The Swedish companies enable Europe’s 5G expansion
Why should we care about 5G? You’ve probably heard of it by now, but 5G is a new kind of mobile network that promises higher speeds and better bandwidth.
It also promises huge opportunities for tech startups and consumers – that’s it estimated for 2025, 20% of all communication will take place via the 5G network. And it’s not just phone calls – it includes robots, autonomous vehicles, 3D printers and more, mainly concerning each industry.
When you look at where the most exciting 5G opportunities come from next, it only makes sense to look at Sweden. In 2011, Umeå in northern Sweden was named the fastest broadband city in Europe and North America. And 2018, the city was elected to test the 5G network, makes Umeå University first 5G University in Europe.
So which are the Swedish startups that enable Europe’s 5G expansion? And which giants have set the stage for them?
Communication pioneers
Sweden has a history of being well connected; it is home to the telecom giant Ericsson, which was founded in 1987, produced some of Sweden’s first telephones and has worked with 5G technology for over a decade.
The telecommunications company Telia launched Sweden’s first large-scale public 5G network in Stockholm 2020. Testing this year showed that it was one of the best performing 5G networks available in the country.
Its estimated for 2025, 20% of all communication will take place via the 5G network
These old telecom companies have created the stage for innovation and added big money, resources and collaboration opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Telia, for example, has steadily increased its development of 5G and has test centers at universities and science parks throughout Scandinavia. Its 5G Innovation Hub North was created in collaboration with Luleå University of Technology and allows all companies, large and small, from hardware to games, to test their apps, software and hardware in the 5G network.
Drive success
Automated and connected vehicles are all that is happening nowadays – and they are also one of 5G’s most promising use cases.
Sweden met one all-time record this year in EV adoption, with plug-in electric vehicles taking over 47% of the market share, making it a key market for EV manufacturing and charging. Although most of this is due to large car manufacturers, there are also plenty of opportunities for new startups and ecosystem players.
Automated and connected vehicles are all that is happening nowadays – and they are also one of 5G’s most promising use cases
Last month Ericsson, Telia, the French transport company Keolis and the startup partner Urban ICT Arena worked together to test new safety features on a 5G self-driving bus. The project uses 5G to connect to control towers to manage and monitor autonomous vehicles.
Swedish EV startups that jump into collaborations with telecom giants include Einride, a startup that now operates the largest fleet of electric trucks in Europe. It worked with Ericsson and Telia in 2018 to get their T-Pod electric trucks on the 5G network, which allows them to be remotely manned. Einride raised $ 110 million in its Series B series earlier this year from investors such as Ericsson and Norrsken VC.
Other Swedish transport startups to look at include Lund-based Uniti, which manufactures light electric cars and has raised $ 4.1 million to date, and Ximantis, an Onsala-based startup that develops AI systems to reduce traffic and congestion in smart cities, who have tested their software on the 5G network powered by Dutch telecom KPN.
Innovation in Stockholm and beyond
If Sweden is the “Silicon Valley of Europe” – not a surprise considering that it is home to unicorns like Klarna and Oatly – then Stockholm is its innovation center. According to Dealroom, Stockholm has attracted $ 6.8 billion in start-up financing 2021YTD, and is unsurprisingly an important hotspot for 5G companies.
It is home to start-ups such as Maven Wireless, which provides wireless coverage in difficult areas such as transport tunnels and has raised about $ 2.5 million from investors including Almi Invest and Göran Grosskopf.
Although not a startup, Netmore is a Stockholm-based company that provides a 5G network for the Internet of Things (IoT), and matches companies that want to implement IoT in their business and startups that can help them do so. It collaborates with Swedish startups such as medtech HeProCalc and All Binary, which make software for sensors used in IoT, both of which run on their network.
If Sweden is the “Silicon Valley of Europe”, then Stockholm is its innovation center
But it’s not just Stockholm – other innovation hubs include Skåne, the birthplace of Bluetooth in southern Sweden, which has historically attracted significant technical investments. Gothenburg is home to Gapwaves, a startup that manufactures antenna products that conduct 5G signals and which recently signed an agreement with German Hella to develop radar technology for autonomous vehicles.
And autonomous vehicles are not the only promising use case for 5G networks – it is also a game changer for autonomous drones, which can be used to deliver everything from mailed packages to broccoli. Everdrone is one such startup that uses drone delivery for public safety and emergencies. Last year it became clear first fully automatic delivery between two hospitals in central Gothenburg.
Keep in touch
Do you want to learn more about the latest in Sweden’s 5G innovation, and how your startup can benefit from the high-speed network?
Act for Impact days is a series of digital and physical events held by Business Sweden from June to December. Together with Slush, their official ecosystem partner, Business Sweden organized a webinar before the event with a focus on 5G and how it connects the world.
Reconnecting People celebrated the return to the (new) normal and looked at the new business opportunities that faster connection speeds offer in the form of new services, applications and platforms.
For more information about Business Sweden, their event at Slush and how they connect Swedish companies to the Finnish ecosystem, visit Business Sweden in Finland here.