Shifter's Norway Roundup #12: Sustainable fashion gets funding, Katalysator to mobilize 1BNOK and the week's quick takes

Shifter’s international editor Kyle Havlicek-McClenahan brings you the essential news from the Norwegian tech scene.

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New money for sustainable fashion

Fjong proves it’s not Too Good To Be True

After winning over 700,000 users and saving tons of leftover food with her startup Too Good To Go, founder Sophie Wiik is taking her exit earnings and food for thought to sustainable fashion startup Fjong, where she will be investing over €100k and coming on board as an advisor.

Scaling sustainable value

Wiik will be bringing with her the invaluable experience of scaling a web platform and communications to the value-driven company, who could not comment on some of the new projects in the works at Fjong. A subscription clothing service is, however, coming this fall.

Not even gimbals can stabilize Flowmotion

After several years, a banner crowdfunding effort and millions in capital, Trondheim based consumer hardware startup Flowmotion is up against the wall and unable to deliver; backers of all stripes are wondering if the company is going the way of Lily drone.

Are we worse off with AI?

According to a new survey by YouGov and the IT company Tieto, not everyone things that “can be replaced by AI” means it should be: over 50% believe that professions such as nursing, medicine, teaching and law will be worse off in the long run under our robot overlords.

We should want all the unicorns

At an EU commission event for innovation last week in Oslo, Administrative Director of Innovation Norway Håkon Haugli didn’t mince words: growing unicorns comes second to the overall health of the ecosystem; if it is a goal, we should aim for many more than 12.

Payr gets their own Jesus moment

Back in Easter it was reported that Oslo based fintech startup Payr was on its last legs. Now, after fresh investment, email driven crowdfunding and a shot at some big money from Horizon 2020, Payr looks like it might just be pulling its own version of the resurrection.

Bigly capital mobilisation

Getting Katalysatored

After their largest investment on record in January, the Møller family’s investment company Katalysator has announced that it will put over €100m into play through 2025. This comes after a year of accelerating activity with acquisitions of companies including Micromatic, Infocare, OneCo and Relacom.

New blood joins the fray

In addition, Katalysator has hired a new Administrative Director in the form of Fredrik Dokk Nygaard, former Finance Director at Kongsberg Digital. After hearing the company’s plans, Dokk Nygaard couldn’t resist taking the leap to pursue their new philosophy of “acquire, grow and own”.

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