[London, ENGLAND] Sweden’s largest holding company
Investor AB
announced Tuesday a joint investment of $56.4 million
in venture capital company
Startupfactory
with partners Softbank Corporation
and Carnegie Holding AB.
Startupfactory has focused on wireless communication, an
area that particularly excites the investors, according
to Borje Ekholm, managing director and head of new investments
at Investor AB.
“The partnership strengthens our investments in wireless
communication development at the early stages,” said Ekholm.
Founded in August 1999, Startupfactory is one of very few
VC companies to focus almost exclusively on wireless
communications. It says it wants to be “the obvious
partner” for wireless entrepreneurs who aim for global
leadership in their respective sectors.
Rolf Skoglund, chairman of Startupfactory and a former
Microsoft vice president, said bringing Investor, Softbank
and Carnegie in as partners would open up tremendous
opportunities for the entrepreneurs supported by his
company.
Investor, with its total net asset value of $20 billion,
is increasingly keen to put money into start-ups. Teaming
with Softbank International Ventures — which originally
helped Yahoo! and E*TRADE — and Nordic investment bank
Carnegie is clearly a powerful combination to back a
VC firm.
Startupfactory aims to help entrepreneurs transform business
ideas within the mobile Internet into full-fledged companies.
It will assist in business development, recruiting and financing.
