The Swedish Internet Foundation starts investing in Swedish start-ups – first up is Weld

The Swedish Internet Foundation is investing in the start-up Weld. This is the first time the Foundation is investing in a company and marks the start of a new initiative by The Swedish Internet Foundation to support new Swedish internet start-ups.

“We want to act as a catalyst for newly started Swedish companies that we believe in and whose operations will promote the development and use of the internet,” says Jannike Tillå, Chief Communications and Outreach Officer at The Swedish Internet Foundation.

For many years, The Swedish Internet Foundation has supported independent non-commercial projects through the Internet Fund. The Swedish Internet Foundation has now decided to also use the Internet Fund to invest in young Swedish companies.

The main objective for The Swedish Internet Foundation is not the return on investment, nor is it to control the companies’ development, but rather to help companies at an early stage when it is difficult to attract investors. IIS will be a minority shareholder in these companies and the companies will have an option to buy back the shares in future funding rounds.

Three companies a year

The aim is to invest in three company start-ups each year. To qualify, a company must meet the following requirements among others:

• The company must be focused on the Swedish market.
• The company’s services or products must be in line with the Foundation’s objectives in its Articles of Association and its values.
• The Swedish Internet Foundation’s portfolio of companies must comply with the Foundation’s diversity policy.

The first company The Swedish Internet Foundation invests in is Weld

Weld provides a tool that makes it simple to create interactive websites and mobile apps without needing to be able to code. Since its launch in 2015, tens of thousands of websites have been created with Weld.

“The investment by such a major player as The Swedish Internet Foundation is extremely significant and confirms the innovativeness of what we are doing. Their capital and resources provide the company with stability,” says Tom Söderlund, CEO of Weld.

“Weld invests in user-friendly apps that enable increasing numbers of internet users to create websites and apps. This is an exciting company and we want to support it,” says Jannike Tillå, Chief Communications and Outreach Officer at The Swedish Internet Foundation.

About The Swedish Internet Foundation

The Swedish Internet Foundation is an independent, business-driven and public organization. We work for an internet that contributes positively to people and society.

We are responsible for the Swedish top-level domain .se and for the operation of the top-level domain .nu. Revenues from business activities finance a number of investments in research and education. The purpose of these investments is to promote and provide knowledge of the internet, internetusage, and the societal impacts of digitalization in Sweden in order to provide internet users with the ability to further advance it. 

Examples of our investments are the start-up and coworkning space Goto 10, the annual report The Swedes and the Internet, the online resource Digitala Lektioner, the conference Internet Days and the measuring tool Bredbandskollen. Our vision is that everyone in Sweden wants, dares, and is able to use the internet.

About Weld

Weld (www.weld.io) is a Swedish company that has produced a platform that enables more people to create interactive online services (in time also mobile apps) without any previous experience in programming. The company was founded in 2014 by Tom Söderlund, a games entrepreneur who previously worked at Spotify and the 3D company Goo Technologies, and Henric Malmberg, an experienced developer from the online TV service Magine TV. The company is funded by the Internet Foundation in Sweden (IIS), business angels (including Tommy Palm and Alexander Ekvall, the co-creators of the Candy Crush Saga), and the Swedish government agencies Vinnova and Almi Företagspartner.