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Funding news: 
Radar sensor company Novelda has raised 400MNOK. Link

Spare, an operating platform for mobility services, has raised $18M in a round led by Inovia Capital. Link

Industrial analytics company Arundo has raised 136MNOK. Link ($)

KVS Technologies, drones for power line inspection, has raised 130MNOK in a round led by DSD. Link ($)

Wheel.me, autonomous wheels to move indoor stuff easier, has raised 128MNOK from Idekapital, Ferd, CentraGruppen, MP Pensjon, PKH, and others. Link

Cloud hosting company Servebolt has raised $5M from Hawk Invest. Link

Telemedicine company Eyr has raised 44MNOK from Fredrik Österberg, Stena, Investinor, and others. Link

Automated farming robot Kilter has raised 33MNOK from SBGI and Adigo. Link ($)

Nyby, a task-sharing platform for healthcare, has raised 18.3MNOK from TD Veen, We are Human, Karl Munthe Kaas, Jon Kåre Stene, and others. Link

Aivero, software for robotic processes, has raised 16MNOK from Vyrd, Planet 9, Stratel, Valinor, and Haakon Bryhni. Link

Mobile-based insurance company Tillit Forsikring has raised 14MNOK through crowdfunding. Link

Wittario, a physical activity-based mobile game, has raised 13MNOK from MTI, Edvin Austbø, and others. Link

Math game House of Math has raised 11MNOK from Ola Mæle, Svein Støle, Arne Blystad, and others. Link ($)
 
Recruitment platform Staffers raised 5MNOK in December 2020 in a round led by Altitude Capital. Link ($)

Business neobank Astat has raised >2.5MNOK through crowdfunding. Link ($)

Peer to peer lending platform Lendwill has raised 2.15MNOK from Trond Riiber Knudsen, Rolv Erik Spilling, Inger Egeland-Helgøy, and Elisabeth Øvstebø. Link ($)

StartupLab announced its most recent accelerator batch, including some previously unannounced investments: Bitpet (AR Tamagotchi), Counting Hero (video-based counting software), Gameflow (portal for esports), Kvist (environmental certification software), Mitigrate (climate risk platform), Shapemaker (software for designing telecom towers), Vitroscope (drug development software), and Vilda (making homeowners greener). Link

Lingit, software for students with dyslexia, has been acquired by Texthelp for an undisclosed amount. Link ($)

Fleet performance software Kyma has been acquired by Danelec Marine for an undisclosed amount. Link ($)

Newest in VC marketing: Stavanger-based Link VC with an Advent calendar announcing investments every day until Christmas eve. Link

Other notable stories:
Story on public investment fund Nysnø's fund of fund investments: 4/57 portfolio cos so far are Norwegian, despite their mandate saying they'll invest in companies "doing business in or from Norway". Probably evidence of an underdeveloped ecosystem more than anything: No matter how much money the government allocates, you still won't get an abundance of local climate companies overnight. Link ($)

Bergen-based Kelly Moulton with a post-mortem after unsuccessfully attempting to raise a venture fund. Honest and with some interesting lessons. Link

Story on Autostore's e-commerce robots and whether they're worth the price (some say yes some say no). While it's possible to read this story as "robots won't take all our jobs just yet", the underlying topic is more likely pricing. Autostore cares less about how many jobs they might replace, and more about capturing as much as possible of the value they create. If nobody's complaining about the price too much money is left on the table. Link ($)

Boost.ai founder Lars Selsås to share 50% of his profits from the company with the company's employees. Generous, and it might very well mean he'll earn more himself too. Link ($)

The Central Bank of Norway has engaged a consultant to look into crypto/digital money. Link ($)
 
Story on the founder of Actimo leaving 14 months after Kahoot acquired the company. While this exit seems completely non-dramatic, it serves as a good reminder of why it's beneficial for any tech scene to not only have acquisitions. Acquisitions are very good in that they free up re-investable capital, but very often the acquired companies end up dissolving. Larger, stand-alone companies (like Kahoot) ensure knowledge and jobs are kept local, and we are all better off if more founders and investors push for such outcomes. Link

From abroad: 
VC firm Atomico once again published their excellent and extensive "State of European Tech" report. If you've been reading this section of the newsletter the past year, the main conclusions shouldn't come as a surprise: Bigger companies and more funding (also from outside of Europe). Atomico argues one of the best places to learn entrepreneurship is in another successful startup (I agree), meaning things will continue to compound going forward. A nugget from the report worth highlighting; EU venture has actually outperformed US venture the past two decades. Link

Another annual release: Benedict Evans yearly tech trends presentation. Always worth clicking through and/or seeing the presentation with his commentary on top, as it very nicely summarizes some of the main themes from the year that has passed. This year; web3/metaverse, and implementation of ideas from previous decades. Links: Deck, Video

Bill Gurley and Michael Eisenberg on the 20VC-podcast talking about bubbles (both were VCs during dotcom); both what to look for but also how to approach it from an investment perspective. Very interesting. Link

Climate crisis tracker: The atmosphere is filling up with CO2. We must avoid a level of 450 parts per million. Current level: 415.9ppm (12 months ago: 413.9ppm, likely to exceed the target in 8-13 years). 

Disclaimer: I have indirect ownership in Spare, Aivero, Bitpet, Counting Hero, Gameflow, Kvist, Mitigrate, Shapemaker, Vitroscope, and Vilda.

As per usual, this newsletter takes a short break over the holidays. The next edition (review of 2021) will be sent on January 9th. Enjoy the holidays in the meanwhile!