Malmö & Lund

Sweden’s third biggest city Malmö is often overlooked in favour of the better-known tech hubs of Stockholm and Copenhagen, which is less than half an hour away by train. But the diverse city, which has more affordable housing than Copenhagen and is closer geographically to the rest of Europe than Stockholm, has its own growing startup scene.

Malmö has great gender equality. In comparison to Berlin or London, we have had 50/50 women and men at our startup events for a long time, both when it comes to speakers and audience. And if we look at the latest batch of a local accelerator called Fast Track, 80% of companies have a female founder and 40% have a female chief executive. It also looks good when we look at the angel investors in the region. Apart from that, we are also really good at new creative hardware products and the new generation of health tech.

What is the biggest challenge?

There are far too few funds and angel investors that invest in pre-seed in Malmö, and few angels that themselves have built and scaled international tech companies. In comparison to hubs like Berlin, Stockholm and London, there are almost none. When you reach the maturity to do your A round it is not a problem, but to get investment up to €500,000 is difficult.

In what ways has it changed over the last five years?

It has changed greatly: five years ago there were so few players; angel investors, hubs, and connectors. Now there are some investors that themselves built companies, such as Jeanette Andersson (stand-in CEO at the startup incubator Minc) and Carl Silbersky (BIMObjects), as well as programmes that really make a difference. One example is the accelerator Fast Track Malmö that has done miracles to the startup scene in Malmö.

How easy is it to hire people?

It is unexpectedly easy. Like Berlin, Malmö has a good vibe and it is easy to settle down and find somewhere to live. Companies here obviously complain about the lack of available developers, but it is easier here than in a lot of other places. However, there is a lack of people who have experience of scaling a company. The entrepreneurs of Malmö may have worked for a company that has scaled quickly, however they haven’t usually had a role where they have been facing the problems that a fast-growing company experiences. Lately though, we have seen a lot of people moving to Malmö with that and other kinds of experience.

What are some of the daily frustrations?

We are missing meetups. We have enough events but there are not enough focused meetups, such as lunch meetups for developers in different fields, people within cybersecurity, virtual engineering, and so on. That we could have 10 times more of. But, on the other hand, it is easy to get around and it is really flat. Malmö is small; you can get to anywhere within seven minutes by bike or by using an electric scooter.

Which universities are influential in the city?

Lund University has a lot of great innovation going on and has the possibility to come up with things that will change the world. Malmö University is not really about deep tech but is still useful. If Lund University is the casserole dish with lab-grown meat, Malmö University will provide the spices that make it taste good.

Skåne Care

Skåne Care can help you start new innovative services or enhance quality, increase efficiency or cut costs within existing services, building on the Swedish healthcare model. Our experienced medical professionals and healthcare managers collaborate on-site with your project managers and team to determine your needs and define your vision. We support you every step of the way, from the initial needs assessment phase until you have achieved lasting, sustainable change.

Hospital management – transferring the Swedish model

Our areas of expertise range from establishing cost-effective working methods and developing healthcare processes that maximise value for patients to fine-tuning clinical activities by introducing the most advanced treatment methods.

Our experienced teams can help you develop tools for monitoring, documentation, quality assurance, and evaluation systems to achieve the highest international standards in clinical care. Such tools can also include advanced information and communication technologies that improve patients’ clinical health status, educate the healthcare workforce, and conduct research. We can also support your efforts in recruitment, staffing, training and education components for medical and administrative staff.

Creating and maintaining cutting-edge facilities

Skåne Care is the link to one of Sweden’s largest public services organisations within property management. Every year in Skåne, our facilities team maintains 1,200,000 m2 of properties and plan and implement up to 600 building projects – from smaller renovations to billion-dollar projects. To facilitate medical professionals at our large number of hospitals and clinics, experts in our team create professional and coordinated solutions for effective processes, seamless logistics, and optimal plans for building projects. We can work with you in planning, designing, and building facilities for all levels of healthcare.

Lund University

Linus Wiebe, innovation director

As Innovation Director at Lund University, I have overall responsibility for the entire innovation activity at the university. As head of the LU Innovation and CEO of the holding company, I run the business’s primary task to evaluate and commercialize new projects and ideas. I am also involved in the development of future innovation strategies and is responsible for LU Innovation’s collaboration with stakeholders within and outside the university.

My background: President of ARM Sweden 2008-2011, President Logipard 2007-2008, Ericsson Mobile Platforms (product) from 2004 to 2007, Anoto (Business Development) from 2000 to 2004, Precise Biometrics (software development), 1997-2000. I have a Master of Science in Engineering Physics from Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), 1998.