Sting has accepted four new, exciting startups to the Incubate program. The companies have business ideas spanning a wide range of innovations, from a premium platform for quality articles and components for lasers with new wavelengths, to leadership training and bag collection in tight environments.

The companies that are admitted to Sting represent less than 10 percent of all applicants. The selected companies have the opportunity to receive an investment of SEK 400,000 from Propel Capital, Sting’s investment company and Sweden’s most active private seed investors. In addition to the investment itself, the companies also have direct access to the 40 business angels behind Propel Capital, and also their networks, to further receive support to accelerate development.

– The best thing about Sting is all the professional and experienced sounding boards you get access to, and in addition, I think it is the top of the investor network that Sting has. At first I thought I didn’t need coaching, but a friend who was a member of Sting really recommended Ivar as a coach and said I should apply, and now I look forward to getting help developing my business a little faster, says Anna Holmquist, founder and CEO of Gazzine, a new platform for articles that gives journalists control over their content.

The support from Sting also includes individual coaching in business development, financing and recruitment, and access to a wide international network of industrial contacts and investors. The companies also get free office space for five months at A house, which provides for a strong community with each other and the Sting team.

– We see Sting as a powerful “mission friend” who smarter and faster can support V3VO’s ambition to influence 1 billion people to develop self-leadership and vitality in 2025, says Johan Landgren, co-founder of V3VO, who digitally scales and makes executive leadership training available to everyone.

– We are incredibly proud and excited about the opportunity to develop our company together with Sting. The Incubate program gives us the best conditions to manage the company’s potential. We look forward to a successful 2020, where we will initially conquer the Swedish market and then quickly expand to the Nordic and other Europe, says Mikael Gustafsson, founder and CEO of Freightbag, which enables the use of contruction bags indoors at construction sites.

Since 2002, Sting has coached over 270 startups, including Yubico, Barnebys, Bioservo, Karma, Sellpy, Midsummer and Volumental. In 2018, Sting’s alumni had a combined revenue of SEK 2.6 billion and created over 800 new jobs. Together, the Sting companies have over 2,600 employees.

These four new companies now join Sting Incubate:

Freightbag works with efficient waste management within the construction bag segment FIBC. They specialize in the handling of construction waste bags indoors and in environments where traditional handling is not possible. With their own patented tools and new technology, their goal is to provide the existing market with new efficient and sustainable working methods. www.freightbag.com

Gazzine is a platform that allows journalistic material to find its readers in a whole new way. Gazzine’s vision is to become the superior platform for premium articles so that professional journalists can take control of the distribution and earnings of their texts, while readers can find all the content they need in one place. The goal is to disrupt the global market for articles. www.gazzine.com

Tailored Photons is a spin-off from the Royal Institute of Technology and supplies highly efficient frequency conversion units (FCUs) based on engineered nonlinear optical crystals, tailored for new and traditional laser markets. They offer unique products, that have no counterparts in the market, with customers both in industry and academia. www.tailoredphotons.com

V3VO, Vertical Evolution, is a new sector-disrupting venture and digital scaleup for human and organisational growth, within life’s different contexts, directly growing individuals, teams and families. This world initiative makes executive leadership training available for everyone, balancing the success of the individual with the holistic greater good. In early 2020, they will release the first personalized version, which is expected to be part of each and everyone’s everyday life 2025. www.v3vo.com