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Over the weekend Di Digital published an article about the majority of venture capital from Stockholm venture capital firms going to startups in Stockholm. Those of us in Skåne love to hear investment news from Stockholm, and it only serves as inspiration for us to work harder towards attracting more of that capital to southern Sweden.
Tonight we are sitting at Startups Live! the first startup community event of its kind in Skåne, with over 500 people registered from around the region, and we are asking ourselves, how can we ensure more Stockholm-based venture capital flows to the Öresund region?
There have been many discussions as to whose responsibility it is to increase investments in Skåne, with the general assumption concluding that politicians are both the starting and ending point to reach this goal. We disagree. Government and politicians are a vital part of the solution for attracting more capital (from Stockholm and abroad) to Skåne, but it is important to remember that they are not the sole solution.
Part of the role that national, regional and local politicians should play in increasing capital flow to southern Sweden is ensuring a proper framework for that money to flow. Firstly, hiring local Swedish and international talent must be made more affordable; government can help reduce the risk of a startup by making it more affordable for them to hire the highly skilled talent they need to succeed.
Secondly, the legal framework for startups has to be as frictionless as possible; complicated, confusing and costly employee stock options programs are a barrier to attracting quality talent and prevent investment from reaching Skåne.
Thirdly, Skåne has had success in wholly or partly government-funded meeting places for entrepreneurs like MINC in Malmö, Ideon in Lund or THINK OpenSpace/Mindpark in Helsingborg. Startups are built by communities of people, not by individuals, so it is important that government provide a place to facilitate that meeting of minds.
With these three key points in place, government then needs to step out of the way and allow Skåne’s startup ecosystem to self-generate. To increase Stockholm-based venture capital flow to southern Sweden, we need more initiatives and investments led by private individuals.
One such example in Skåne is serial-entrepreneur, angel investor and CEO of Brisk.io, Hampus Jakobsson, who founded TAT, which was sold to Blackberry for 150million USD. Since his exit, Hampus has invested in 45 startups and is a driving force behind the grassroots startup community initiative, #malmöstartups. Role models like Hampus are what will inspire more great startups to be built in Skåne and attract more capital from Stockholm-based VC firms like Northzone, Creandum and EQT Ventures.
Finally, with strong angel investors like Hampus building a solid investment foundation, Stockholm-based VC firms need to establish a physical presence in the southern region. Having a person full-time on the ground in Skåne will allow VC firms to build better community relations and give them more opportunities to invest in great startups that are flying both above and below the media’s radar.
Attracting more venture capital to Skåne requires both private and public actors to collaborate, but it also requires that both parties know when is the right time to step back and let the startup ecosystem flourish on its own. Finding the right balance will not happen overnight, it will be a step-by-step process that demands iteration, failures and successes.
Last year, Stockholm-based startups received 95% of Stockholm-based venture capital, but the 500 people sitting with us at Startups Live! in Skåne right now see 2016 as the year when we expand that pie.
Läs även: Stockholm slukar techinvesteringarna
Jeremie Poirier, co-founder #growhbg
Alexandra Bylund, CEO, NewsHubby
Joel Larsson, Managing Director, Fast Track Malmö
Gabriella Olsson, #MalmöStartups
Karsten Deppert, Co-founder, e-Commerce Park of Sweden
Alexandra Hvalgren, Entrepreneur & Events, Mindpark
Johannes Ivarsson, co-founder THINK Accelerate
Sofia Franzen, vd, Drivhuset
Detta är en debattartikel. Vill du också skriva för Di Digital? Mejla digital@di.se!
