2022-06-02 05:28Press release

Stockholm strengthens its position as home of impact

Photo: Henrik Trygg/mediabank.visitstockholm.com Photo: Henrik Trygg/mediabank.visitstockholm.com

 

The City of Stockholm presents today its continued ambition to become the world’s leading city for impact investments and startups driven by sustainability and innovation to shape a sustainable future. Impact startups (companies whose primary purpose is to contribute to a more sustainable world) are essential to achieving the Paris Agreement’s global climate goals and Stockholm has one of the world’s most innovative impact ecosystems.

 

This week, Stockholm is hosting the UN high-level conference Stockholm+50, marking 50 years since the international community held its very first environmental conference in Stockholm, the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. In conjunction with this, the City of Stockholm is launching the report “Welcome to Stockholm - Home of Impact” which showcases Stockholm’s robust startup scene. The report outlines the factors behind Stockholm’s successful social impact scene. Sweden has the largest focus on social impact startups in Europe and as many as 10% of Europe’s impact companies are located in Sweden – many of these are based in Stockholm.

 

-The ability of technology and research to find sustainable solutions to the environmental issues and climate change challenges that we face as a city and as a country is something I strongly believe in. Therefore it is fantastic that Stockholm-based social impact startups have raised a total of over SEK 68 billion in investments since 2014. That’s more than both London and Paris – and more than twice as much as Berlin, notes Anna König Jerlmyr, Mayor of the City of Stockholm.

 

Already in early 2021, Mayor König Jerlmyr announced Stockholm’s ambition to become a global leader in impact investing and startups. The ambition was based on the record levels of investment combined with the city’s strong startup ecosystem and an ambitious policy agenda focused on achieving environmental goals. By April 2022, there were 240 impact startups in Stockholm in a wide range of business sectors.

 

-Over the past decades, we have built-up an excellent tech ecosystem and now we are continuing our work to build the best impact-tech ecosystem in the world, attracting even more foreign capital, explains Staffan Ingvarsson, CEO of Stockholm Business Region. 

 

Stockholm-based impact startups raised almost USD 1 billion in 2020, representing 18% of the total capital raised by European impact companies that year. It is estimated that to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, impact initiatives require USD 3.9 trillion of investment per year.

 

Stockholm was engaged and driving global sustainability issues from an early stage, which was one of the main reasons why the United Nations held its very first Conference on the Human Environment here, and Stockholm continues to be a frontrunner in promoting sustainable development moving forward.

 

 

Read the full report here:

Stockholm-home-of-impact.pdf (investstockholm.com)

 

 

 


About Invest Stockholm

Invest Stockholm is the official investment promotion agency of Stockholm. We work with the marketing and development of the Stockholm region as a business destination under the brand Stockholm – The Capital of Scandinavia. Invest Stockholm is a subsidiary of Stockholm Business Region, owned by the city of Stockholm.


Contacts

PR AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, INVEST STOCKHOLM
Lisa Öberg