A Guide to Hardware and IoT in Stockholm — Part 1

Photo credit: Henrik Trygg

Ericsson and Electrolux, those names ring a bell with most of us. Two of Stockholm’s all time greatest technology companies who have shaped our modern society and contributed to the Swedish capital’s reputation as a Scandinavian stronghold for tech-inventions.

But who will take over and build on the great reputation already obtained? Currently startups like Spotify, Klarna and King are the focus of much attention, but the hardware and IoT startups are just a few steps behind and on the brink of making a real breakthrough on the international scene.

This article provides an overview of some of the leading hardware and IoT startups in Stockholm, as well as the most interesting companies from THINGS — Stockholm’s hardware coworkingspace.

IoT — hardware and software platforms

Neue Labs

• Creates a Hardware and Software platform called Automat aimed at makers, designers, entrepreneurs or others who can think of great ways to use it.
• The Automat baseboard is the size of a zipper and can be integrated into almost everything like clothes, furniture, cars and more. It transmits data to your phone or local server and receives input from the source you choose.
• Neue Labs is part of the European EIT Digital accelerator and won Almi Invests Internet Discovery Investment of the Year 2015.
• neue-labs.com

Flic — Shortcut labs

• A physical smart button that connects with your smartphone to quickly perform pre-set tasks.
• One single button lets the user perform more than 50 tasks without touching their mobile device.
• Founded in 2013, participated in hardware incubator Highway1 in 2014 and 500 Startups Nordic in 2016.
• Have reached about a million users in three years.
• flic.io

Yanzi Networks

• Award winning IoT platform founded in 2009, Yanzi delivers an end to end platform for IoT products for smart homes, offices and even smart cities.
• Yanzi also delivers an API to tablets and phones for users to interact with their things.
• Opened their own sales platform in late 2015 for the Swedish market and has since expanded with partners worldwide.
• yanzinetworks.com

Linkafy

• Founded in early 2012 in KTH’s student Inc incubator.
• Linkafy is a platform and Software-as-a-Service build for developers who can connect their IoT appliances through the software platform.
• www.linkafy.com

Evothings

• Develops a cloud service for IoT devices and enables developers to create new applications to interact with IoT things.
• Evothings has recently opened up an office in Silicon Valley to connect closer with their US partners and develop new markets.
• Works with big clients like Texas Instruments and ARM.
• evothings.com

Hardware

Sensus

• Produced by the Swedish Italian MIND Music Lab, Sensus is the world’s first smart guitar build by Strativari violin builders.
• It’s a real wooden guitar build for the 21st century as a true IoT device which can receive, process and share music and data while playing.
• Backed by a range of angel investors with early stage investments around € 500.000 in summer 2016.
• Released this video of their fully developed prototype.
• www.mindmusiclabs.com

Quirkbot (Strawbees)

• A do it yourself robot kit in funky colors for kids, adults and educators to learn about physical programming.
• Funded in February 2015 on Kickstarter and delivered first product to backers in December same year.
• Are a leading force in making physical programming and development available to the future generation.
• www.quirkbot.com

Volumental

• Named one of Europe’s hottest startups by Wired magazine 2015.
• Volumental has developed the Vandra scanner for consumer fashion retail stores to create customized shopping experiences through 3D scanning of customers feed.
• They are currently developing a facial scanner also for retail use.
• Secured a $3 million investment in 2014.
• www.volumental.com

Inkonova

• Inkonova develops drones for tunnels and the mining industry and are focusing on developing robust drones for the industrial sector.
• Founder Pau Mallol named one of Swedens 10 most innovative people and winner of the Åforsk entrepreneurial grand 2016.
• Had their first seed round late 2015 at a valuation of SEK 10 Million and are as of June 2016 looking for potential investors.
• www.inkonova.se

Bioring

• Brand new personal wellness tracker designed to automatically measure 10 different health parameters like calorie intake, stress levels or sleep.
• The ring comes in different colors and materials even gold and silver, and syncs with your prefered device.
• Raised + $500.000 on Indigogo as of mid August 2016, exceeding their goal with more than 800%!
• www.thebioring.com

Click here for Part 2 of the IoT and Hardware Guide for Stockholm.