rening
Skaft.. Invest AB
Slutplattan CERPA 95860 AB
Slutplattan IPMZDVR 93800 AB
Springyard Development AB
Stadium Aktiebolag
Stardoll AB
Starway Aktiebolag
Stockholm Tennis AB
Stockholms Tandh..lsa AB
Stockwik Telekom AB
Storegate AB
Sustainable Finances Scandinavia AB
Svenska Topref AB
Svenska allt f..r f..r..ldrar, e-handel AB
Swedish People Interactive AB
Symantec Nordic AB
Syrgas AB
T.1337 Pixels & Bytes AB
TIME Vision bpart AB
TRIMAR Aktiebolag
TTS Pass AB
Talces AB
Tastsinn AB
Temporis AB
Teryp Holding AB
Testfreaks AB
Theoda AB
Tictail AB
Tide AB
Tommy Jacobson AB
Toply AB
Travel Agency Holding Sweden AB
Tricycle Design Handelsbolag
True Software Scandinavia AB
UHU Sverige AB
UMANDO Aktiebolag
USPORTS AB
Ulla Grane Medicinkonsult AB
Unlimited Travel Group UTG AB (publ)
Uppsj.. Aktiebolag
Utdraget AB
Utveckling i Noresund AB
Varenne AB
Varenne East AB
Varenne Fastigheter 2011 AB
Varenne Fastigheter AB
Varenne F..rvaltning I AB
Varenne Invest I AB
Vilandevik AB
Vincent Shoe Store Sweden AB
Ving..kers Factory Outlet AB
Voca Communications AB
V..r Skola F..rlag Aktiebolag
W&D Carwash AB
WISELIO AB
WakePower AB
White Birds AB
White Tree AB
WhiteAway AB
Widespace AB
Wilhelm Risberg Holding AB
Wiral Internet Group AB
Wiselio Consulting
World Class Seagull International AB
Writelin AB
Xtracom AB (publ)
ZOZO Games Kommanditbolag
Zaark AB
Zound Industries AB
aBrick AB
adalIT
andmotion AB
e-Centret 2P & Co. AB
eWork Scandinavia AB
iChip Holding AB
iZettle AB

84
Influence of the Dotcom era
As previously mentioned, we are interested in exploring how individuals
who were influential during the dotcom era have played a role in the second
wave we are experiencing today. To do so, we identified the most influen-
tial individuals as well as their roles in the startups and information about
their professional activity after the crash by researching articles in the me-
dia, LinkedIn, and other available sources. As “influential individuals”, we
have included founders, executives, technology experts, board members,
and investors, and in this process, we have included not only those individu-
als who made successful exits but also those who were influential through
other means during this time. It is therefore a list of people with resources,
be it money, experience, and/or networks, rather than a directory of dotcom
millionaires. In this manner, we compiled a list of 60 influential individuals
(table 5). In addition, we compiled a list of the 44 most influential people
when it comes to the technology, i.e., those who held CTO positions, heads
of R&D, senior advisers, etc. (table 6).
Company Individual Role Industry Year company
was founded
AdCore Christer Jacobsson Co-founder IT consultancy 2000
Altitun Björn Broberg Co-founder Fiber optical
communica-
tion
1997
Altitun Lennart Ramberg Co-founder Fiber optical
communica-
tion
1997
Altitun Robert Plastow* Co-founder Fiber optical
communica-
tion
1997
Altitun Stefan Lindgren Co-founder Fiber optical
communica-
tion
1997
AU-Systems Ulf Jonströmmer Founder IT consultancy 1974
Blocket Henrik Nordström* Co-founder Marketplace 1996
Blocket Pierre Siri Co-founder Marketplace 1996
Blue tail Jane Walerud Co-founder
& CEO
Software 1999
Boo.com Ernst Malmsten Co-founder E-commerce 1998
Boo.com Kajsa Leander Co-founder E-commerce 1998
Boss Media Joel Wikell Co-founder Online casino 1997
Table 5. List of influential companies, institutions and individuals during the IT boom

85
was founded
Bredbands-
bolaget
Jan C. H. Nilsson Co-founder Telecom 1998
Bredbands-
bolaget
Jan-Erik L. Fiske Co-founder Telecom 1998
Bredbands-
bolaget
Jonas Birgersson Co-founder Telecom 1998
Bredbands-
bolaget
Mattias E. G.
Söderhielm
Co-founder Telecom 1998
Bredbands-
bolaget
Peter Ekelund Chairman Telecom 1998
Cell Network Christer Sturmark Co-founder IT consultancy 1996
Cell Network Jan Carlzon Co-founder
CoB
IT consultancy 1996
Cell Network Magdalena Bonde Co-founder IT consultancy 1996
Cell Network Markus Bäcklund CEO (97-00) IT consultancy 1996
Cell Network Niklas Flyborg CEO (00-03) IT consultancy 1996
eTrade Johan Brenner Co-founder Fintech 1998
eTrade Magnus Lindahl Co-founder Fintech 1998
eTrade Mattias Miksche Co-founder
& CEO
Fintech 1998
Framfab Hans Rausing* Investor IT consultancy 1995
Framfab Johan Wall CEO IT consultancy 1995
Framfab Jonas Birgersson Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Framfab Ken Ceder Board mem-
ber
IT consultancy 1995
HiQ Hans Karlsson Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
HiQ Ken Gerhardsen Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
HiQ Ragnar ter Vehn Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
HiQ Rolf Andersson* Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Icon Medialab Erik Wikström Co-founder IT consultancy 1996
Icon Medialab Jesper Jos Olsson Co-founder IT consultancy 1996
Icon Medialab Johan Staël von
Holstein
Co-founder IT consultancy 1996
Icon Medialab Magnus Lindahl Co-founder IT consultancy 1996
Icon Medialab Ulf Dahlsten* CEO (99-01) IT consultancy 1996
Jobline Johan Brenner Chairman &
investor
Recruiting 1999
Jobline Lars-Henrik Friis Molin Founder Recruiting 1999
Jobline Magnus Lindahl Investor Recruiting 1999
Jobline Per Sunnemark CEO (01-02) Recruiting 1999

86
was founded
Qeyton Dag Bonnedal Co-founder Fiber optical
communica-
tion
1998
Qeyton Lars Egnell Co-founder Fiber optical
communica-
tion
1998
Qeyton Tomas Askinger Co-founder Fiber optical
communica-
tion
1998
Sendit Hjalmar Winbladh Founder Telecom 1994
Skype Janus Friis* Co-founder Software 2003
Skype Niklas Zennström Co-founder Software 2003
Spray Gunnar Lindberg
Årneby
Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Spray Johan Ihrfelt Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Spray Jonas Svensson* Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Spray Michael Daun Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Spray Patrik Stymne Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Spray Sebastian Knutsson Co-founder IT consultancy 1995
Tradera Daniel Kaplan Founder Marketplace 1999
Tradera Johan Brenner Co-founder
& board
member
Marketplace 1999
Tradera Jonas Nordlander CEO & origi-
nal startup
team
Marketplace 1999
Wineasy Johannes Bertorp Founder Telecom 1995
WM-data Hans Mellström Co-founder IT consultancy 1969
Xcelera Alexander Vik* Co-founder Investment
company
1999
Xcelera Gustav Vik Co-founder Investment
company
1999
Xcelera Sverker Lindbo Founder of
Mirror Image
Investment
company
1999
Xcelera Tryggwe Karlsten Investor Investment
company
1999

87
Table 6. List of influential companies, institutions and individuals during the IT-boom
regarding technology
Company Individual Role Industry
AdCore Hans Grönberg* CTO Advertising
AU-System Ulf Trulson* CTO IT consultancy
Bluetail Jane Walerud CEO/Founder Software
Boo.com Steve Bennett* CTO E-Commerce
Boss Media Pontus Albinzon* CTO Software
Cell Network Krister Nilsson* CTO Telecom
Cell Network Stein Myrseth* CTO Telecom
Cell Network Tore Bjerke* CTO Telecom
Cisco, Tele2,
Sunet
Peter Löthberg Advisor Telecom
CNS Systems Håkan Lans Inventor, Co-
founder
Maritime
Coding
Technologies
Lars Liljeryd Founder Telecom
Ericson Håkan Eriksson* Head of R&D Telecom
Ericson Jan Wäreby Head of
department
Multimedia
Telecom
Framfab, Bred-
bandsbolaget,
Labs2 Group
Jonas Birgersson Founder, CEO IT consultancy, Telecom
HiQ Jacob Gliemann
Larsen*
CTO IT consultancy
IBM Sweden, Torbjörn Johansson* CTO, Member Hardware
Icon Medialab Björn Schulz CTO IT consultancy
Icon Medialab Eirik Fosse* CTO IT consultancy
Icon Medialab Else-Marie Östling CTO IT consultancy
Icon Medialab Gunnar Östergren* CTO IT consultancy
Icon Medialab Johan Sellström* CTO IT consultancy
Icon Medialab Mathias Korsbäck CTO IT consultancy
Internet Architec-
ture Board
Patrik Fältström Member Internet
Internet Society,
IIS
Östen Frånberg* Member,
Chairman
Internet
Jobline Fredrik Eriksson* CTO Recruiting
Jobline Johan Runnedhal CTO Recruiting
Jobline Sigurdur Stefan Hjal-
marsson
CTO Recruiting
Jobline Victor Molander CTO Recruiting

88
In order to find connections between the dotcom era and today’s wave
of unicorn activity, we searched for the above individuals in our database of
leading positions. We find, however, only a few direct connections (figure
23).
Company Individual Role Industry
Kazaa, Skype Niklas Zennström Co-founder Internet
KTH Jens Zander Professor,
Head of
research
for Wireless
communica-
tion
Academic
Nanoradio Pär Bergsten CEO Hardware
Northstream Bengt Nordström CEO IT consultancy
Optillion, KTH Lars Thylén Co-founder,
professor
Academic
Polar Rose Jan-Erik Solem Founder Software
Qliktech Håkan Wolgé Founder Business Intelligence
Sendit Jonas Lindroth* CTO Telecom
Sony Ericson Mats Lindoff Head of R&D Hardware
Spray Danny Aerts COO, MD Web Portal
Spray Fredrik Fagerberg* CTO Web Portal
Spray Lars Markgren* CTO Web Portal
Switchcore,
Optillion, Intel,
Linköpings univer-
sitet
Christer Svensson Co-founder,
member of
research
counsel,
professor
Fiber optical communi-
cation
*Individuals for which we have no personal number and therefore have been unable to compare with our dataset.
TeliaSonera
mobile sector
Östen Mäkitalo CTO Telecom
WM-data Jan Christensen* CTO IT consultancy
WM-data Niko Halonen* CTO IT consultancy

89
However, when we include indirect links, we do find quite a few more
connections (figures 24 and 25).
Cell Network Markus Bäcklund MAG
Magdalena Bonde Spotify
eTrade, Tradera Johan Brenner iZettle, MAG, Tictail
eTrade Mattias Miksche LeoVegas
HiQ Hans Karlsson Avito, Klarna, Mojang
Ken Gerhardsen Fyndiq
Icon Medialab Magnus Lindahl iZettle
Erik Wikström FishBrain, ShapeUp,
MAG, Tictail
Jobline Lars-Henrik Friis Molin FishBrain, MAG, Tictail
Per Sunnemark Spotify
Sendit Hjalmar Winbladh FishBrain, MAG, Tictail
Spray Johan Ihrfelt FishBrain, MAG, Tictail
Tradera Daniel Kaplan Klarna
First wave
company
Individual Cloud Second wave startup
CLOUD
Figure 24. Indirect connections between first and second waves
Blue Tail
Cell Network
Tradera
Jane Walerud Klarna AB
Jan Carlzon
Johan Brenner
Fyndiq AB
iZettle AB
Figure 23. Direct connections between first and second wave

90
Figure 25. Examples of indirect connections through the cloud between the first wave
and unicorns
13th Lab AB
24 punkter kursiv ABAhhaaa Group AB
Carolinas Matkasse AB
Creandum II Advisor AB
Creandum II General Partner AB
Creandum III Advisor AB
Creandum IV Advisor AB
Ecopress AB
For the Vint AB
Hansoft Aktiebolag
Instabridge AB Itesco AB
Managerzone AB Martin Yale Nordic AB
Payson AB
Power Challenge AB
Power Challenge Sweden AB
Redeye Aktiebolag
Rogersbay AB
Samsung Nanoradio Design Center AB
Skaft.. Invest AB
Springyard Development AB
iZettle AB
Avanza Bank AB
Headweb AB
Stardoll AB
ALYCK AB
E. O..hman J:or Aktiebolag
EAC Cosmetics Partners AB
Fastighets AB
Fo..retagarna Sverige Service AB
Fyndiq AB
Hem on Line Sweden AB
Hic iacet AB
JC & Associates AktiebolagNordic Fixed Income AB
Sehlstedtsgatan
Za..eltek AB
Za..eltek Musikproduktion AB
Za..eltek Va..rdepapper AB
Avito A
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen R..dman Karl
Domofond Holding AB
G
Le R
Lhotse Capital AB
WALERUD TECHNOL
Walerud &
Epidemic Sound AB
RebTel Owners AB
CareerTV Nordic AB
Studentkortet Media AB
Tenek Skrow AB
Ungdomsbaromete
Precise Biometrics AB
TAT The Astonishing Tribe AB
Loanland AB
Zappa Eve
24 punkter kursiv ABaa Group AB
Creandum IV Advisor AB
Ecopress AB
For the Vint AB
olag
bridge AB Itesco AB
Managerzone AB Martin Yale Nordic AB
son AB
Power Challenge AB
Skaft.. Invest AB
iZettle AB
Avanza Bank AB
Headweb AB
tardoll AB
Guide Sales Scandinavia AB
E. O..hman J:or Aktiebolag
Fo..retagarna Sverige Service AB
Hic iacet AB
JC & Associates AktiebolagNordic Fixed Income AB
Sehlstedtsgatan
nable Finances Scandinavia AB
ubl)
Noresund AB
Za..eltek AB
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Domofond Holding AB
Drillcon Aktiebolag
Le Rouge AB
Lhotse Capital AB
Almi Fo..retagspartner
Stockholm Aktiebolag
Datawatch AB
Ellen Aktiebolag
Klarna AB
Klarna Holding AB
Libego Aktiebolag
WALERUD TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Wapa Stockholm AB
Epidemic Sound AB
RebTel Owners AB
Agentum AB
CareerTV Nordic AB
Nova 100 ABNova 100 Group AB
Studentkortet i Sverige AB
TalentMatch AB
Tenek Skrow AB
U Partners AB
Ungdomsbarometern AB
Universum Group AB
Universum Optionshantering i Stockholm AB
Loanland AB
Zappa Events AB
IV Advisor AB
tesco AB
Yale Nordic AB
tle AB
za Bank AB
Perfect Guide Scandinavia AB
urces AB
etagarna Sverige Service AB
Hic iacet AB
RETAIL AND BRANDS AB (publ)
Sehlstedtsgatan
Za..eltek AB
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Domofond Holding AB
Drillcon Aktiebolag
Le Rouge AB
Lhotse Capital AB
Almi Fo..retagspartner
Stockholm Aktiebolag
Datawatch AB
Ellen Aktiebolag
Klarna AB
Klarna Holding AB
Libego Aktiebolag
WALERUD TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Wapa Stockholm AB
Epidemic Sound AB
RebTel Owners AB
Agentum AB
CareerTV Nordic AB
Nova 100 ABNova 100 Group AB
TalentMatch AB
Tenek Skrow AB
U Partners AB
Universum Group AB
Loanland AB
Zappa Events AB

91
In summary, we do find that there is a clear connection in some respects
between the prominent companies of the IT boom and the extremely suc-
cessful companies of today. This connection is, however, weaker than one
maybe might assume. We think it is important to stress that the connection
is not a general one, i.e., that it is simply the same people who have contin-
ued their careers from the first wave to the second. We find that there are
two more or less distinct categories of people who were heavily involved and
influential in the IT boom: 1) people who have little or no connection with
the successful companies of today as they may have continued their careers
outside of Sweden or have new pursuits and 2) people who are very well con-
nected with today’s companies.
Clearly,theconnectionmaybehigherthanwhatwehavefoundsincesome
of the first wave of individuals may be active in leading positions in compa-
nies not in our database of unicorns, potential unicorns, and their clouds or
they may also have more informal roles of advisers or angel investors without
holding any board or top management positions. Regardless, the fact that we
did find some direct connections tells us something very important about
how a few actors can provide the necessary resources such as capital, experi-
ence, and know-how within a startup network.

92
Part III

93
How to understand the current success story of Sweden and its capital city of
Stockholm? The background provided in the introduction chapter gives us
as basis for this, and in the following chapter we elaborate with more aspects
that we consider of interest.
Let us first take a look at what the Swedish government has done to pro-
mote such a high-tech entrepreneurial environment. As discussed above, one
area is the direct promotion of the use of computers and the Internet through
a variety of measures such as subsidies and tax breaks. Other means include
a strong foresight and focus on developing the Internet infrastructure as well
as efforts to hinder the development of monopoly positions by major actors
within the ecosystem. As a result, the penetration of computers in Swedish
households grew from 28% in 1995 to 76% in 2000, thereby creating consid-
erable computer experience among the population.167
This encouraged the
use of computers and the Internet not only by adults, both employed and
unemployed, but also by their children, who perhaps preferred to stay inside
and play with them as opposed to going outside during the cold and dark
winters. Today as a result, almost everyone in the country is computer liter-
ate with 91% of the population online, putting Sweden among the countries
with the highest penetration in the world.168
Furthermore, 90% of the popu-
lation has access to broadband at home and 77% have a smartphone.169
Many of those children who benefited from the spread of personal com-
167. Statskontoret. 2000, Internet och datoranvändning i Sverige år 2000. http://www.statskontoret.se/
upload/Publikationer/2001/200128.pdf (Accessed 2016-03-15).
168. Internet World Stats. Top 50 countries with the highest internet penetration rates – 2013. http://
www.internetworldstats.com/top25.htm (Accessed 2016-03-15).
Findahl, Olle & Davidsson, Pamela, Svenskarna och internet : 2015 års undersökning av svenska folkets
internetvanor, .SE, Stiftelsen för internetinfrastruktur, 2015
169. Findahl, Olle & Davidsson, Pamela, Svenskarna och internet : 2015 års undersökning av svenska
folkets internetvanor, .SE, Stiftelsen för internetinfrastruktur, 2015
1. Sweden’s misty meadows

94
puters and Internet access around the millennium shift have now entered the
workforce and as a result of early use are already leading the way in develop-
ing innovations. For example, 33-year-old Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO
and one of the founders of Klarna, stated in an interview in The Independent,
“When I was young my family couldn’t afford a computer. But because of
this subsidy we could, and from the age of 10 I was always playing around
with it. [It] was very visionary of the politicians back then.”170
Government policy has not only led to direct effects of computer and In-
ternet penetration among the general population, but it also has led to indi-
rect effects on the penetration within firms and other organizations. For ex-
ample, Sweden has a history of labor costs among the highest in the world. In
the 1990s, employer costs were almost double the take-home pay of employ-
ees due to taxes.171
In some industries one means for firms to compensate for
this high cost of labor was to automate their operations through investments
in personal computers and IT systems already dating back to the 1980s. This
automation was particularly prevalent in the banking industry. Not only was
this industry characterized by rivalry among domestic players, but these IT
investments also led to internal rivalry among divisions within the banks,
thereby spurring innovation. As the Swedish banks started to integrate IT
with their marketing operations more than 30 years ago, internal rivalry was
created as the new technology (telephone banking, credit cards, terminals
for corporate customers, and then Internet banking in the 1990s) competed
with the old technology and organizational structure (branch offices). This
internal rivalry helped create a culture that fostered innovation and brought
them to the marketplace. In fact, these investments and innovations led to
the first wave of FinTech activity in Sweden that began in the 1980s when
Optionsmäklarna (OM) was created in 1984. OM was the first options ex-
change in Sweden, and it also was the first exchange ever to enable remote
trading and one of the first electronic exchanges globally.
OM thereby set the stage for a first wave of FinTech companies specializ-
ing in software for electronic trading, such as Cinnober and Front.172
In addition to encouraging computer and Internet penetration across the
country, the Swedish government has also directly and indirectly encouraged
the growth of entrepreneurial activities and innovation. Substantial social
170. Benwell, Max. Stockholm is rivalling Silicon Valley with a hotbed of technology start-ups.
Independent. 16.12.17 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/stockholm-
is-rivalling-silicon-valley-with-a-hotbed-of-technology-start-ups-9931876.html (Accessed 2016-02-25)
171. Jonung, L., Kiander, J., & Vartia, P. (2009). The Great Financial Crisis in Finland and Sweden,
Edward Elgar Publishing.
172. Wesley-James, Nicholas; Ingram, Claire; Källstrand, Carl ; Teigland, Robin. Stockholm FinTech:
An overview of the FinTech sector in the greater Stockholm Region. 2015. Available at http://www.
slideshare.net/eteigland/stockholm-49722748

95
benefits create a social safety net that reduces the risks faced by entrepre-
neurs and costs for companies. Healthcare is publically funded to a very high
degree, leading to relatively inexpensive healthcare for adults and in essence
free healthcare for children as well as free dental care for children up to the
age of 20. Most parents take parental leave, and they are entitled up to 480
days of parental leave to be taken at any time until the child is eight years old,
and the parents are paid a bonus if they split the time equally. Many employ-
ers even make up part or all of the difference between the salary paid by the
state during parental leave and the salary paid by the employer. Parents re-
ceive a monthly, tax-free sum for each child until the child reaches 16 years of
age and after that the child is entitled to a study allowance. Education from
kindergarten through university is free while daycare and after-school care is
heavily subsidized. For example, in 2015 parents paid only around USD 150
per child per month for full-time daycare. Furthermore, if unemployed, in-
dividuals who are part of the unemployment insurance fund and have signed
an unemployment insurance through a union can receive up to 80% of their
salary while those who go on sick leave and are registered with the Swedish
Social Insurance Agency generally receive 80% of their normal salary.173
Due to this social safety net, individuals may be more likely to take the
leap to becoming an entrepreneur, which may lead to a greater number of
entrepreneurs per capita than in other countries such as the USA where indi-
viduals may endure a higher level of stress due to high healthcare and educa-
tion costs, unstable income if unemployed or sick, and high student loans to
repay. Another indirect effect may be that since university students receive
approximately USD 1200 per month from the government (of which 71.5%
is a loan to be paid back), students may have more time to devote to entrepre-
neurial endeavors while still in school since they do not have to take on part-
time jobs to pay for expenses such as rent, food, and school supplies.174 175
Students and others who do decide to take the entrepreneurial route can
apply for startup loans and grants, funded by state agencies, such as ALMI
with offices across Sweden, Tillväxtverket, and Vinnova – Sweden’s Inno-
vation Agency, as well as not-for-profit, non-state agencies, such as the In-
ternet Infrastructure Foundation, and university incubators and cluster or-
ganizations. In addition to funding, entrepreneurs can receive considerable
help along their journey from incubators and other foundations funded by
173. Work in Sweden. Social benefits. http://work.sweden.se/living-in-sweden/social-benefits/
(Accessed 2016-03-15).
174. Kramer, Ariel. 2015. If You’re Looking for Your Next Unicorn, Head to Sweden Huffpost
Business. The blog. December 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariel-kramer/if-youre-looking-for-
your_b_8719426.html (Accessed 2016-03-25).
175. Centrala studiestödsnämnden. Hur mycket pengar får jag. 2015. http://www.csn.se/blivande-
studerande/fragor-svar/studiemedel-sverige/1.2463 (Accessed 2016-03-25).

96
private and public actors. For example, STING - Stockholm Innovation &
Growth is a non-profit organization financed by public funds from the Elec-
trum Foundation and partner organizations of Vinnova, KTH - The Royal
Institute of Technology, and EIT ICT Labs as well as by private funding and
self-funding. STING provides both an incubator and accelerator program
and has its head office in Kista, just outside the city center. However, its busi-
ness coaches tend to sit where the startups are located in Stockholm, such
as at SUP46 – a co-working space for digital startups, and at THINGS – a
co-working space for hardware startups.
Both SUP46176
and THINGS177
are the result of STING’s vision of
enabling entrepreneurship and innovation in the Stockholm region with
STING being a co-founder of SUP46 and a co-owner of THINGS. SUP46
is home to many of Sweden’s digital startups and was described by Sebastian
Fuchs, Co-founder of SUP 46, in the following way, “SUP46 serves as a mid-
dle man to connect businesses with investors and contacts that will help their
business grow. Our inspiration comes from the leading incubators, accelera-
tors, networking groups and investors around the world. Over the course of
2015 our members drew in $31M of venture capital. We can’t wait to see
what 2016 has in store.”
Another interesting initiative is Openlab, a creative center that was found-
ed by Karolinska Institutet, the Royal Institute of Technology, Södertörn
University, Stockholm University, Stockholm County, and the City of
Stockholm, that creates proposals for innovative solutions for the Stockholm
region. Openlab offers master’s courses, competitions, professional educa-
tion, workshops, seminars, exhibitions, bookable rooms, flexible work spaces
and the prototype studio Make. For example, Openlab is running courses
in which master’s students work on challenges for Stockholm City, such as
shared biking and the future of transportation.
In addition to funding and coaching, access to talented individuals is key
for entrepreneurs in high technology companies. Just within the greater
Stockholm area there are a number of leading universities providing a high
level of technical and managerial competence, such as Karolinska, Uppsala
University, the Royal Institute of Technology, the Stockholm School of Eco-
nomics (SSE), and Stockholm University. Additionally, SSES - the Stock-
holm School of Entrepreneurship is a non-profit association built with five
universities in the area: the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm School
of Economics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm University, and Konstfack –
University College of Arts, Crafts, and Design. SSES offers education, train-
176. sup46. Start-up people of Sweden. http://www.sup46.com/(Accessed 2016-03-25).
177. THINGS by STING http://www.thingstockholm.com/(Accessed 2016-03-25).

97
ing, competitions, and outreach activities in the areas of entrepreneurship
and innovation. Meanwhile the Stockholm School of Economics runs the
SSE Business Lab, which offers accelerator activities free of charge to startup
teams that include at least one SSE student or alum, and boasts the fact that
the unicorn Klarna started within its walls in 2005.
It is important to note that not only do university students come from
across Sweden, but Sweden is able to attract considerable talent from abroad
due to its highly ranked master’s and doctoral programs combined with rela-
tively low tuition fees. Until the autumn semester 2011, university tuition
was free for all students regardless of residency and nationality. Today it re-
mains free for those students from the EU/EEA area while those from out-
side are required to pay relatively low annual tuition fees from around EUR
9,700 for social science programs to around EUR 15,000 for natural science
programs.178
Many of these students from abroad decide to stay in Sweden
upon graduation while others return home. In both cases, these international
students considerably strengthen the networks of Sweden’s firms.
Furthermore, when talent cannot be found at home, the Swedish gov-
ernment has facilitated the immigration of skilled professionals, notably
computer professionals. In 2000 a law was passed that made Sweden more
attractive for foreign professionals. Under this law, experts and researchers
who are difficult to recruit from within Sweden receive a 25% reduction in
his/her income tax and deductions for relocation and the education of his/
her children for the first three years of residence in Sweden.179
In 2008 the
labor immigrations laws were eased, making a job offer the single criteria for
a work permit.180
178. STUDYinEUROPE.eu. Study in Sweden. Tution fees at university in Sweden. 2016. http://www.
studyineurope.eu/study-in-sweden/tuition-fees (Accessed 2016-03-25).
179. SFS 2000:1161.
180. SFS 2008:884.

98
While Sweden is often discussed on the greater scale, much of the country’s
innovation and entrepreneurship come from the capital city of Stockholm.
Founded in 1252, the city is now one of Europe’s fastest growing with a cur-
rent municipal population of around 900,000 and a greater population of
around 2.1 million inhabitants. In addition to being a very connected city,
Stockholm boasts such labels as the first European Green Capital in 2010
and one of the most reputable cities in the world181, and the Stockholm
region is seen as number one on many Nordic indices and in the top ten
on numerous global indices: entrepreneurship, innovation, ICT, technology
readiness, sustainability, and livability.
Stockholm is also a high technology city. The study in 2014 noted above
reported that in Stockholm alone there are more than 22,000 technology
companies and that 18% of the city’s workforce is employed in technology-
related roles182 with the most popular job being a programmer.183 In the
report previously mentioned by CSC on the ICT & Digital sector in Stock-
holm, it was found that of the 43,000 employment positions in this sector,
21,000 have been created since 2008.184
Taking a look at where new companies within the ICT & Digital sector
establish themselves, we find a very heavy concentration of companies within
four areas of central Stockholm: City, Vasastan, Östermalm and Södermalm,
181. City of Stockholm. Welcome to the Capital of Scandinavia. http://international.stockholm.se/
(Accessed 2016-03-25).
182. Mitzner, Dennis. 2016. Sweden Is A Tech Superstar From The North. 26 January. Tech Crunch.
Crunch Network.. http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/26/sweden-is-a-tech-superstar-from-the-north/
(Accessed 2016-03-30).
styrkeområden i Stockholmsregionen, Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015.
2. Stockholm as a high technology hub

99
all within a distance of around 6 km from the most northern point of Vasas-
tan to the most southern point in Södermalm (figure 26).
This heavy concentration of companies interspersed with universities, in-
cubators, and co-working spaces within the same area does much to facili-
tate informal networking within the city. Thus in addition to being linked
through formal relationships such as board memberships, entrepreneurs and
their startups are also highly embedded in informal networks of relation-
ships among individuals who have met through studying, working, or play-
ing sports together or through friendship or family ties. Physical location
is one factor that facilitates the creation and maintenance of such informal
relationships as individuals can easily meet one another for business related
activities or for more social activities such as lunches or AWs (after work). To
Source: Sölvell, Örjan, Fohlin, Carl & Protsiv, Sergiy, Ekosystemet ICT & Digital: kartläggning av styrkeområden i Stockholmsregionen, Länsstyrelsen i
Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015.
Figure 26. ICT & Digital Startups in Stockholm founded 2008 or later, four shades show
employment density

100
give an idea of this proximity, we mapped our list of 15 startups onto a Goog-
le map of Stockholm to see how closely located they are. Indeed they are in
very close proximity to one another, with the farthest distance between any
two points of approximately only 5 kilometers with the exception of only
one company in Kista (figure 27).
Eleven of the 15 companies are located within less than 2 km from each
other in the Norrmalm area in the very center of Stockholm (figure 28).
Figure 27. Map of unicorn and potential unicorns location in Stockholm

101
It is not only the relatively small size of Stockholm that enables network-
ing, there is also a strong formal and informal networking culture engrained
in the city. Entrepreneurs, students and others have numerous networking
opportunities at meetups such as the STHLMTECH Meetups185
, events
at university innovation labs and accelerators, incubators and co-working
spaces, and even student events organized by business newspapers, universi-
ties, and other organizations. These events continue to encourage the Stock-
holm entrepreneurial ecosystem as knowledge and experience are passed
from experienced entrepreneurs to interested individuals through informal
discussions. Stockholm boasts a high level of accumulated startup and high
technology experience.
Due to the Swedish mentality of low prestige and low power distance
combined with Stockholm’s small size encouraging high trust levels, these
entrepreneurs and other leaders and decision makers are easily approachable
and open for collaboration. Jakob Armoe, a typical high-tech entrepreneur
who moved to Stockholm from central Sweden who is currently sitting at
185. STHLMTECH Meetup. http://www.meetup.com/STHLM-Tech-Meetup/ (Accessed 2016-03-
25).
Figure 28. Map of unicorn and potential unicorns location in Stockholm closeup of
Norrmalm (numbering is the same as in the previous figure).

102
THINGS and has received startup funding from ALMI and coaching from
STING for his startup - LUP Technologies, explained his experience in
Stockholm in the following way.
I think that the city of Stockholm really encourages entrepreneurship.
The universities have innovation units, the Stockholm City Council is
actively engaged and funds entrepreneurship projects, and there are lots
of good examples of successful people who are living here. Stockholm has
accumulated a high degree of entrepreneurial experience that continues to be
fed back into the ecosystem. I meet these angel investors all the time – like
around the innovation hubs or the STING network or at events. And you
can absolutely talk with these people. Most people are very open-minded.
Like I was at a student event organized by the newspaper Dagens Industri,
and when the entrepreneur left the stage I ran back and asked him if he
would like to have lunch, and he said, “Sure!” Now I have people on my
board who have experience from running companies, and I have not run a
company before. I found these people through my networks that I have built
up since my student days when I went to lots of different events organized by
different organizations.186
Thus, while the city is large enough to find the right multi-disciplinary
skill set, it is still small enough to accommodate a highly open culture and
trusting relationships that allow for deep levels of knowledge sharing and
collaboration, even among competitors. Johan Attby, CEO of FishBrain - a
member of SUP46, characterized the Stockholm startup community in this
manner, “The Stockholm startup community is super tight-knit and most
folks know each other really well. There are many serial entrepreneurs with
big networks and there’s a great pay-it forward culture. People help each oth-
er with intros and share learnings.”187
This pay-it forward culture demonstrates itself in a variety of ways. There
are a number of successful firms that act as role models by setting high stand-
ards inspiring current and future entrepreneurs while serial entrepreneurs
share their expertise and reinvest in new firms. As noted above, many of the
individuals who have been highly successful since the 1990s continue to en-
gage in the community through activities such as mentoring, investing, and
active board membership and even just hanging out at one of the many co-
working spaces that Stockholm offers, such as SUP46, United Spaces, and
the Castle. Of note is that one of the city’s most active co-working spaces for
186. Jakob Armoe. Entreprenuer. Interview 2016-03-29.
187. Kramer, Ariel. 2015. If You’re Looking for Your Next Unicorn, Head to Sweden. Huffpost
Business. The blog. December 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariel-kramer/if-youre-looking-for-

103
startups, Epicenter188
, was started in January 2015 by Ola Ahlvarsson, who
co-founded Boxman, the largest European e-commerce store selling CDs at
the time, in 1997 and was nominated as one of the top ten Leading European
Internet Entrepreneurs in 1999 by the Wall Street Journal. 189
Epicenter is an
innovation lab showcasing the latest technologies and has partnerships with
Singularity University and Wired magazine. Tictail sits at Epicenter as well
as numerous other high potential startups, putting them all within walking
distance of the other unicorns.
This pay-it forward culture is not only demonstrated by successful entre-
preneurs contributing to the next wave of entrepreneurs but also by most
other individuals in the ecosystem. Of particular note is that there is quite a
high degree of openness and helpfulness for people from outside of Stock-
holm, be they from Sweden or elsewhere. One example is Leo Heung, an
entrepreneur from Hong Kong, who described his experience coming to
Stockholm in the following way.
I am an industrial designer living in Hong Kong with lots of connections
to factories making all kinds of products in China. I decided to go abroad
to find startup companies that needed help manufacturing their goods.
To search for the best city for this anywhere, I basically googled the words
“startup, co-working space, hubs, makerspace” and then this enabled me to
narrow down my search to the Nordics. I then went through all the websites
of the startup hubs and co-working spaces to learn more about them – how
many members they have, any success stories, what kinds of companies are
members, etc. I found significantly more startups in Stockholm and Helsinki
than anywhere else, so I started sending emails to the makerspaces, hubs, and
co-working spaces to ask if I could become a member. Ivar Björkman, the
Executive Director of Openlab, gave me a very positive response and said I
should come to Openlab and discuss the details with Anders Melbratt, the
Make Manager. So I moved to Sweden without any contacts other than Ivar
and Anders and joined Openlab in October 2015.
Anders and Ivar were so incredibly helpful. For example, Anders helped me
find housing, and he sent out dozens of emails in the middle of the night
to all his contacts saying, “Hey, you should meet this guy, Leo from Hong
Kong. I think you guys have a thing or two to talk about.” And then when I
am at the lab, Ivar introduces me to people he thinks I might find interesting.
One of the people I met through Anders is Martin Willers, a co-founder of
PeoplePeople – an industrial design startup nominated by Wired magazine
188. Stockholm House of Innovation Epicenter. https://epicenterstockholm.com/en#about (Accessed
2016-03-25).
189. Ola Ahlvarsson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_Ahlvarsson (Accessed 2016-03-25).

104
as one of Europe’s 100 hottest startups in 2014. After a couple cups of coffee
with Martin, I arranged a two-week trip for him to China to visit dozens of
factories within my network.
I really think that there is something special here in Stockholm that I have
not seen anywhere else in the world. I came here with no networks and had
to build them from scratch. Less than six months later, I already have an
extensive network within the Stockholm startup community. A lot of people
I have met at Meetups, and people are very easy to meet there. I have also met
a lot of people through referrals. People are so helpful and I think people in
Stockholm have a basic sense as to whether someone is a good guy or a bad
guy. Like when I was going to move into the house where I was renting a
room, the landlord was out of town and without ever meeting me and only
some communication by email, she said I could just move in without her
being there. In fact she just told me where to find the hidden key and to let
myself in. This would never happen in Hong Kong. Here it seems people
think about the greater collective and “know when enough is enough”. It’s
not like in the USA where people are going after bigger houses and bigger
cars and show off in front of the neighbors. Here it seems that people say, “I
don’t need anything more for me so I share and give back to others.”190
One other special characteristic of Sweden is that the workday includes a
number of informal networking activities. Due to the dense concentration
of companies and other organizations downtown and the Swedish custom
of eating a hot lunch out in one of the numerous restaurants, many individu-
als meet each other over a relatively inexpensive meal (around USD 10-15
including salad, bread, drink, main dish, and coffee). Back at the workplace,
the common “fika” or coffee break provides opportunities for individuals
both from within the same workplace as well as from other firms to share
knowledge and experiences. In this way, Stockholm is similar to Silicon Val-
ley in one of its reasons for success – that of informal networking outside of
work with people from other firms including the competitors during which
new ideas and knowledge are shared, job openings are relayed, projects are
discussed, and success and failure stories are passed on.
Other potential factors for Stockholm’s startup success include a highly
international workforce with English as the company language in many or-
ganizations, a well-developed crowdfunding industry across all four forms
of crowdfunding (donation, reward, equity, and lending) enabling access to
alternative forms of financing, and an advanced test market that multina-
tionals often choose for the development of new products as consumers in
190. Leo Heung, Entrepreneur from Hong Kong. Interview 2016-03-30.

105
Stockholm are high-tech early adopters.
As noted above, one of the areas that is the most active in terms of startups
and innovation in Stockholm is FinTech. Since 2009 around 100 FinTech
startups have been established in the Stockholm area. In 2015, USD 137.7
million in venture capital was raised by Stockholm FinTech companies of
which around USD 26 million went to startups focusing on block chain
technology. FinTech is also creating jobs and revenues for the city as revenues
rose from SEK 7.5 billion to SEK 14 billion and employees climbed from
around 2,900 to more than 5,800 from 2010 to 2015. Daniel Blomquist, a
partner at the venture capital firm Creandum explains some of the reasons
for Stockholm’s success in FinTech in the following way:
Good ideas aren’t enough for success. I think what makes Stockholm unique
is that we have a high level of execution intelligence here. For example, not
only do programmers have a deep level of technical skills, such as how to
build high volume transaction systems that scale, but they also understand
how to turn technology into a product that creates value in a global market.
This combined with our bottom-up Scandinavian management style enables
firms to successfully navigate the many uncertainties in today’s financial
services.
Whether Stockholm will remain a breeding ground remains to be seen.
However, a professor from The Wharton School focusing on the digital
economy, Kartik Hosanagar, is positive in this respect, as was indicated in a
recent article:
“There will be more and more coming out of Sweden.” One important
reason,headds,isthatfuturestart-upswillbelessabouttechandmoredesign
conscious. In the last 20 to 30 years, Apple, Microsoft and Google have made
enormous strides with technology. Sweden has always had a really strong
design sense with iconic brands like IKEA and Volvo. These days, success can
be measured by how intuitive and convenient it is to use a particular piece
of software. “Small innovations with really good user-friendly designs will be
important, and Sweden has a really good leg up in that respect.191

106
One purpose of our ongoing study is to explore the roots of the current “uni-
corn” success of Sweden and its capital city of Stockholm. Our initial journey
that we have reported here has taken us through the technological develop-
ments from the 1980s to today and through the first and second waves of IT
startups with a particular focus on following the flows of resources such as
money and experience and a look at some of the formal and informal net-
works of today’s unicorns and potential unicorns.
One finding that becomes quite clear is that there is no one single factor
that has led to Sweden’s success. Rather we propose that it is the convergence
of a number of different factors over time that have created Sweden’s excep-
tional fertile breeding ground. These include factors such as an enabling
business climate fueled by the highly connected informal and formal social
networks among entrepreneurs, experienced business people, politicians,
and university researchers, especially in Stockholm, that has its base in a long
history of multinational, engineering-based firms and in the 1990s IT-boom
and bust as well as longsighted public initiatives and supportive government
policies, such as the highly developed and continuously maintained techni-
cal infrastructure that enabled the early adoption, development and spread
of information technology (IT) in Sweden.
In particular, Sweden has a remarkably strong network of experienced and
skilled entrepreneurs and business people connected with the technology
sector. This of course is partly a result as well as a reason behind the early
adoption of the technical infrastructure. This in turn has a long and strong
tradition in Sweden, going back to the telecommunication companies such
as Ericsson dating back to the late 19th century.
We suggest that the reason the network is so strong is that the popula-
tion of Sweden is sufficiently big to host a differentiated network while at
3. Conclusions

107
the same time not too big. With such a size, connections tend to be stronger
and more multifaceted than in a larger network. Another aspect that is vital
for understanding the network’s competiveness is the strong international
connections and the global approach that is natural. This global approach is
paramount for bigger success given the size-limitations of the Swedish do-
mestic market.192
Many of the successful companies today, such as those in this report, have
in common that they are born-global companies. In other words, from their
inception they are designed and destined for the global market. It is also worth
noting that this is something that may separate the successful companies of
today from most of the companies of the IT boom. While many of the compa-
nies of the first IT boom prepared and attempted to execute global expansion,
themarketwasnotyetmatureforsuchplayersintermsofindividualsconduct-
ing online transactions on the Internet. However, today with smart phones,
mobile broadband, and relatively easy online financial transactions combined
with a younger generation who has been brought up with the Internet, born
globals are able to rapidly launch and achieve a global presence.
Another thing that is worth highlighting about the extremely success-
ful companies of today is that although they are all companies reliant on
modern information technology in some way, their business models are not
purely based on a specific new technology. Rather what most of the compa-
nies have in common is that they use a technology that is already existing
and relatively mature. More emphasis is instead focused on aspects such as
user-friendliness, all-embracing solutions and content creation than on in-
novative technology per se.
As we have shown in this report, there is a clear connection in some re-
spects between the prominent companies of the IT boom and the extremely
successful companies of today. This connection is, however, weaker than one
maybe might assume, yet it still tells us something very important about how
a few actors can provide the necessary resources such as capital, experience,
and know-how within the social network.
Below we further summarize our findings related to the factors supporting
Sweden’s fertile breeding ground.
A historically conducive business climate
• An underlying business environment that encourages continuous
innovation, a global outlook, and an international skillset
192. Bernström, Andreas. 2014. Sweden’s Growing Tech Scene. The Wall Street Journal The Accelerators
Blog. April 11. http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/04/11/andreas-bernstrom-swedens-growing-
tech-scene/ (Accessed 2016-03-15).

108
across organizational levels developed through a long history of
numerous multinational success stories, e.g., in engineering such as
Ericsson and Atlas Copco founded in the 1870s and in design such
as H&M and IKEA founded in the 1940s.
• A bottom-up and flat, non-bureaucratic management style that
empowers creativity and innovation and enables high quality
product development.  
• A strong engineering and R&D culture encouraging a focus on
problem-solving through collaboration both in formal R&D
relationships between industry and universities and through
informal networks developed while studying at universities such
as the Royal Institute of Technology and the Stockholm School of
Economics.
• A focus on solving user needs in the market over developing
the most advanced technical solution due to a long history of
combining IT with marketing and engineering with design.
Supportive economic conditions and government policies
• An economic crisis with a high level of unemployment leading to
a first wave of IT startups in the 1990s, which then created a solid
springboard for the second wave of startups.
• Early efforts in the 1990s by foresighted politicians to encourage
computer penetration at home and in companies and other
organizations through subsidies, significant infrastructure
investments, and efforts to restrain monopoly positions by large
market actors.
• A substantial social safety net provided by the government that
reduces the risks faced by entrepreneurs and costs for companies,
thereby encouraging entrepreneurship.
• Generous funding and numerous coaching programs provided
by the government and universities for entrepreneurs and small
companies.
• Access to Swedish and international talent through a number of

109
leading universities across the country as well as a focus on inter-
disciplinary programs.
• A highly international workforce with English as a company
language in many organizations with talent from abroad due to
relaxed immigration policies and relatively cheap higher education.
• A stable government and a strong regulatory framework, which
facilitates startup establishment and a solid base for companies
looking to expand abroad.  
Today’s enabling business climate that leverages the experiences and
resources acquired during the IT-boom and bust
• A high degree of Internet and computer literacy in the new
generation entering the workforce.
• Access to capital and “smart money” through an experienced VC
community, business angels, and new forms of funding such as
equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending.
• Strong local networks characterized by a pay-it-forward culture
through which experienced entrepreneurs and others from the first
wave of IT startups share their resources with the second wave of
entrepreneurs through founding, investing, and advising startups.
• A high level of knowledge and other resource flows within the
startup ecosystem, even among competitors, due to an open
and trusting working environment combined with numerous
informal networking opportunities such as meetups, lunches, and
AWs, particularly in Stockholm due to the density of startups,
universities, and other organizations.
• A high level of international networking with major cities such as
London and New York due to individuals moving to Sweden and
Swedes studying abroad as well as inflows of venture capital.
• A demanding local market as consumers in Sweden are high-tech
early adopters, and multinationals often choose Stockholm as a
testing market for the development of new products.

110
It is obvious that the climate for fast-growing tech companies in Sweden
today is a beneficial one. This does, however, not mean that it always will
remain that way or that there is nothing that cannot be done better. Below
are some aspects we suggest that public policy makers and government fund-
ing bodies should take into account when trying to uphold and develop the
climate further.
As we have noted, the early adopted and very well developed technical
infrastructure has been of great importance for the success of Swedish tech-
nology-based companies.193
To continue to make sure that the technological
infrastructure is at the forefront globally should therefore be a priority, tak-
ing into account the importance of regulations and technical solutions that
makes sure that the infrastructure remains open to several competing opera-
tors and service providers.
Paramount for Sweden to continue to be a leading hub for technology-
based entrepreneurship is the ability to attract talented professionals. As
many companies, entrepreneurs, and reports have pointed out on several oc-
casions, the housing shortage in the Stockholm region has become a severe
problem when trying to recruit talent.194
This question needs to be solved in
order for Stockholm to keep its position and continue to develop.
Furthermore, the relatively generous social security system in Sweden has
contributed positively in creating a climate where people feel that they can
take some risks, thereby stimulating entrepreneurship. To maintain a level of
193. Bernström, Andreas. 2014. Sweden’s Growing Tech Scene. The Wall Street Journal The Accelerators
Blog. April 11. http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/04/11/andreas-bernstrom-swedens-growing-
tech-scene/ (Accessed 2016-03-15).
194. Ahola, Teresa. Spotify ryter till om bostadsbristen i storstan. SvD Näringsliv. 2016-03-04. http://
www.svd.se/spotify-ryter-till-om-bostadsbristen (Accessed 2016-03-15).
Tottmar, Mia. Spotify: Stockholm är sämst. Dagens Nyheter. 2015-03-03. http://www.dn.se/sthlm/
spotify-stockholm-ar-samst/ (Accessed 2016-03-15).
4. Moving forward

111
relatively generous social safety net should in this perspective thus be seen as
a good investment.
Finally, it is difficult to underestimate the importance of both the formal
and the informal networks that support and contribute to the success of a
region’s competitiveness. Even though some of the most influential networks
are created and developed through informal means, there are definitely ways
for institutions to support and reinforce them. One important hub for net-
work building is institutions of higher education. Striving to uphold and
further develop a high quality within these institutions so that they can at-
tract and educate skilled and dedicated people should be a priority. A second
means is to enable and provide the facilities for individuals to gather infor-
mally, such as through meetups.
****
For practitioners in business such as business leaders, entrepreneurs and
investors looking to found, develop, or invest in the “unicorns” of the future,
it is paramount to understand that there is no single attribute that can tell
us whether a startup will achieve unicorn status or not - at least not when
contemplating the factors we have looked at in this report. This means that
an all too simple and/or schematic analysis, which is based on one or just a
few factors, of startups should be avoided. Rather we would suggest devel-
oping more fine-tuned and multifaceted criteria when trying to analyze the
potential for great success.
The findings in this report also open up for a wide array of possible fur-
ther academic research. What was mentioned above, for example - that the
unicorns from our point of view do not seem to be cast in one mold but do
differ significantly compared with one another is something that should be
also of academic interest.
Furthermore, there is a lot of interesting research that could be done in
several disciplines. Finance scholars could investigate how investments are
made in technology-based startups/potential unicorns and which criteria are
being used by the investors when doing this. Economic geographers could
look at the specific economic microenvironment that Stockholm obviously
has. Researchers in business administration could look at the management
methods used by the unicorns. Economic sociologists could research the spe-
cific social network around the Swedish unicorns and how it is constructed
while scholars in international business could investigate the drivers behind
the early internationalization of the unicorns and how it is done....just to
name a few disciplines and research questions.

112
****
In terms of our next steps, we will continue to explore the factors we have
identified as leading to Sweden’s “unicorn” success and their convergence as
well as keeping an open eye for further factors. We plan to extend our social
network study to include companies that are linked to the unicorn and po-
tential unicorn cloud through leading positions as well as to collect social
network data on leading companies in other cities in Sweden such as Goth-
enburg, Linköping, Malmö, Umeå, Uppsala, and Västerås. Additionally, we
will perform more in-depth social network analyses of these networks. Our
intention is also to combine our social network data with company financial
data and regional internet usage and other statistics as well to conduct a more
in-depth analysis of two industries such as the financial services industry and
one other not yet decided industry.
If you are interested in contributing or joining our project in some form or
fashion, please drop us an email (robin.teigland@hhs.se). And if there is any-
thing you think we have misrepresented or failed to cover, please let us know.

113
Appendices

114
In pursuing the research for this report we have used several methodological
approaches. The method which is used to pursue the thread in Part I relies
heavy on in-depth literature studies with the aim of unveiling a complex his-
tory of technological innovation and evolution. To some extent, the descrip-
tion is based on the extensive experience and overview of the primary author
of this part, Mats Lewan, who has worked as a technology reporter special-
ized on the IT and telecom industries since the middle of the 1990s. This is
supplemented with interviews with people who have played important roles
in the technological development. The aim has been to make a descriptive
overview of how Internet technology—infrastructure, products and servic-
es—has evolved since the early years in the 1980s until now, how consumers
and businesses have taken advantage of this technology and why, and how
governmental and regulatory measures have influenced this process. The
focus has been on the situation in Sweden, taking into account important
international aspects.
****
The research for the first chapters in Part II has been conducted in three
steps: 1) a list of prominent companies from the dotcom era was construct-
ed, 2) key individuals from each company were identified, and 3) their con-
nections to the current Swedish unicorns and potential unicorns were estab-
lished.
The list of companies from the dotcom era was constructed by searching
for combinations of keywords related to the era (e.g., “IT boomen”, “dot-
comboomen”, “den nya ekonomin”) and to investments (e.g., “värdering”,
“pengar”, “aktiekurs”). Companies that were reported to have received high
1. Methodology and limitations

115
valuations during the dotcom boom were included in the list.
In order to find connections to the current Swedish unicorns and poten-
tial unicorns, we have investigated potential relations between the dotcom
key individuals combined with those individuals appearing as influential in
the technology part and those individuals involved in the unicorns and po-
tential unicorns in order to find matches in the founding team, investors and
board members as well as more informal connections.
However, it should be noted that there is a chance that some connections
have been missed in this report as there are no satisfactory listings of infor-
mal investors available nor could we find identify all the individuals. Many
business angel investments are not publicly disclosed, which makes research
in this area difficult. Also, this report is a part of a continuous research pro-
ject and we do not claim to have covered all highly valued companies from
this time period nor all individuals who have played a role in its develop-
ment. Rather, this part of the report is to be seen as a first step in investigating
how the dotcom boom has facilitated innovation and entrepreneurship in
Sweden today.
****
For the research in which we conducted an analysis of the formal net-
work of the unicorns and potential unicorns, we collected data from the da-
tabase “Retriever Business”. We use Selenium with Python to simulate user
browsing behavior and automatically retrieve information about the board
members who have been involved in the 15 focal companies as well as their
first-degree peripheral companies.195
Figure 29 provides an overview of the
data collection process.
195. We define a company as a first-degree peripheral company of a unicorn/potential unicorn if one of
its board members (in the past or present) has served in the board of the unicorn.
Figure 29. Flowchart of data collection
Web
Page
Firefox
HTML
Source
Data
Handling web visit
by Selenium
Python

116
Specifically, the process starts by launching a Firefox page, browsing the
content of the page, and then automatically extracting data from the page,
and saving them into a database. For example, in order to collect the infor-
mation about the board members at Spotify AB, our script will first load the
main page of Retriever and make a query to look for “Spotify”. When the
general information page of Spotify AB is fully loaded, it will simulate the
click of a user on “Befattningshavare” (i.e., Executives) and open the cor-
responding page (see the screenshot shown in figure 30). All the informa-
tion about the members in the executive board listed on the page would be
extracted and saved automatically. This includes each member’s name and his
employment history in the company. Next, our webscraping program will go
to each board member’s personal page, from which all the available informa-
tion196
will be extracted and saved.
In this process, we have found that ten out of the 15 unicorns and potential
unicorns when founded were bought as already registered shelf-companies.
This made the data misleading both concerning the founding date and the
founding people (and all the data around them). To tackle this issue we have
196. Such information might not be directly visible when the personal page loaded. Our script will
simulate a user’s browsing behavior and click all the hyperlinks on the page to retrieve the data when
necessary.
Figure 30. Screenshot of the executive board at Spotify AB. All the hyperlinks on this
page can be “clicked’’ by our web scraping program.

117
manually checked through the records of each of the unicorns and excluded
the people who registered the shelf-companies from our dataset, all in all 26
people.
Another issue that we have had to resolve is the company’s sometimes
complicated structures. In cases where there were several companies in a
company group, we chose to use the parent company as the primary node for
data collection, as identified in Retriever (figure 31).197
Table 7 provides the
short names of the startups for which we collected data.
197. Tictail AB is a subsidiary to Tictail Inc based in the USA. Since we only have data on companies
registered in Sweden we have chosen to study Tictail AB.
Figure 31. Klarna - company group structure
Table 7. Short name of companies and the full name of the company we have looked at
Short name of company Company choosen in our report
Avito Avito AB
FishBrain Fishbrain AB
Footway Footway Group AB
Fyndiq Fyndiq AB
iZettle iZettle AB
Klarna Klarna Holding AB
KnCMiner KnC Group AB
LeoVegas LeoVegas AB
MAG Interactive MAG Interactive AB
Mojang Mojang AB
ShapeUp ShapeUp Club AB
Spotify Spotify AB
Tictail Tictail AB
TrueSoftware TrueSoftware Scandinavia AB
Zound Zound Industries International AB

118
As mentioned above, through our data collection, we were able to identify
the companies connected to our list of 15 companies. Figures 32 to 48 show
the clusters of the 15 startups and their cloud in January 2016 broken out so
that companies are more readily identifiable while figures 49 to 52 provide
further detailed analysis.
ALSA Capital AB
APG Advisory AB
APG Debt Advisory AB
APG Holding AB
APG I1 AB
APG Invest AB
Afsi AB
Anjassar Invest AB
B & T Juridik AB
Cerberus AB
Christer Egnell AB
Crown Fastigheter AB
Crown Intressenter Finland AB
Cubs Club 2 AB
Cubs Club 3 AB
Elskling AB
Engvall Media AB
Frihag AB
IFE Group AB
IFE Nordics AB
NEEC Invest AB
Niam Castle Borl..nge AB
Niam Castle V..nn..s AB
Pand AB
REEDA Capital Management AB
SIJOnline AB
SP Event AB
True Software AB
True Software Scandinavia Incentive AB
UHU Sverige AB
White Birds AB
Zarringhalam Ventures AB
Figure 32

119
A. Aapeli Sweden AB
AB Sagax
AB avtal24
Accedo Broadband AB
Add Mikkelsen AB
Aktiebolaget Lovers
Altira AB
Apica AB
Artemon New Media
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Barista FTC AB
BodyMarkers AB
Brandos AB (publ)
Burt AB
Corem G..teborg AB
Corem V..xj.. ABCorem V..xj.. Ett AB
Cryex AB
Cryex Group AB
Danfei Holding AB
Domofond Holding AB
Emesco Aktiebolag
Eventbook AB
FORM Capital AB
Firefly AB
FishBrain AB
Footway Group AB
Fyndiq AB
Gavald Holdings AB
Gears of Leo AB
Guldfrei AB
HeatCore AB
Hysminai AB
Inksong Holding AB
Invik & Co AB
Junior Living Holding AB
K-bro konsult AB
Kinnevik Consumer Finance 1 AB
Kinnevik Consumer Finance Holding AB
Kinnevik East AB
Kinnevik Investment Partners ABKinnevik Media Holding AB
Kinnevik Online AB
Kinnevik Online Holding AB
Konstgr..s DaGy AB
LINDROTH, HANS
LeoVegas AB
Lhotse Capital AB
Lingfield AB
Lo Cilo Ci AB
Luxe Properties AB
MFH Bygg AB
Made by Tolke AB
MatHem i Sverige AB
Medcore Sweden AB
Micvac Aktiebolag
Midsummer AB
Millcellvik AB
Movimento Group AB
My First Home AB
NMS INVEST AB
Neppit Aktiebolag
Nextory AB
Orcus Partners AB
Outbrain Sweden AB
PBM Technologies AB
POP Invest AB
Pet Sounds AB
Pet Sounds Digitalt AB
Pomegranate Investment AB
Qapital Insight AB
Ramsmora Investment Aktiebolag
Resscapital AB
Rosa & Co AB
RusForest AB
Senta AB
Shoppin Norden AB
Sol Voltaics AB
Starcounter AB
Starship Holding AB
Starway Aktiebolag
Symantec Nordic AB
TRIMAR Aktiebolag
Tele2 AB
Tethys Oil AB
UMANDO Aktiebolag
Universal Avenue AB
Uppsj.. Aktiebolag
Urban Properties AB
Vendo Ekonomi AB
Veritas (Sweden) AB
Vl..rden AB
W&D Carwash AB
WF Simhold AB
WF Simtranshold AB
Widespace AB
Wise Group AB
X5 Group AB
bloglovin' AB
Figure 33
Figure 34
ASB Sweden AB
Alma Mater AB
Almaskolan AB
B-O Distribution AB
Bas Holding AB
Bed Factory Sweden AB
BetaMed AB
Chess AB
Christel Karlsson
Company Jeans Holding Sweden AB
Company Jeans J..nk..ping AB
Company Jeans Sm..land AB
Company Jeans ..land AB
Consortio Fashion Group Aktiebolag
Deco Bags Aktiebolag
Ericpol AB
Erminia AB
Good Sport Foundation Sweden AB
Hope Retail AB
K von K
K von K AB
KRJ Holding AB
Kerku Aktiebolag
Kimoda AB
Lokomo Systems Aktiebolag
Ordfront tryckeri & f..rlag Aktiebolag
Out Company i J..nk..ping AB
Overseas Telecom Aktiebolag
PEMA Sweden AB
Q Industries Lars Roth AB
Rite Internet Ventures AB
Rite Internet Ventures II AB
Rizzo International AB
SGS Rest AB Sch..nborgs F..rs..ljnings Aktiebolag
Soundtrack your brand Sweden AB
Stadium Aktiebolag
Swe Eyewear AB
Teli Holding AB
TeliaSonera F..rs..kring AB
Teryp Holding AB
Tommy Jacobson AB
Varenne AB
Varenne Invest I AB
Vasakronan AB (publ)
V..sklagret i Bor..s Aktiebolag
V..ttern ett AB
V..ttern tv.. AB
Xshore AB
Yogamakes AB
Zound Industries AB
Zound Industries Smartphones AB
isMobile AB

120
Figure 35
Figure 36
Amelie Design Sweden AB
By Mutti AB
C. Waldekranz AB
Djursholms Glassfabrik AB
Farsee AB
Kajdro AB
Stylesheet AB
Pixels & Bytes AB
Tictail AB
Adalberth Invest AB
Ahlen & Partners AB
Ayabarus Invest AB
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Spetsberget Cederbalk Consulting AB
Double Sunday AB
Dovern Advice AB
Ident Inkasso AB
K Opportunity AB
Klarna AB
Klarna Holding AB
McPhee Advisory Asset Management AB
Prodentor AB
Rockwood AB
Rosfelt Holding AB
SVNIVP Holding AB
Stockholms Stads Brandf..rs..kringskontor
Svolder Aktiebolag
TTS Pass AB
Talces AB
TicWorks AB
Uppbacka Holding AB
VSN Holding AB
adalIT
..ngmark Holding AB
Boden Industries AB
CnV Invest AB
KnC20 nm Sweden AB
KnCHosting AB
KnCMiner AB
KnCResources AB
LinusU AB
MagnussonCole IT Handelsbolag
Michael Unneb..ck AB
ORSoC AB
SCole Holdings AB
SSAH Invest AB
Figure 37

121
Figure 38
Figure 39
Gaming on the tail AB
Gumbler AB
Johan Persson Holding AB
MAG Interactive AB
Bar-dak Publishing AB
Cold North AB
EB elektroniska byr..n AB
G-TED AB
Herring Holding AB
J. Molin AB
Pop Atom AB
ShapeUp Club AB
Suxly AB
T Westlund Holding AB
Torstensson AB
Teldar AB
Up All Night AB
Atelier Borgila AB
AxFast AB
Bostadsr..ttsf..reningen Skatan
Carl Magnus Nilsson Holding AB
Downward dog AB
Goodguy Svenska AB
JdG F..rvaltning AB
NWM Consulting AB
Nobelhuset AB
Nordea AB
Nordic Wireless AB
Queen Of The Clouds ABRedCyber AB
Stardoll AB
Vilandevik AB
Vitgrund AB
iChip Holding AB
iZettle AB
Figure 40

122
Figure 41
Figure 42
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Domofond Holding AB
Drillcon Aktiebolag
Le Rouge AB
Lhotse Capital AB
Avanza Bank AB
Headweb AB
Sportamore AB
Stardoll AB
Loanland AB
M..larskogen Industrier AB
Zappa Events AB
ALYCK AB
Dr..mg..rden Fastighetsutveckling AB
E. ..hman J:or Aktiebolag
EAC Cosmetics Partners AB
Fastighets AB Sehlstedtsgatan
Fyndiq AB
F..retagarna Sverige Service AB
Hic iacet AB
Nordic Fixed Income AB
Z..eltek AB
Z..eltek Musikproduktion AB
Z..eltek V..rdepapper AB
Figure 43

123
Agentum AB
CareerTV Nordic AB
Employer Branding Academy in Europe AB
Nova 100 AB
Nova 100 Group AB
TalentMatch AB
Tenek Skrow AB
U Partners AB
Universum Group AB
Almi Stockholm Aktiebolag
Creades AB (publ)
Datawatch AB
Ellen Aktiebolag
Klarna AB
Klarna Holding AB
Libego Aktiebolag
Wapa Stockholm AB
Figure 44
Figure 45
Figure 46

124
Figure 48
FormPipe Software Skellefte.. AB
G-TED AB
MediaTek Sweden AB
Paynova AB
Paynova TOI AB
S..litr..dberget Vind AB
Voddler Group AB
Figure 47
13th Lab AB
Ahhaaa Group AB
Creandum III Advisor AB
Creandum IV Advisor ABEcopress AB
Epidemic Sound AB
For the Vint AB
Hansoft Aktiebolag
Instabridge AB
Itesco AB
MARTIN YALE Nordic AB
Managerzone AB
Payson AB
Power Challenge AB
Power Challenge Sweden AB
RebTel Owners AB
Redeye Aktiebolag
Rogersbay AB
Skaft.. Invest AB
iZettle AB

125
Figure 49
A. Aapeli Sweden AB
AB Sagax
AB avtal24
Accedo Broadband AB
Add Mikkelsen AB
Aktiebolaget Lovers
Altira AB
Apica AB
Artemon New Media
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Barista FTC AB
BodyMarkers AB
Brandos AB (publ)Bukowski Strandv..gen Auktioner Aktiebolag
Burt AB
Corem G..teborg AB
Corem V..xj.. AB
Cryex AB
Cryex Group AB
Danfei Holding AB
Domofond Holding AB
Emesco Aktiebolag
Eventbook AB
FORM Capital AB
Firefly AB
FishBrain AB
Footway Group AB
Fyndiq AB
Gavald Holdings AB
Gears of Leo AB
Guldfrei AB
HeatCore AB
Hysminai AB
Inksong Holding AB
Invik & Co AB
K-bro konsult AB
Kinnevik East AB
Kinnevik Online AB
Konstgr..s DaGy AB
Konsthandels Aktiebolaget NybrovikenKontakt East Holding AB
LINDROTH, HANS
LeoVegas AB (publ)
Lhotse Capital AB
Lingfield AB
Lo Cilo Ci AB
Luxe Properties AB
MFH Bygg AB
Made by Tolke AB
MatHem i Sverige AB
Medcore Sweden AB
Micvac Aktiebolag
Midsummer AB
Millcellvik AB
Movimento Group AB
My First Home AB
NMS INVEST AB
Neppit Aktiebolag
Nextory AB
Orcus Partners AB
Outbrain Sweden AB
PBM Technologies AB
POP Invest AB
Pet Sounds AB
Qapital Insight AB
Resscapital AB
Rosa & Co AB
RusForest AB
Senta AB
Shoppin Norden AB
Sol Voltaics AB
Starcounter AB
Starship Holding AB
Starway Aktiebolag
Symantec Nordic AB
TRIMAR Aktiebolag
Tele2 AB
Tethys Oil AB
UMANDO Aktiebolag
Universal Avenue AB
Uppsj.. Aktiebolag
Urban Properties AB
Vendo Ekonomi AB
Veritas (Sweden) AB
Vl..rden AB
W&D Carwash AB
WF Simhold AB
WF Simtranshold AB
Widespace AB
Wise Group AB
X5 Group AB
bloglovin' AB

126
A. Aapeli Sweden AB
AB Sagax
AB avtal24
Accedo Broadband AB
Add Mikkelsen AB
Aktiebolaget Lovers
Altira AB
Apica AB
Artemon New Media
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Barista FTC AB
BodyMarkers AB
Brandos AB (publ)
Burt AB
Corem G..teborg AB
Corem V..xj.. AB
Cryex AB
Cryex Group AB
Danfei Holding AB
Domofond Holding AB
Emesco Aktiebolag
Eventbook AB
FORM Capital AB
Firefly AB
FishBrain AB
Footway Group AB
Fyndiq AB
Gavald Holdings AB
Gears of Leo AB
Guldfrei AB
HeatCore AB
Hysminai AB
Inksong Holding AB
Invik & Co AB
Junior Living Holding ABJunior Living Librob..ck AB
K-bro konsult AB
Kinnevik East AB
Kinnevik Online AB
Konstgr..s DaGy AB
LINDROTH, HANS
LeoVegas AB
Lhotse Capital AB
Lingfield AB
Lo Cilo Ci AB
Luxe Properties AB
MFH Bygg AB
Made by Tolke AB
MatHem i Sverige AB
Medcore Sweden AB
Micvac Aktiebolag
Midsummer AB
Millcellvik AB
Movimento Group AB
My First Home AB
NMS INVEST AB
Neppit Aktiebolag
Nextory AB
Orcus Partners AB
Outbrain Sweden AB
PBM Technologies AB
POP Invest AB
Pet Sounds AB
Qapital Insight AB
Resscapital AB
Rosa & Co AB
RusForest AB
Senta AB
Shoppin Norden AB
Sol Voltaics AB
Starcounter AB
Starship Holding AB
Starway Aktiebolag
Symantec Nordic AB
TRIMAR Aktiebolag
Tele2 AB
Tethys Oil AB
UMANDO Aktiebolag
Universal Avenue AB
Uppsj.. Aktiebolag
Urban Properties AB
Vendo Ekonomi AB
Veritas (Sweden) AB
Vl..rden AB
W&D Carwash AB
WF Simhold AB
WF Simtranshold AB
Widespace AB
Wise Group AB
X5 Group AB
bloglovin' AB
Figure 50

127
A. Aapeli Sweden AB
AB Sagax
AB avtal24
Accedo Broadband AB
Add Mikkelsen AB
Aktiebolaget Lovers
Altira AB
Apica AB
Artemon New Media
Avito AB
Avito Bara AB
Avito Holding AB
Avitohi JV AB
Barista FTC AB
BodyMarkers AB
Brandos AB (publ)
Burt AB
Collegium Carpe Vitam ABConcours-Cepro Aktiebolag
Corem G..teborg AB
Corem V..xj.. AB
Cryex AB
Cryex Group AB
Danfei Holding AB
Domofond Holding AB
Emesco Aktiebolag
Eventbook AB
FORM Capital AB
Firefly AB
FishBrain AB
Footway Group AB
Fotografiska Bar, Restaurang & Event ABFotografiska International AB
Fyndiq AB
Gavald Holdings AB
Gears of Leo AB
Guldfrei AB
HeatCore AB
Hysminai AB
Inksong Holding AB
Investment AB Kinnevik Invik & Co AB
K-bro konsult AB
Kinnevik Consumer Finance Holding ABKinnevik Consumer Services 1 AB
Kinnevik East AB
Kinnevik Internet Holding ABKinnevik Investment Partners AB
Kinnevik Online AB
Konstgr..s DaGy AB
LINDROTH, HANS
LeoVegas AB (publ)
Lhotse Capital AB
Lingfield AB
Lo Cilo Ci AB
Luxe Properties AB
MFH Bygg AB
Made by Tolke AB
MatHem i Sverige AB
Medcore Sweden AB
Micvac Aktiebolag
Midsummer AB
Millcellvik AB
Movimento Group AB
My First Home AB
NLI Fastigheter Malm.. ABNLI Fastigheter V..ster..s AB
NMS INVEST AB
Neppit Aktiebolag
Nextory AB
Orcus Partners AB
Outbrain Sweden AB
PBM Technologies AB
POP Invest AB
Pet Sounds AB
Qapital Insight AB
Resscapital AB
Rosa & Co AB
RusForest AB
Saltside Technologies AB Senta AB
Shoppin Norden AB
Sol Voltaics AB
Starcounter AB
Starship Holding AB
Starway Aktiebolag
Symantec Nordic AB
TRIMAR Aktiebolag
Tele2 AB
Tethys Oil AB
UMANDO Aktiebolag
Universal Avenue AB
Uppsj.. Aktiebolag
Urban Properties AB
Vendo Ekonomi AB
Veritas (Sweden) AB
Vl..rden AB
W&D Carwash AB
WF Simhold AB
WF Simtranshold AB
Widespace AB
Wise Group AB
X5 Group AB
bloglovin' AB
Figure 51

128
deg
Frequency
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
020406080
Figure 52

129
“Då: Brände 1,4 miljarder i riskkapital Nu: Är pomolog och säljer äppeldrycker”. VA.se. 2015-06-26
http://www.va.se/nyheter/2015/06/26/da-brande-14-miljarder-pa-boo.com.-nu-ar-pomolog-och-
driver-eko-musteri/ (Accessed 2016-02-24).
“Guldregn över grundaren när Jobline blir USA-ägt”. Dagens Industri. 2001-05-25. http://www.di.se/
artiklar/2001/5/25/guldregn-over-grundaren-nar-jobline-blir-usa-agt/ (Accessed 2016-02-24).
4 miljarder notan för hem-pc-reformen. Computer Sweden, IDG. 2002-08-02. http://computersweden.
idg.se/2.2683/1.40813/4-miljarder-notan-for-hem-pc-reformen (Accessed 2016-02-08).
Agerman, Per. 300 miljarder blev luft när IT-bubblan sprack. Affärsvärlden. 2000-10-17. http://www.
Agerman, Per., & Pineus, Isaac. ”Världen snurrade för Altituns grundare”. Affärsvärlden. 2003-10-22.
Ahlbom, Helen. Ericsson-ingenjörerna tyckte Iphone var “en skittelefon”. Ny Teknik. 2015-10-15.
http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/article3938961.ece (Accessed 2016-03-07).
Ahola, Teresa. Spotify ryter till om bostadsbristen i storstan. SvD Näringsliv. 2016-03-04. http://www.
svd.se/spotify-ryter-till-om-bostadsbristen (Accessed 2016-03-15).
Alpman, Marie. Spiken i kistan för Altitun. 2002-11-04. http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/
allmant/article227154.ece (Accessed 2016-02-25).
Andersson, Bertil. Varför avskiljdes inte Telias nätverksamhet? Dissertation, KTH 1999, ISSN 1103-
5277.
Apple. Apple Press Info. iPhone 3G on Sale Tomorrow. 2008-07-10. http://www.apple.com/pr/
library/2008/07/10iPhone-3G-on-Sale-Tomorrow.html (Accessed 2016-03-07).
Atomico. Billion dollar+ software companies founded since 2003. Year n.a. http://www.atomico.com/
explore-d3 (Accessed 1016-03-30).
AU-systems. Wikipedia. 2013. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/AU-System (Accessed 2016-02-24).
Avdeitchikova, Sofia. “On the structure of the informal venture capital market in Sweden: developing
investment roles.” Venture Capital 10. (2008): 55-85.
Bäckström, Urban. What lessons Can Be Learned from Recent Financial Crises? The Swedish
Experience. Remarks by Mr. Urban Bäckström, Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, at the Federal Reserve
Symposium “Maintaining Financial Stability in a Global Economy”,
2. Literature

130
Baum, Joel AC, and Helaine J. Korn. “Competitive dynamics of interfirm rivalry.” Academy of
Management journal 39.2 (1996): 255-291.
Benwell, Max. Stockholm is rivalling Silicon Valley with a hotbed of technology start-ups. Independent.
16.12.17 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/stockholm-is-rivalling-
silicon-valley-with-a-hotbed-of-technology-start-ups-9931876.html (Accessed 2016-02-25)
Berg, Anton. P3 Dokumentär - IT-bubblan [Radio]. Stockholm: Sveriges Radio. 2007. http://
Bernström, Andreas. 2014. Sweden’s Growing Tech Scene. The Wall Street Journal The Accelerators Blog.
April 11. http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/04/11/andreas-bernstrom-swedens-growing-tech-
scene/ (Accessed 2016-03-15).
Billner, Amanda. Svenskar långt framme på app-fronten. DN. 2010-05-08. http://www.dn.se/
ekonomi/svenskar-langt-framme-pa-app-fronten/ (Accessed 2016-03-07).
Blocket AB. Om Blocket. n.d. http://www.blocket.se/omblocket.htm (Accessed 2016-02-05).
Blocket.se. Wikipedia. 2016. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocket.se (Accessed 2016-02-05).
Blomén, Anna. “Affärsängeln bakom Klarna”. Privata Affärer. 2012-08-24. http://www.privataaffarer.se/
nyaaffarer/na-nyheter/affarsangeln-bakom-klarna-438925 (Accessed 2016-02-24).
Blomqvist, Daniel. 2015. Nordic tech is on fire – almost 10% of global BUSD exits over past 10 years.
Creandum. March 16. http://www.creandum.com/nordic-tech-is-on-fire-almost-10-of-all-busd-exits-
last-10-years (Accessed 1016-03-30).
Boss Media. Wikipedia. 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boss_Media (Accessed 2016-02-05).
Bredbandsbolaget. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bredbandsbolaget (Accessed 2016-
02-25).
Broberg, Anders; Chief Communications Officer at Stokab. Interview 2016-01-27.
Burn rate. Wikipedia. 2014. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_rate (Accessed 2016-02-25).
Cantwell, Oisin. ”Mina pengar tar inte slut”. Aftonbladet. 2000-02-28. http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/
Cardon, Melissa S., et al. “The nature and experience of entrepreneurial passion.” Academy of
Management Review 34.3 (2009): 511-532.
Casselbrant, Roland. Adsl – bredband för alla. PC Plus. May 1999.
Centrala studiestödsnämnden. Hur mycket pengar får jag. 2015. http://www.csn.se/blivande-
studerande/fragor-svar/studiemedel-sverige/1.2463 (Accessed 2016-03-25).
Cervenka, Andreas. De blev rika på Framfab. Affärsvärlden. 2001-05-07. http://www.affarsvarlden.se/
hem/nyheter/article2534190.ece (Accessed 2016-02-24).
Cervenka, Andreas. Jonas Birgersson rikare än någonsin. Affärsvärlden. 2000-09-18. http://www.
Christer Sturmark. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christer_Sturmark (Accessed
2016-02-05).
City of Stockholm. Welcome to the Capital of Scandinavia. http://international.stockholm.se/
(Accessed 2016-03-25).
Davidson, Lauren. How Sweden became the startup capital of Europe. 2015-06-28. http://www.

131
telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11689464/How-Sweden-
became-the-startup-capital-of-Europe.html (Accessed 2016-02-25).
Davis, Evan. Business Nightmares: Disastrous Decisions [Television]. London: BBC. 2011. https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=n9kgZqbCJiM (Accessed 2016-02-24).
Den Nya Ekonomin. Wikipedia. 2013. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_nya_ekonomin (Accessed
2016-02-05).
Dotcombubblan. IDG.se IT-ord. nd. http://it-ord.idg.se/ord/dotcombubblan/ (Accessed 2016-02-24)
Edenholm, Yvonne. Mobilt bredband växer med turbofart. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2007-06-29. http://
www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/mobiltele/article254281.ece (Accessed 2016-02-22).
Edling, Christofer, and Rickard Sandell. “Social Influence and Corporate Behaviour A Case Study of
Interdependent Decision‐Making in Sweden’s Publicly Traded Firms.” European sociological review 17.4
(2001): 389-399.
Edling, Lotta. Spray-grundaren ångrar ingenting. Affärsvärlden. 2001-11-22. http://www.affarsvarlden.
EQT. Hjalmar Winbladh Joins EQT Partners. 2015-01-19. http://www.eqt.se/Newsroom/EQT-
Updates/2015/Hjalmar-Winbladh-joins-EQT-Partners/ (Accessed 2016-03-10).
Ericsson, AnnCharlotte. Nu blir det strid om nätsurfarna. Aftonbladet. 1999-08-27. http://wwwc.
aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9908/27/bredband.html (Accessed 2016-02-08).
EU. EUR-Lex. Regulation (EC) No 2887/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18
December 2000 on unbundled access to the local loop. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/
TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32000R2887&from=SV (Accessed 16-02-22).
Fältström, Patrik; Head of Research and Development at Netnod. Interview 2016-02-04
Findahl, Olle & Davidsson, Pamela, Svenskarna och internet : 2015 års undersökning av svenska folkets
internetvanor, .SE, Stiftelsen för internetinfrastruktur, 2015
Framfab. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBI_International_AB (Accessed 2016-02-
25).
Fyndiq. (2012). Fyndiq tar in 20 miljoner i nytt kapital - affärsänglar investerar i Ullared på nätet.
http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/fyndiq/pressreleases/fyndiq-tar-in-20-miljoner-i-nytt-kapital-
affaersaenglar-investerar-i-ullared-paa-naetet-776527 (Accessed 2016-03-15).
GP. Bullhound. Independent technology research- European billion dollar companies 2015: European
unicorns: Do They Have Legs? 2015. http://www.gpbullhound.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/
GP-Bullhound-Research-Billion-Dollar-Companies-2015.pdf (Accessed 1016-03-30).
Granlund, Fredrik. “Microsoft lägger ned Sendit”. Ny Teknik. 2002-06-03. http://www.nyteknik.se/
nyheter/it_telekom/allmant/article224584.ece (Accessed 2016-02-24).
HiQ. Annual Report 1999. http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/00/4C/C7/wkr0006.
pdf (Accessed 2016-02-05), p 38.
HiQ. Quarterly Report 2015 (Q4). http://www.hiq.se/Global/Reports_sv/Q4%20Rapport%202015.
pdf (Accessed 2016-02-05)
How Stockholm Became a “Unicorn factory”. 2015. Knowledge@Wharton. Wharton University of

132
https://www.nada.kth.se/utbildning/grukth/exjobb/rapportlistor/2009/rapporter09/larsson_
markus_09065.pdf
HUI Research. Årets julklapp. http://www.hui.se/arets-julklapp (Accessed 2016-02-08).
IIS. Internetmuseum.se. 2000 Telia erbjuder ADSL. http://www.internetmuseum.se (Accessed 2016-
02-22)
IIS. Internetmuseum.se. http://www.internetmuseum.se (Accessed 2016-02-22)
Ilijason , Robert. Hem-pc:n på väg ut – så klarar du dig. Computer Sweden, IDG. 2007-08-21. www.idg.
se/2.1085/1.98978 (Accessed 2016-02-08).
Ingraham, Nathan. Apple’s App Store has passed 100 billion app downloads. The Verge. 2015-06-08.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/8/8739611/apple-wwdc-2015-stats-update (Accessed 2016-03-07).
Internet World Stats. Top 50 countries with the highest internet penetration rates – 2013. http://www.
internetworldstats.com/top25.htm (Accessed 2016-03-15).
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA August 29, 1997. http://www.riksbank.se/pagefolders/1722/970829e.
pdf (Accessed 2016-03-30).
Jakob Armoe. Entreprenuer. Interview.
Johan Brenner. Creandum. n.d. http://www.creandum.com/team/johan-brenner/ (Accessed 2016-03-
10).
Johan Brenner. LinkedIn. n.d. https://www.linkedin.com/in/johan-brenner-4353509 (Accessed 2016-
03-10).
Jonas Nordlander. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-nordlander-749274 (Accessed 2016-
03-14).
Jonung, L., Kiander, J., & Vartia, P. (2009). The Great Financial Crisis in Finland and Sweden, Edward
Elgar Publishing.
Karlberg, Lars Anders. Cisco lägger ned svenska Qeyton. Ny Teknik. 2002-10-29. http://www.nyteknik.
Karlberg, Lars Anders. Cisco lägger ned svenska Qeyton. Ny Teknik. 2002-10-29. http://www.nyteknik.
Karlén, Åse. Affärsänglarna flockas i storstäder. Esbri.se. 2007-01-15. http://www.esbri.se/referat_
Kleja, Monica. Konkurrensverket ger sig på Telia om adsl. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2003-05-06. http://
Kleja, Monica. Skadestånd ska skrämma telebolag till lydnad. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2006-10-23. http://
Kramer, Ariel. 2015. If You’re Looking for Your Next Unicorn, Head to Sweden Huffpost Business.
The blog. December 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariel-kramer/if-youre-looking-for-
Larsson, Johan. Ebay köper Tradera för 365 miljoner kronor. 2006-04-24. http://internetworld.idg.
se/2.1006/1.54357/ebay-koper-tradera-for-365-miljoner-kronor (Accessed 2016-02-24).
Larsson, Markus. Förhållandet mellan CD-försäljning, digital musikförsäljning, framföranderättigheter,
privatkopieringsersättning och konsertintäkter. Dissertation, KTH, 2009.

133
LBI International. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBI_International_AB (Accessed
2016-02-25).
Lechner, Christian, and Michael Dowling, ‘Firm Networks: External Relationships as Sources for the
Growth and Competitiveness of Entrepreneurial Firms’, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 15
(2003), 1–26.
Leo Heung, Entrepreneur from Hong Kong. Interview 2016-03-29.
Lewan, Mats. How piracy paved the way in Sweden. CBS Cnet News. 2009-02-17. http://www.cnet.
com/news/how-piracy-paved-the-way-in-sweden/ (Accessed 2016-02-22).
Lewan, Mats. Internettrafiken halverades i går. Ny Teknik. 2009-04-02. http://www.nyteknik.se/
nyheter/it_telekom/internet/article260684.ece (Accessed 2016-03-07).
Lewan, Mats. Nokia tänkte rätt men gjorde fel. Ny Teknik. 2010-04-29. http://it-bloggen.nyteknik.
se/2010/04/29/nokia-tankte-ratt-men-gjorde-fel/ (Accessed 2016-03-07).
Lewan, Mats. Tele2 slår larm om Telias bredbandsmonopol. Ny Teknik, Talentum. 2006-04-27. http://
Lindh, Sara. Johan Staël von Holsteins nya startup berättar allt om ditt namn. Breakit. 2015-06-15.
http://www.breakit.se/artikel/814/johan-stal-von-holsteins-nya-startup-berattar-allt-om-ditt-namn
(Accessed 2016-03-10).
Lindroth, Jan. Börsbubblans största vinnare. Affärsvärlden. 2002-10-30. http://www.affarsvarlden.se/
hem/nyheter/article2538053.ece (Accessed 2016-02-05).
Litchfield, Steve. Symbian market share analysis from ABI. All About Symbian. 2007-03-20. http://
www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/5059_Symbian_market_share_analysis_.php (Accessed 2016-
03-07).
Lundell, Stefan. 2015. 2015 sees record breaking venture capital rain on Swedish tech companies.
Swedish Startup Space. October 8. http://swedishstartupspace.com/2015/10/08/vcs-make-it-rain-on-
swedish-tech-companies-records-will-be-broken-this-year/ (Accessed 2016-03-30).
Lundell, Stefan. King-grundarna startar egen fond - ska investera i svenska startups. Breakit. 2016-01-
29. http://www.breakit.se/artikel/2491/king-grundarna-startar-egen-fond-ska-investera-i-svenska-
startups (Accessed 2016-03-10).
Lundell, Stefan. Svenska grundarna säljer Avito-aktier för 1,4 miljarder kronor. Breakit. 2015-10-23.
http://www.breakit.se/artikel/1676/svenska-grundarna-saljer-avito-aktier-for-1-4-miljarder-kronor
(Accessed 2016-03-15).
M. Forzati, C. Mattsson, Samhällsekonomisk inverkan av fiber nät i Västra Mälardalen, Acreo Rapport
acr059369, Stockholm, April 2015.
M. Forzati, C. Mattsson. Stokab, a socio-economic study, Acreo report acr055698, Stockholm: Acreo,
2013.
Magdalena Bonde. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/magdalenabonde (Accessed 2016-03-15).
Mattias Miksche. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattiasmiksche (Accessed 2016-03-10).
Mattson, Crister; Senior Advisor, Acreo Swedish ICT AB. Interview 2016-01-26.
McDuling, John. Meet Charles Caldas, the Aussie who took on Apple with Taylor Swift. The Sydney
Morning Herald. 2015-10-23. http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/the-aussie-
who-stared-down-apple-and-won-20151020-gkeb23.html (Accessed 2016-02-08).

134
Mitzner, Dennis. 2016. Sweden Is A Tech Superstar From The North. 26 January. Tech Crunch. Crunch
Network.. http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/26/sweden-is-a-tech-superstar-from-the-north/(Accessed
2016-03-30).
Mitzner, Dennis. 2016. Sweden Is A Tech Superstar From The North. 26 January. Tech Crunch. Crunch
Network.. http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/26/sweden-is-a-tech-superstar-from-the-north/(Accessed
2016-03-30).
Mölleryd, Bengt G; Ph. D. and Senior Analyst at PTS. Interview 2016-01-26.
Mölleryd, Bengt G; Ph. D. and Senior Analyst at PTS. Interview 2016-01-26.
Mynewsdesk. Stokab och HDR förser sändningar av Stockholm Marathon samt EM-fest med senaste
tekniken. 2008-05-30. http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressreleases/stokab-och-hdr-foerser-
saendningar-av-stockholm-marathon-samt-em-fest-med-senaste-tekniken-219294 (Accessed 2016-03-
07).
Needleman, Sarah E.. Activision Blizzard to Acquire King Digital for $5.9 Billion. The Wall Street
Journal. 2015.11.03. http://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-blizzard-agrees-to-acquire-king-digital-
entertainment-in-5-9-billion-deal-1446523976 (Accessed 2016-03-10).
Netscape. Wikipedia. 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape (Accessed 2016-02-24)
Nilsson, Elisabeth. Jonas Birgersson – från rollspelare till Bredbandsjesus. IIS. 2015-10-02. https://
Nilsson, Elisabeth. Jonas Birgersson – från rollspelare till Bredbandsjesus. IIS. 2015-10-02. https://
Nilsson, Julia. Press är guld värd för företagen. Journalisten.se. 2000-11-22. http://www.journalisten.se/
nyheter/press-ar-guld-vard-foretagen (Accessed 2016-02-05).
Nordström, Bengt; CEO and co-founder of Northstream. Interview 2016-01-27
Ola Ahlvarsson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_Ahlvarsson (Accessed 2016-03-25).
Open Handset Allience. Industry Leaders Announce Open Platform for Mobile Devices. 2007-11-05.
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/press_110507.html (Accessed 2016-03-07).
PTS. Förutsättningar för hållbar konkurrens på bredbandsområdet. PTS-ER-2005:39. Stockholm
2005-12-08.
PTS. Svensk telemarknad 2014. PTS-ER 2015:19. Stockholm 2015-05-25.
RIP Good Times? Venture Capital Funding, Unicorn Births, And Mega-Deals Plummet in Q4’15.
2016-03-30).
Rönn, Cina. Cell och Mandator går ihop?. Aftonbladet. 2000-02-07. http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/
nyheter/0002/07/itjatte.html (Accessed 2016-02-05).
Roos Svensson, Moa. Tillbaka – som pomolog. Dagens Industri. 2015-06-23. http://www.di.se/di/
SFS 2000:1161.
SFS 2008:884.
Sjöshult, Fredrik. Wikell jagas av skattmasen. Dagens Industri. 2004-01-09. http://www.di.se/
artiklar/2004/1/9/wikell-jagas-av-skattmasen/ (Accessed 2016-02-05).

135
Skan et al. 2015, The Future of FinTech and Banking: Digitally Disrupted or Reimagined?, Accenture
Report,
Social network analysis encompasses a set of methods, which are used for the analysis of social
structures, more specifically to investigate the relational aspects of these structures..
Spray.se. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBI_International_AB (Accessed 2016-02-
25).
Statista. Global market share held by the leading smartphone operating systems in sales to end users
Statskontoret. 2000, Internet och datoranvändning i Sverige år 2000. http://www.statskontoret.se/
upload/Publikationer/2001/200128.pdf (Accessed 2016-03-15).
STHLM TECH Meetup. http://www.meetup.com/STHLM-Tech-Meetup/ (Accessed 2016-03-25).
Stinchcombe, Arthur L. “Organizations and social structure.” Handbook of organizations 44.2 (1965):
142-193.
Stockholm House of Innovation Epicenter. https://epicenterstockholm.com/en#about (Accessed 2016-
03-25).
Ström, Viktor. Den svenska adelns favoritstartup. DI Digital. 2015-09-22. http://digital.di.se/artikel/
den-svenska-adelns-favoritstartup (Accessed 2016-03-10).
STUDYinEUROPE.eu. Study in Sweden. Tution fees at university in Sweden. 2016. http://www.
studyineurope.eu/study-in-sweden/tuition-fees (Accessed 2016-03-25).
Start using Bitcoin. What is Bitcoin? http://startusingbitcoin.com/blog/1-what-is-bitcoin/ (Accessed
2016-05-01)
sup46. Start-up people of Sweden. http://www.sup46.com/(Accessed 2016-03-25).
Svensson, Måns. Är fildelningen tillbaka på samma nivåer som före Ipredlagen?. Cybernormer.se.
2009-10-02. http://cybernormer.se/ar-fildelningen-tillbaka-pa-samma-nivaer-som-fore-ipredlagen/
(Accessed 2016-03-07).
Söderblom, Anna. The current state of the Venture Capital industry. In Näringspolitiskt Forum (2012).
Sölvell, Örjan, Fohlin, Carl & Protsiv, Sergiy. Ekosystemet ICT & Digital: kartläggning av styrkeområden
i Stockholmsregionen, Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län, Stockholm, 2015.
Sölvell, Örjan, Zander, Ivo & Porter, Michael E., Advantage Sweden, Norstedt, Stockholm, 1991
Teigland, Robin, et al. Fin Tech and the Future of Finance. Power point presentation. March 2016.
http://www.slideshare.net/eteigland?utm_campaign=profiletracking&utm_medium=sssite&utm_
source=ssslideview (Accessed 2016-03-30).
The Swedish Goverment. Ett informationssamhälle för alla. Proposition 1999/2000:86. Stockholm,
2000.
The unicorn list. Fortune. 2016. http://fortune.com/unicorns/ (Accessed 1016-03-30).
THINGS by STING http://www.thingstockholm.com/(Accessed 2016-03-25).
Tottmar, Mia. Spotify: Stockholm är sämst. Dagens Nyheter. 2015-03-03. http://www.dn.se/sthlm/
spotify-stockholm-ar-samst/ (Accessed 2016-03-15).
Tradera. Wikipedia. 2015. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradera (Accessed 2016-02-25).

136
Tung, Liam. Stockholm is the ‘most prolific’ billion-dollar startup hub behind Silicon Valley. 2014-11-
07. http://www.zdnet.com/article/stockholm-is-the-most-prolific-billion-dollar-startup-hub-behind-
silicon-valley/ (Accessed 2016-02-25).
Vardi, Nathan. Alexander Vik Is The Most Interesting Man In The World (As Long As He Doesn’t Owe
You Money). Forbes. 2014-03-05. http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/03/05/the-riddle-
of-alexander-vik/#4df667ae17e0 (Accessed 2016-02-24)
Vetenskapsrådet. The Swedish system of research funding. 2015. http://www.vr.se/inenglish/
researchfunding/applyforgrants/theswedishsystemofresearchfunding.4.aad30e310abcb9735780007228.
html (Accessed 2016-03-30).
Wesley-James, Nicholas; Ingram, Claire; Källstrand, Carl ; Teigland, Robin. Stockholm FinTech: An
overview of the FinTech sector in the greater Stockholm Region. 2015.
Weverbergh, Raf. Interview: from Burger King to boardroom, how Klarna became a payments giant.
Whiteboardmag. n.d. http://www.whiteboardmag.com/interview-from-burger-king-to-boardroom-
how-klarna-became-a-payments-giant/ (Accessed 2016-03-10).
Work in Sweden. Social benefits. http://work.sweden.se/living-in-sweden/social-benefits/(Accessed
2016-03-15).
Zachrison, Olle. Jonas Birgersson: ”Vi har straffats mycket hårdare”. Svenska Dagbladet. 2010-03-05.
http://www.svd.se/jonas-birgersson-vi-har-straffats-mycket-hardare (Accessed 2016-03-10).
Zeigerer, Jessica. Jonas Birgersson till Israel. Sydsvenskan. 2013-08-25. http://www.sydsvenskan.se/
lund/jonas-birgersson-till-israel/ (Accessed 2016-03-10).

137
Albin Skog is a PhD student at the
Center for Strategy and Competi-
tiveness at the Stockholm School of
Economics. He works on projects
about competitiveness, innovation
and historical market systems. He
holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s
degree in History of Ideas from
Södertörn University, Stockholm
and has also studied History and
Aesthetics.
Mats Lewan is an author, journal-
ist, speaker and moderator, focusing
on the force of change in accelerat-
ing technologies and how they will
transform our lives and our society
forever in the next few decades. As
a journalist he has been a staff writer
at the Swedish technology weekly Ny
Teknik for 15 years, and he has also
been a reporter at CBS CNET News
in San Francisco. In his recent book, An Impossible Invention, he tells the re-
markable story about the much discussed and potentially disruptive energy
source cold fusion. Lewan holds a Master of Science in Engineering Physics
from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
3. The authors
Photo:JulianaWiklund

138
Michael Karlström has a BSc in Busi-
ness Administration from the Stock-
holm School of Economics and a BSc
in Psychology from Stockholm Uni-
versity. He is currently studying for an
MSc in Management of Innovation
and Business Development at Copen-
hagen Business School, which he will
graduate from during 2016. Previously,
Michael has founded a tech startup in
the area of mobile consumer research
(Freebee), worked for a multinational
FMCG company (Unilever) and been involved with building an online pro-
fessional network for Nova Global. Personal webpage: http://karlstrom.co/.
Sergey Morgulis-Yakushev is a re-
searcher at the Center for Strategy and
Competitiveness at the Stockholm
School of Economics. Sergey received
his doctoral degree from the Stock-
holm School of Economics and he also
holds a PhD in statistics and Master’s
degrees in Economics and Mathemat-
ics. Sergey’s research focuses on inter-
national aspects of effectiveness and
efficiency of organizations, foreign
market entry, knowledge transfer, and
strategic innovation. Sergey was born in St Petersburg, Russia and is a Rus-
sian citizen.
SERGEY MORGULIS-YAKUSHEV
Sergey.Morgulis-Yakushev@hhs.se
Sergey Morgulis-Yakushev is a researcher at the

139
Yixin Lu is Assistant Professor
of Business Analytics and Digital
Innovation and a member of the
KIN - Knowledge, Information,
and Networks research group at
VU University Amsterdam. Her
research focuses on the econom-
ic, behavioral and social impacts
of information technology. She
received her PhD from the Rot-
terdam School of Management
at Erasmus University and holds a double Master’s degree (Cum Laude) in
Industrial Mathematics from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e),
the Netherlands and Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Robin Teigland is Professor of Business
Administration at the Center for Strategy
and Competitiveness at the Stockholm
School of Economics. She is currently
working on several projects such as the
Sharing Economy and Sweden’s FinTech.
In general she is interested in how dis-
ruptive technologies, such as the block
chain, 3D printing, and virtual worlds are
enabling value creation activities across
and outside traditional firm boundaries,
thereby transforming value creation in
society. Robin holds a Bachelor in Eco-
nomics with Distinction from Stanford
University, an MBA from the Wharton School, a Master in International
Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD from the Stockholm
School of Economics. More information can be found through googling her.
Photo:JulianaWiklund

140
The Center for Strategy and Competitiveness (CSC) was founded in 2005
and focuses on five research tracks: Strategy and Market Systems, Interna-
tional Business, Knowledge in Networks, Clusters, and Competitiveness
Policy.
CSC works in a trans-disciplinary tradition involving theories from Strat-
egy, Management, International Business, Economic Geography, Economic
Sociology and Economic History.
CSC is managing the Cluster Observatory and runs a number of data
bases related to clusters.
CSC led the three-year Nordic Virtual Worlds Network (NVWN), an
international, inter-disciplinary project focused on investigating entrepre-
neurship and innovation in relation to virtual worlds and the 3D internet.
Currently, the Center is running two three year projects: 1) the Innovative
Internet and 2) Bringing peer-to-peer to finance: When trust meets informa-
tion technology.
CSC is an affiliate institute to the Institute for Strategy and Competitive-
ness (ISC), led by Professor Michael E Porter at HBS.
The Cluster Observatory informs policymakers, cluster practitioners and
researchers, throughout the world, about European clusters and cluster poli-
cies.
CSC is a research center at SIR, Stockholm School of Economics Insti-
tute for Research. SIR is a national research institute for the economic sci-
ences, with a focus on Business Administration in the broadest sense.
4. Center for Strategy and
Competitiveness

141
The research team would like to greatly thank IIS – the Internet Foundation
in Sweden, and in particular Danny Aerts and Pernilla Rydmark, for their
generous support and funding that has made this project possible. We would
also like to thank Nicholas Wesley-James for the help he has provided during
the research process and Göran Lindqvist for the design template. Addition-
ally, we would like to thank all those entrepreneurs and other individuals
active in Sweden and the Stockholm startup ecosystem for their time and
help in our research.
5. Acknowledgements

142
Chasing the tale of the unicorn – A study of Sweden’s
misty meadows is the first report from the three-year proj-
ect, The Innovative Internet, which is funded by the Internet
Foundation in Sweden (IIS - Internetstiftelsen i Sverige). In
this project our primary objective is to examine how the In-
ternet and digitalization has influenced entrepreneurship
and innovation in Sweden.
In this report we focus on the unicorn-phenomena, by
doing an in depth investigation of 4 unicorns and 11 po-
tential unicorns. The report also explores the roots of this
success and takes us on an initial journey through the
technological developments from the 1980s to today and
through the first and second waves of IT startups in the
country.
In the future the project will go both deeper into these
questions, as well as apply different lenses - as we move
our focus from unicorns to a broader set of high-technol-
ogy startups.
7972497891869
ISBN 9789186797249

Chasing the tale of the unicorn: A study of stockholm's misty meadows

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (15)

Similar to Chasing the tale of the unicorn: A study of stockholm's misty meadows (20)

More from Robin Teigland (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Chasing the tale of the unicorn: A study of stockholm's misty meadows