The customer places his order via the phone or computer, from one or more of the stores. Home delivery by bike usually takes place the day after and costs additional fee. Alternatively customers can pick up their packed groceries directly at the store to avoid any queues.

According to product manager John Elf, Locals had a positive experience in Lund. And then there’s general growing trend towards cooking interest and digitalization of food services.

“Mass production is our biggest competitor, both large grocery stores like Ica and companies Mathem.se and Linas Matkasse do home deliveries now. What we focus on, however, is the local, small-scale and specialized stores, so nothing you can find online.”

Locals business model is built around commission from store sales and fixed charges paid by boutiques. However, the customer pays the same price for the goods as visitors in the store does.

Previously Locals aimed at Helsingborg, but there are currently no concrete plans to open in northern Skåne. All the effort is put into Malmö and Lund and eventually it will also be spread to other cities – perhaps in Skåne, perhaps major cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg.

When Locals opened in Lund in August, the service aimed to become the world’s first city-e-commerce and offered products from over 50 stores that included fashion, interior design and other goods. This service can now be found at lundcityhandel.se. The e-commerce solution is still implemented by Locals, but the management hopes that local actor, perhaps municipality or trade association, would like to take it over in the future. Locals is set to put all their effort into food and delicacies.

The post Lund-based Locals launches service in Malmo appeared first on Øresund Startups.

If you would like to find vitamins that will complement your diet and training we recommend you to visit website of Rootine.

AthGene is a DNA company that offers users a possibility to find out which genetic composition they have to optimize training, diet or lifestyle patterns. Presently the company has secured an investment of 4 million dkk (500 000 euro) from venture fund SEED Capital, and Laila Pawlak, head of the think tank Dare2. 29-year-old entrepreneur Yusufa Sey, who originally comes from asmall African country of Gambia, is at lead of AthGene, writes Finans.DK.

According to Anders Kjær, investment manager at Seed Capital, AthGene caters to as a potential billion market without a lot of players.

“With AthGene consumers can get information about themselves to make the right choices about their diet and training. Right now there are not many players in the market, and we look AthGene as a potential winner,” – says Anders Kjær.

Apart from strong investment profiles, AthGene also has a strong board, with the former director of Copenhagen Airports and current board member of Coloplast Brian Petersen as a president. Among other members are American scientist and entrepreneur Raymond McCauley, president of digital biology at the American University Singularity University.

AthGene offers customers an insight into the individual’s genetic makeup, so that diet plans and training schedules can be optimized for the individual’s gene composition rather than by general dietary advice and workout plans.

“Many people do the same as their neighbor, or follow the general advice, but it is not certain that what works for one will also work for another person. Take the food pyramid. The problem with it as well as other general dietary guidelines is that they do not take into account individual variations. People’s bodies burn and store fat and carbohydrate in different ways, and the easiest way to discover this is through a DNA test.” – says Yusufa Sey.

The post Athgene will continue work on a DNA testing service with more funding appeared first on Øresund Startups.

In the interview to Computerworld.DK Martin Thorborg shared that at the moment he has no investment plans when it comes to the acquired capital. In the future one can probably expect new ventures by him, but not until a couple of years.

“It’s no secret that I am dangerously fond of cloud-based B2B services, so it will probably be something in that area. But I must honestly say that at the moment I have no clue what it is going to be. I am trying at the moment to avoid getting new ideas. Otherwise, I’m just frustrated that I can not throw myself into them right now.”

Martin Thorborg declined the possibility of becoming angel investor.

“I am not going to invest in other people’s businesses. It feel like I simply can not. It is not fun to invest in something and then sit at some board meetings. I’d rather invent and mold things from scratch and build my own team,” – shared he.

For the time being Martin Thorborg is still a director at Dinero and will continue with this role for a while.

The post Danish IT entrepreneur Martin Thorborg sells another company appeared first on Øresund Startups.

The company was founded in early 2015 by tech entrepreneur Patrik Malmberg and cyber-security expert Peter Alexanderson, who among other things is a key figure behind the banks’ security systems Bank-ID.

CovR Security will offer to collect all of user’s log-ins into their app, controlled  by a PIN or biometric data such as fingerprints, for example. Among the unique features of the service is that users will know when an unauthorized person tries to log in and use e-mail, credit card or online banking. This is where companies like cyber security Edmonton swoop in to ensure that protection.

“With our technology you can delete any user name and password, and instead identify yourself using our app,” – explains Anette Nordevall, angel investor and chairman of CovR Security.

Apart from the founders, Annete is one of the CovR Security’s co-owners. She bought into the company six months after the start, and now owns about 5 percent of the company. Together with Victor Bengtsson, one of the major owners of electronics giant Amazon Marketplace , Anette Nordevall  is also behind the newest investment round. In connection with the investment, the company is valued at about SEK 100 million according to DiDigital.

“Today we are 25 people with operations in the Nordics. We will employ ten more people and expand to the United States and around the world. We are looking for sellers, communicators and developers to scale up the business internationally,” – says Anette Nordevall.

Among other investments, CovR Security took in 8 million SEK (800 000 euro) in venture capital in April of last year.

As of 2016, the company had a very modest turnover, but the plan for 2017 is to reach a breakeven point and increase sales to approximately 10 million SEK (1 mln euro).

The post CovR Security gets funding for international expansion appeared first on Øresund Startups.

Neither party shared the details of transaction, but in April last year Mistbase took in 4 million SEK (400 000 euro) investment from Johan Qviberg Qiunary, Minc’s former CEO Marten Öbrink, Body Trace-founder Andy Ketskes and business angel Anders Berglund. Then the company was valued at 20 million SEK (2 million euro). According to DiDigital, the investment seems to have given a return of 6-8 times. Reportedly, the deal landed somewhere between 120 and 150 million SEK (12-15 million euro).

“I have no comment on the purchase price, but note that this is our best investment to date,” – shared to DiDigital Linus Wiebe, Director of Innovation at Lund University Holding AB, who until the deal owned about 10 percent of the company.

The deal means that ARM takes over the Mist Base technology and personnel. ARM has an ambition to create a design center in wireless communications in Lund. The team behind the Mistbase has around 15 employees, but will grow in the coming years.

“The deal makes it clear that Scania has a vision to become a world leader in the internet of things. In many deals, when acquired, technology and expertise and moved to California, for example, but in this case the expansion of team and technology continues on spot,” – said Linus Wiebe.

The purchase of the Mistbase is ARM’s second takeover in Skåne. In 2008 ARM acquired Logipard, a subsidiary of Anoto who worked with video technology. Since then ARM has built up a strong presence in the region and has about 100 employees in Lund.

The post Lund-based Mistbase is acquired by hardware giant ARM appeared first on Øresund Startups.

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Five Danish entrepreneurs have found a method in which the body’s immune system is trained to actively recognize and fight cancer cells. The treatment makes use of nanoparticles of less than one ten thousandth of a millimeter, which is able to deliver an immune activating substance specific for the immune system’s major cell types.

“Often cancer cells avoid being detected by the immune system’s radar, but we can now give the immune system a solid boost, so it can recognize and fight cancer cells more effectively than we see today,” says Simon Skjøde Jensen.

According to Simon Skjøde Jensen, Ph.D. and CEO of Monta Biosciences, the investment will help to take the next steps in developing the technology even further:

“It is a big step in the right direction, and together with our previous investment from the Innovation Fund Denmark, we now have a good base to build an even stronger product that will provide unique opportunities for further development and attraction of strategic partnerships and investments.”

MonTa BioSciences’ treatment is unique since it can advantageously be combined with a large proportion of the current treatments available on the market, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, antibody based therapy, such as Rituximab or Darzalex, as well as the highly successful immune checkpoint inhibitors, which have been approved over the last year and already used to treat against melanoma and lung cancer. The technology can potentially also be used for treating other diseases where the immune system has a critical role, such as autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes, but also in allergic diseases.

MonTa BioSciences started as a spinout from DTU Nanotech Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology and it is today part of the international mentoring initiative for life science companies, Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship (NOME), which is organized by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the startup accelerator Accelerace.

The post MonTa BioSciences raises funding for a promising cancer treatment appeared first on Øresund Startups.

Uniti the beginning

When Lewis Horne decided to turn his research project at Lund University into a startup, he didn’t know how things would unfold, but the goal was clear – to create a car of the future. There was neither funding nor team in the beginning but ambition and openness helped to eventually attract both.

As a company Uniti began its existence in 2016. The first team members as well as many more to follow joined the startup on volunteer basis driven by passion for sustainability and interest to create a world class product. According to Lewis, university campuses are filled with untapped potential so it’s much easier to discover and attract talents there.

“Many young people are very gifted, but their motivations for joining a company are changing. Once it was all about the big name companies, now it is about freedom, achieving something great and getting credit for your work. Here we have exactly that.”

From chaos to clarity

Uniti’s founder and CEO does have a unique approach to building a company. He didn’t start with a clear textbook plan how to organize things. Instead there was a chaos. But through this chaos eventually emerged a functioning structure.

When it comes to the company culture its initial philosophy was preserved – Uniti is a place for self-motivated and driven people who will work independently to contribute to the common goal. And that’s probably one of the reason how this startup managed to grow into a team of 60+ people in just a year and a bit. The extended team Uniti is probably even bigger and includes thesis students as well as freelancers all over the world.

Location matters

Starting a company is not an easy task to begin with, but building something as complex as a car and challenging a billion dollar industry is a whole different level. And it was not an accident that Lewis chose Lund to carry out his project.

“Before we started I’ve looked at a lot of locations all over the world – in the US, Europe and even within Sweden. But we have chosen to be in Lund. Here in Skåne there’s a great support system which we’ve benefited from a great deal.”

Among the many organizations that have been very helpful so far are Region Skåne, Malmostad, Almi to name a few. And there’s of course an aspect of Swedish culture, where people are open and helpful and work a great deal with environmental questions. So in the end it was a match.

Crowdfunding path

As any startup Uniti had to figure the funding question. And given that openness and transparency are some of the company’s fundamental values, crowdfunding seemed like an obvious choice.

Uniti’s crowdfunding campaign turned out to be an undeniable success. Through emission of shares Uniti raised over 1,2 million euro in funding which has also become one of the largest crowdfunding rounds in the Nordics. In total there was over 570 investors from all over the world. The recipe is simple: be authentic, be honest, don’t be afraid to be different.

Apart from finance the campaign has also shown the potential of the project. If so many people from all over the world have shown interest in Uniti, the team must be on the right path. The next step is a functioning prototype. After that will come production. And according to Lewis the plan so far is to set it up in Malmo, which will require further funding.

It looks like upcoming years will be eventful not only for the Team Uniti but for the entire region.

The post “Don’t be afraid to be different,” – an interview with Uniti’s founder Lewis Horne appeared first on Øresund Startups.

Skåne

MALMO

Will Machines Take Over? Critical Tech Meetup

Will machines rule the world? How many workplaces will be overtaken by machines? The ability of computers to recognize patterns and learn their structure might sound scary to some people.

In this talk you will learn, what is possible right now in terms of machine learning and artificial intelligence. You will get to know some basic concepts of machine learning and how you could apply it to your everyday business, regardless whether you are a startup, drive a local supermarket or have an established manufacturing company.

The speaker is Björn Preuß. His profession lies in data science and finance. He gives lectures and holds a research position at the Copenhagen Business School.

• When: Tuesday 7th March 17:30
• Where: Foo Café, Stora Varvsgatan 6a 211 19 Malmö

HELSINGBORG

Språkcafé för företagare

Language cafe for entrepreneurs is a weekly event that gathers foreign and Swedish entrepreneurs together to practice the Swedish language skills.

• When: Wednesday 8/3, 16:30 – 18:00
• Where: Mindpark, Helsingborg 

LUND

VentureCafé – the place to meet

Do you have an idea and are now looking for people with other skills to complete your team? Do you wish that you had an idea, but still haven’t found the one? Or do you just want to have free fika with inspiring people?

Come to Venture Café! This is the place to meet people with ideas that are looking for your competences and for people with ideas that need someone to share their journey with. Maybe this is the start of your future career? Hang out, grab something from the fika buffet (our treat), be inspired and let the mingle begin!

• When: Tuesday 7th March 16:00 – 18:00
• Where: VentureLab, Scheelevägen 15, Lund

Copenhagen

Silicon Drinkabout CPH @ Copenhagen FinTech Lab

Silicon Drinkabout is a regular after work with drinks, nice company and relaxing atmosphere after another busy week at the startup site. This Friday it is time to visit FinTech Lab. This is a great opportunity to check out Scandinavia’s first co-working space dedicated to fintech entrepreneurs.

Entrance is free of charge.

• When: Friday, March 10th, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Where: Copenhagen FinTech Lab, Applebys Plads 7, 1411 Copenhagen, Denmark

Want to know about other events in the region? Check out our calendar.

The post Find local startups events of the week appeared first on Øresund Startups.

Malmo-based Touchize is solution that will solve this problem. It is a revolutionary technology that is supposed to “touchify” mobile commerce. Under development for the past two years and in the ongoing process of global patent application, the technology can be easily connected to most e-commerce platforms enabling consumers to simply drag and drop products in the shopping cart.

4 of 10 mobile consumers say they have canceled their purchases because online store was too difficult to navigate and insufficiently adapted to the small screen of a smartphone. Touchize’s technology highlights the benefits of a touch screen, which gives the consumer a better experience that is not limited to the screen size. Zenith Clipping is a professional clipping path company in Bangladesh with more than 150 Photoshop professionals. We help studios, photographers, and e-commerce store owners edit photos. We are a well-reputed top-ranked image editing company in Bangladesh serving since 2010.

Touchize founded in 2014 in Malmö by Tom Gajdos, a prize-winning engineer and innovator with over 12 years experience in the mobile industry. Tom is behind several global patents he developed during his journey from Ericsson to Sony Ericsson and finally Sony Mobile. The company consists of a team of 6 people.

“Physical trade has always been the driving idea and guiding force in our development. With Touchize we want to embrace smooth and natural consumer behavior common for physical shopping and apply it to ecommerce. We see ourselves as an obvious next step for responsive design,”- says Tom Gajdos, founder and CTO of Touchize.

So far, Touchize has brought in 15.2 million sek (1.5 million euro) that have been invested in development of the first product – Touchize Commerce, as well as user studies, market analyzes, integrations and certifications for a number of e-commerce platforms. To increase their efficiency, they can try to buy barcodes or find similar tactics.

The company is backed by a handful of heavy profiles in IT, retail and finance. Among the names are Bjarne Mumm, Chairman Kjell & Co., a director of ÖoB and Shanghai-listed LBX Pharmacy Chain with a background as CEO of the Åhléns Group and advisor to EQT and FSN. Among the most recent heavyweights addition is Wellstreet.

The post Touchize – a solution that will save mobile e-commerce appeared first on Øresund Startups.

“It’s a classic second seed round investment between one and five million. The stock emission was overfunded, so we had to say no to some investors,” – shared CEO Gustav Brain in the interview with DiDigital.

Among the new investors who have now become part-owners are Kung Markattas, former CEO and major owner Peter Enberg, Thomas Wiklund, Dendera Venture, Erica Alvim de Faria, percipient, Björn Andersson, Taxam and Nils Mellnert, Limelco.

“These are people who have made interesting journeys with their companies in the past and many of them will be able to keep up with future investment rounds if it becomes necessary,” – said Gustav Brain.

The hope is that the investment will be able to take the company to a positive cash flow. Presently Ifrågasätts is discussing future collaborations with some major Swedish newspapers with a plan to do service launch together with them. The first newspaper in Sweden that will use Ifrågasätts’ is Fokus

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