NEWS October 23, 2018

Skillbreak launches a platform to democratize creativity

Skillbreak founding team. From left Lina Johansson and Matilda Hannäs (CEO).

Swedish impact-tech company Skillbreak has created a new social learning platform aiming to spread creativity and allow people to meet in a time when we live increasingly isolated and screen-dependent. The idea is to make expert knowledge in arts, crafts and design available to the public.

Stockholm-based Skillbreak was founded in 2016 by Matilda Hannäs and Lina Johansson with the vision of becoming Europe’s leading platform for unique learning experiences. Skillbreak offers hundreds of unique, short and social learning experiences with the leading creative experts in Sweden. Through the platform, creators in design, arts and crafts are matched with people who want to learn new things. Experts share their skills in their own homes, studios and workshops and through the Skillbreak platform they get the tools to earn money on their expertise.

“We want to enable hundreds of thousands of craftsmen, creators and artists around the world to make a living on their creativity,” says Matilda Hannäs, CEO and one of the founders of Skillbreak. “In this way, it is also a sustainability strategy that contributes to new jobs, professional skill training and preserves culture and traditions. The workshops we offer make it easier to lead a sustainable lifestyle and we focus on categories such as green cooking, farming, minimalism, textile recycling and ceramics.”

The vision is to become Europe’s leading platform for unique learning experiences. In the long term, Skillbreak will offer a new way of traveling and learning new things locally.

“Our big idea is about democratizing creativity. There’s something mysterious and unattainable with creativity and we want to make it more available to each and every one. In the long term, anyone should be able to learn anything anywhere in the world,” Matilda continues.

The Skillbreak concept has since inception been about spreading creativity and allowing people to meet in a time when we live increasingly isolated.

“The social part is extremely important, we long for good reasons to meet in depth and make meaningful things with family and friends. A lot of people I know are tired of going out to have a beer to socialize. Also, when you work in an office, like I do, we also yearn for getting away from the computer screens and to do something with our hands,” says Matilda.

Matilda Hannäs comes from a craftsman family but has worked her whole career in the tech industry, most recently at Spotify. She has been featured on DI’s list of hottest tech entrepreneurs under 40. The Skillbreak team is expanding and has now signed a Marketing Manager and Development Manager in September to advance faster. Skillbreak’s product range is growing rapidly (currently including more than 150 different workshops) and all courses are booked online at skillbreak.com. The courses are physical and packaged in a bite-sized format of approximately 2-5 hours per course. Some examples of Skillbreaks are “create a chic wall hanging in macrame“, “sprout seeds“, “design and create in ceramics“, “ink painting with a focus on flowers” as well as “sensory techniques and bubbles“.

More information
Matilda Hannäs, CEO / Founder Skillbreak, matilda@skillbreak.com, + 4670-776 60 06, Visiting address: Norrsken House, Birger Jarlsgatan 57c, Stockholm.

Platform: www.skillbreak.com
Blog: https://blog.skillbreak.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goskillbreak/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goskillbreak/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMlFWBxIoD8
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.se/goskillbreak/boards/

NEWS August 23, 2018

Sting Bioeconomy to accelerate future growth companies within renewable product and services

Today, Sting Bioeconomy, a new cutting-edge incubator, is being launched to help develop innovations in forest-based bioeconomy and increase the number of fast growing companies in this area. Victor Isaksen, experienced entrepreneur and forest owner, becomes president of the newly-started Karlstad-based incubator.

The venture is a collaboration between the world-leading cluster of forest-based bioeconomic companies, Paper Province, Region Värmland, Karlstad Municipality and Sting, the Nordic region’s leading incubator for startups with high growth potential.

The new incubator will be based in Karlstad, with the aim of leveraging Värmland’s strong position within forest-based bioeconomics. Värmland is home to world-leading industry within this area with large companies like Rottneros and Nordic Paper, as well as the strong bioeconomic cluster Paper Province. Stockholm-based incubator Sting will also participate as a partner in the project, contributing its experience in developing high tech startups and its international network of investors and business contacts.

Victor Isaksen will take on the challenge to build Sting Bioeconomy. Victor has a background as an entrepreneur and as a forest owner, providing knowledge and experience that will be useful in his work. “I look forward to building Sting Bioeconomy into a world-leading ecosystem for young promising companies focusing on sustainable services and products based on renewable resources,” says Victor. “I also look forward to the cooperation with Sting, that is internationally recognized as one of the world’s best incubators with its proven working methods,” he continues.

Sting Bioeconomy welcomes startups from all over the country to its program and, with its base in Karlstad, will provide part of its offer virtually and with close connections to Stockholm. Promising startups with business ideas in areas such as bioenergy, new packaging solutions and optimization of forest and paper industry processes are expected to join the incubator. Business develop support, financing and internationalization will be important part of the new incubator’s offer to accepted startups.

Since the start of 2002, Sting has supported over 240 companies. The companies currently have aggregated revenues of over SEK 2.1 billion. Pär Hedberg, CEO and founder of Sting, commented on the collaboration:
“For us at Sting, this is the first time we put our name on a venture outside of Stockholm, and we are look forward to contributing our experience and our networks to Sting Bioeconomy with the aim of building an edge incubator that truly delivers value for promising startups within this important area. We are also very excited to cooperate with world-leading large companies and regional players in Värmland to make this initiative a success,” says Pär Hedberg.

Contact
Victor Isaksen, CEO Sting Bioeconomy, 070-636 93 25
Pär Hedberg, CEO Sting, 070-855 03 18

NEWS June 25, 2018

CaCharge secures 2.1 MEUR in funding to create a mass-market for electric cars

Kurt Högnelid, Chairman and Louise Kierkegaard, CEO, CaCharge

The e-mobility company CaCharge is pleased to announce the completion of a 2.1 MEUR investment round from experienced investors to expand in Europe. CaCharge’s business model makes it profitable to invest in charging points while drivers benefit from a reasonable mileage rate.

The investors include Stefan Bengtsson of CSB Capital; Mikael Ahlstrom founder of Procuritas; Lars Appelstal, co-founder of Readsoft; Per-Uno Sandberg, co-founder of Skistar; Michael Obermayer, senior partner of McKinsey and chairman of energy storage company Nilar and Carl Hirsch, from property developer Industricentralen.
Carl Hirsch explains that CaCharge’s core business is about pricing, packaging and AI-based software.

Following the announcement, he commented:
“You only need to Google electric cars to understand that the main challenge is the charging infrastructure. The business model and mindset of CaCharge is spot on for me as a property developer. By using CaCharge, I can keep my tenants happy and create a new revenue stream, while my properties become more sustainable”.

CaCharge was founded in 2016 by three entrepreneurs; Kurt Hognelid, Louise Kierkegaard and Tomas Oquist. Together they embarked on a journey to develop a business model that underpins the electric car mass-market.

CEO of CaCharge, Louise Kierkegaard, believes that to make sustainable development scalable you need to generate economic profit. She said:
“CaCharge understands both the point of view of business and the driving and parking patterns of car drivers. Our aim is to create a society where your car is charged as easily as your mobile.”

The CaCharge technology charges the car where it is parked – at home or at work. By using an AI-based solution that effectively distributes electricity between cars, CaCharge can charge 50 cars at the same rate as a fast charging station.

Kurt Hognelid, Chairman of CaCharge, said:
”Being able to charge as many cars as possible, at the lowest possible cost, with available electrical capacity, will be crucial in the future”
CaCharge’s customers in Sweden include Fabege, Stena Fastigheter and Upplands Vasby municipality.

Media enquiries:
Louise Kierkegaard, CEO, CaCharge, louise@cacharge.com
Carl Hirsch, CEO, Industricentralen hirsch@industricentralen.se
www.cacharge.com/

NEWS June 4, 2018

Surfcleaner AB appoints Mikael Andersson as new CEO

Christina Lundbäck and Mikael Andersson, Surfcleaner.

Surfcleaner AB enters an industrialization and commercialization phase and is strengthening the organization through the recruitment of Mikael Andersson who has over 20 years of experience as CEO of industrial companies.

Surfcleaner have developed a patented technique for absorbing and separating pollutants floating on the water surface. The increased awareness and focus on improving our environment has led to an increased demand for technical solutions for water purification. Surfcleaner see an increased demand and will therefore focus on industrializing and commercializing the products on an international market.

Mikael Andersson is appointed as new CEO of Surfcleaner. Mikael has more than 20 years of experience as CEO of industrial companies, focusing on structuring, internationalization and growth. Mikael also has experience from product companies with customer focus and industrialization of products. His most recent experience includes a CEO position at ÅAC Microtec, where he was a part of the IPO process on Nasdaq First North.

– I am delighted to be joining the Surfcleaner team. Surfcleaner has a fantastic innovation and I am looking forward to helping the company grow and strengthen Surfcleaner’s position as one of the leading suppliers of water purification products. We have for a long time, polluted our planet by releasing hazardous waste in to our seas, lakes and rivers. So it is very inspiring to be a part of the solution to the problem, stated Mikael Andersson, the newly appointed CEO for Surfcleaner AB.

– I am pleased to welcome Mikael as CEO of Surfcleaner. This is an important step in our growth strategy to establish Surfcleaner as one of the largest European suppliers of products to the water purification market. With his solid skills and experience, Mikael is an important component of our continued expansion, stated Christina Lundbäck, owner and CMO at Surfcleaner AB.

For more information:
Please visit: www.surfcleaner.com or contact:
Chairman of the board Christina Lundbäck, christina.lundback@surfcleaner.com, +46 70 868 88 26 CEO Mikael Andersson, mikael.andersson@surfcleaner.com, +46 70 515 26 00

About Surfcleaner:
Surfcleaner has developed a new patented technology to eliminate and separate pollution from water surfaces. Customers are authorities and companies that have problems with pollution on water. Surfcleaner can be used on the open seas, offshore, rivers, ports, wells, water treatment plants and water towers. It eliminates proteins, foam, debris, oil sheen and thicker oil from water surface.