NEWS December 20, 2018

Cyber security company Defentry raises 3.6 MSEK

The Defentry team

Defentry helps companies control their data and coach people to become cyber security experts using AI. During the fall, the company has closed a funding round of around 3.6 MSEK from, among others, the private investor John Fällström, to further expand the business.

Defentry has had strong growth in the last quarter and signed agreements with market-leading partners. The company has also joined forces with two of the world’s foremost white hackers, Dan Egerstad and Adam Ljungrell, and bought one of the world’s largest databases of leaked information.

“Both private individuals and companies are increasingly aware of the importance of cyber security. That companies should do everything in their power to protect their data is a no brainer, companies that do not prioritize this issue will die quickly,” says Christer Hernestig, founder of Defentry.

In addition to John Fällström, the investors Malin Sjöstrand (Scriin), Per Vasilis, Jonas Brunius and Gerhard Dal also participate in the 3.6 MSEK funding round. The capital will be used to build the organization for Defentry’s growth journey. In the coming days, the company moves to new premises and several key people are joining the company.

“Cybersecurity is a hot topic and a matter for everyone, both companies and individuals. Defentry is the most exciting company in the market right now, that’s why I chose to invest in them,” says John Fällström, CEO, NV Capital.

About Defentry
Defentry helps companies control their data and coach people to become cyber security experts using AI. Using our technology, users can control their own data. We make sure your personal information remains yours. #BeYourOwnHero
www.defentry.com

More information
Gabriella Kepinski, PR, Defentry, gabriella@defentry.com

NEWS December 3, 2018

APPRL raises 2.2 MEUR and launches AI tool for content creators

APPRL is the leading Nordic platform for driving sales from premium content creators, i.e. to brands in the fashion, beauty and lifestyle sectors. Today is the launch of its new technology platform, which is focused on helping its partners using data. APPRL also announces having raised another 2.2 MEUR from some of its current investors.

The new platform enables brands to improve the ROI of their influencer marketing efforts and helps content creators to understand which type of products are best suited for their audience. Another key feature of the new platform is an AI-based tool for influencers & publishers providing personalized product recommendations from the millions of items on APPRL. The vision of APPRL is to build a global, data-driven platform for influencer-driven commerce.

“Today many companies only look at engagement rates when selecting which influencers to work with. However, this says very little about actual ROI as it can be manipulated and doesn’t indicate the followers’ purchasing power. We can help advertisers select influencers based on how good they are at generating sales, which can’t be faked”, says Gustav Gisseldahl, Cofounder & CMO

“We’re not a traditional influencer campaign platform, we are building infrastructure for influencers to drive sales and relevant awareness for brands, in real time and at global scale”, says Martin Landén, Cofounder & CEO

During the past year, APPRL has raised 2.2 MEUR from its current investors Spintop Ventures, Backstage Invest, and its angel investors Jonas Meerits (Happy Socks, Eleven/Nordic Feel), Magnus Sandberg (Google), Ludvig Linge (TAT), Jonas Dromberg (Inventure, Bloomberg) who provide deep experience from e-commerce, media and tech. In the past two years, the team has grown from 4 to 25 people and revenue by 500%. The new capital will be used for international expansion as well as continued investments in data science, to strengthen APPRL’s position as the data-driven solution in a world of influencer marketing that is more focused on engagement and awareness than creating sales and real ROI for brands.

For its international expansion, APPRL has strengthened the team with Rami Nihlawi as CCO and Cornelia Brantås as Director of Sales, both coming from Soundtrack Your Brand (Spotify for businesses) where they’ve built the global sales unit from start (as Managing Director Global Markets and Director of Sales respectively). Moreover, Fredrik Isaksson has joined as CFO (previously CFO at CMORE), and a number of data scientists have joined from companies like Klarna and iZettle.

“The vision of creating a unique, new form of marketing is what makes it exciting to join APPRL”, says Rami Nihlawi who has just joined the APPRL team as Chief Commercial Officer.

“It feels fantastic to have people like Rami, Cornelia and Fredrik joining us, they all bring experience from scaling tech companies within retail and media internationally, says Martin Landén”, Cofounder & CEO.

More information
Martin Landén, martin@apprl.com, Cofounder & CEO
Images → http://bit.ly/APPRL-Press

About APPRL
APPRL, headquartered in Stockholm, is a data and technology platform for influencer-driven commerce, that connects brands like H&M, Net-a-Porter & Gucci with inspirational content from influencers such as Sofi Fahrman, Ebba von Sydow & Camilla Pihl and publishers such as Elle and Vogue. APPRL started with a focus on fashion, but today APPRL works with brands within beauty, home, design, sports, health and more verticals to come.

More about APPRL → http://apprl.com → http://apprl.com/about