Industrifonden et al. lead €4m round for Barnebys

The fresh capital will finance the company's international expansion plans, with a focus on marketing and new hires. Having reportedly seen a two-fold revenue uptick since 2014, the company claims to generate 80% of its current sales outside Sweden.

The contributions from Industrifonden and Active Venture Partners to the round were not disclosed but the latter typically invests upwards of €500,000.

According to unquote" data, Industrifonden has supported all four institutional rounds seen by Barnebys since the company's foundation in 2011.

In October 2012, the Swedish VC joined forces with Active as they made a first SEK 9m early-stage injection into Barnebys. In April 2013, the duo was joined by VCs Howzat Partners and Monkfish Equity during a $1.4m second round.

This was followed by a third round in April 2015, when new investor Stockholm Innovation & Growth deployed a combined $1.3m alongside Industrifonden and Active.

Industrifonden's total investment in Barnebys across all four rounds remains confidential but the Swedish VC does not usually exceed the SEK 100m mark per company. The firm has not divulged its current stake in Barnebys, but it typically seeks to control a 15-50% interest in its portfolio companies.

The round is the second to feature Industrifonden so far in December, after leading a SEK 24m injection for drug developer Athera Biotechnologies when the asset was sold by fellow VC Karolinska Development.

Company
Founded in 2011, Barnebys operates an auction search engine allowing users to browse through 500,000 items up for sale across 1,000 households worldwide. Headquartered in Stockholm, the business works with auctioneers from around the world.

People
Industrifonden's work on the deal was led by investment manager Hadar Cars. Barnebys was co-founded by Christopher Barnekow and Pontus Silfverstolpe; the former remains the company's CEO.

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• Topics
• Expansion
• Technology
• Nordics
• Sweden
• Industrifonden
• Venture