Sweden, a hotspot for start-ups

Over the past decade, Sweden has seen a number of start-up companies like King, Truecaller, Klarna, Mojang and Spotify successfully operating in the country's technology and gaming space.
In 2013, there were 69 investments in Swedish start-up companies, at a total of 335 million Euros.
"The establishment of new businesses continues to be one of Stockholm's most important success factors," says Olof Zetterberg, CEO of Stockholm Business Region.
Stockholm's entrepreneurial climate has proved beneficial to technology companies from Ericsson and Skype to Spotify and King.
"The eco-system that exists and results in attracting more, new companies to start their businesses in Stockholm is crucial for building the city's increasingly strong image as one of the most interesting start-up scenes in the world," Zetterberg told PTI here.

"The innovative climate has been manifested in a number of ways, and during the year a number of actors in the region adopted a unanimous plan to further strengthen our prominent position in this area," he says.

"Many youth like to join a start-up now. They feel there is a greater risk in working for a big company than in a start-up," says Alan Mamedi, CEO of phone directory app Truecaller.
According to experts, Stockholm's continued economic strength combined with new services results in new businesses and contributes to lifting the international attraction of the region.
They also bear witness that Stockholm is Scandinavia's most important place for investments, establishments and visitors.

One of Sweden's most successful start-up companies in recent years is music streaming service Spotify, founded by Daniel Ek, former CTO of Stardoll and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of TradeDoubler.
It is currently valued at 3.15 billion Euros and has over 40 million active users worldwide.
Gaming developer King's biggest success story is Candy Crush Saga.
Founded in 2003 by Riccardo Zacconi, Melvyn Morris, Sebastian Knutsson, Thomas Hartwig, Lars Markgren and Patrik Stymne, King has nine games available for download on App Stores as on November 2014.