Tech financing company Ark Kapital has just picked up a €15 million acceleration round, six months after its seed round to drive forward a new funding model in tech. The Stockholm-based firm is aiming to help startups grow in a way that is faster and smarter.
The way startups get funding is being shaken up thanks to Swedish firm, Ark Kapital. Founded and launched in 2021, Ark Kapial fuses banking and artificial intelligence, operating as a data-driven precision finance company that enables technology companies to grow faster and smarter through long-term loans – maintaining control for founders and reducing risk for investors.
CPTO and co-founder Henrik Landgren: “We are gunning to become the leading predictive platform for tech companies and this money will be put towards getting the best machine learning talent from Google, Spotify and the rest. What all of these people are doing at a single firm, we invite them to do for every single tech firm in the world.”
New funding
Today, the firm has announced that it has doubled its equity funding from €15 million to €30 million in an acceleration round, 6 months after closing one of Europe’s biggest seed rounds at €165 million.
The round was led by Annika Falkengren with participation from all seed investors (LocalGlobe, Creandum) and angels (Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen, Zettle founder Jacob de Geer, EQT Ventures founding partner Hjalmar Winbladh, founder of Embark Studios Patrick Söderlund). The company also welcomed a new angel investor on board – gaming founder Timo Soininen of Zynga-acquired company Small Giant Games.
It’s been a big summer for Ark Kapital which has now raised a total of €30 million, tripled its valuation, and has a total capital pool available for founders of €300 million – as we covered back at the start of the summer.
Annika Falkengren: “I’ve worked in banking my whole life and the lack of tech lending has never been due to lack of will. The problem has been forecasting startup risk and financial strength, something you could argue the whole capital market is bad at. ArK has come leaps and bounds in this regard and their success will not just change debt financing but tech funding as a whole. I see this is an investment into the next chapter in finance and funding”.
A new approach to funding
The Stockholm fintech innovators offer a new model for tech companies to grow their business, offering non-dilutive loans and access to valuable growth analytics. Founders simply plug into ArK’s machine learning platform with all their growth-related accounts and in return get access to a detailed 5-year forecast – from which they can access customized funding.
The loan, which spans from €1 million to €10 million, lasts up to seven years and repayments only begin after 2 or 3 years of receiving the loan – giving startups a chance to hit the ground running before worrying about repayments.
The second loan product in the portfolio allows founders instant access to the money they’ve earned through various marketplaces or app stores, allowing reinvestment into growth peaks. Both products are fully non-dilutive.
Jacob de Geer: “Founders who have gone through an extreme growth journey know the importance of protecting equity. With large ownership comes control and with control you get to keep the joy of building. I’m glad to be part of delivering the new era of funding to the next generation of founders.”
The credit market has historically been closed off for early-stage tech companies, as banks haven’t been able to risk assess companies with not-yet profitable growth properly. Ark offers something difficult, bridging the gap between the credit market and the startup community.
Hjalmar Winbladh: “To raise an oversubscribed round in just a few days from some of the most reputable investors, is a strong testament to the whole ArK team, its ability to execute and the market demand for its ground breaking lending product to Scale-ups.”
