Brightly Ventures

What Brightly Ventures does

Brightly Ventures is a Stockholm-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in Nordic technology companies, providing seed and early-stage equity capital alongside hands-on company-building support. The firm was founded by a partnership of repeat-operator entrepreneurs - Kerstin Cooley, John Elvesjo, Katja Bergman, and Andy Johnston - several of whom previously co-founded MOOR in 2012, the first institutional investor in Nordic successes such as Acast, FirstVet, Volumental, Buildsafe, Kiosked, and Mitigram. Its roughly 20-company portfolio spans FinTech (Open Payments, Zevoy), healthtech (Collective Minds Radiology), HR tech (Adway), 5G/telecom infrastructure (Frequencz), energy tech (Exeri), music tech (Starmony), plant-based food (Hooked Foods), and art tech (Artportable), with co-investments alongside Luminar Ventures, Bonnier Ventures, Industrifonden, Chalmers Ventures, and Spintop Ventures.

Brightly generates returns through equity ownership in portfolio companies rather than a product-pricing model; it does not charge product fees and disclosed no revenue or ARR. The firm's investor base is anchored by The Swedish Venture Initiative, a cooperation between the Swedish government and the European Investment Fund financed under EU Structural and Investment Funds. The team operates hands-on, with named managing partners running boards and providing operational support across product, engineering, hiring, and investor relations.

Brightly has publicly stated it is closed for new investments and is now focused exclusively on supporting its existing portfolio. The most material realized event during the observed period was the March 2022 acquisition of portfolio company Debricked by Micro Focus's CyberRes line of business.

Name

Brightly Ventures

Legal name

Brightly Ventures

Website

https://brightlyventures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Brightly Ventures is a Stockholm-based early-stage venture capital firm backing Nordic technology founders with seed capital and company-building support. Founded by former tech entrepreneurs, it manages roughly 20 portfolio companies across FinTech, healthtech, HR tech, energy, food, and music tech, and is now closed to new investments.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)

Keywords

• Venture capital services
• Early-stage investing
• Seed funding
• Nordic tech investments
• Portfolio management

Headquarters

HQ city

Norrmalm

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns / Equity Gains: Brightly Ventures generates returns through equity investments in portfolio companies. As a venture capital firm, they acquire ownership stakes in early-stage Nordic technology companies and realize returns through exits or IPOs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Brightly Ventures is a Nordic early-stage venture capital firm that invests in and provides hands-on company-building support to technology startups. The firm backs founders across sectors including fintech, health-tech, HR tech, music technology, 5G networking, energy tech, and food technology, offering capital combined with operational expertise and network access from former technology entrepreneurs.

Product overview

Brightly Ventures operates as a single investment service focused on early-stage Nordic technology companies. Rather than a unified platform with modules, the company provides venture capital investment and support to portfolio companies including Worldfavor, EVAM, Debricked (acquired by Micro Focus), Collective Minds Radiology, Dialogtrail, Future Ordering, Frequencz, Exeri, Adway, Starmony, Zevoy, Hooked Foods, Open Payments, Acuminor, Yabie, WeHype, and Perceptilabs. These portfolio companies span sectors including Open Banking/FinTech, health-tech, HR tech, music technology, 5G networking, energy tech, and food technology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brightly Ventures Investment Services Nordic early-stage technology investment firm that backs exceptional teams building transformative businesses. Provides hands-on support, company-building experience, and network access to portfolio companies across fintech, health-tech, HR tech, music technology, 5G networking, energy tech, and food technology sectors.

Named customers20 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability7 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Northzone: Pan-Nordic VC with broad early-to-growth stage mandate. Comparable geography and sector focus but significantly larger fund size and broader stage coverage.
• Bonnier Ventures: Venture arm of Bonnier Group that co-invested with Brightly Ventures in Future Ordering and Starmony. Larger media-backed investor with comparable Nordic tech seed focus.
• Industrifonden: Larger Nordic VC investor that co-invested with Brightly Ventures in Open Payments and Exeri. Comparable mandate on early-to-growth Nordic tech but with substantially larger AUM and broader sector coverage.
• Creandum: One of the largest Nordic early-stage VCs, with a comparable focus on transformative technology companies. Larger AUM and broader pan-European footprint make it an incumbent peer rather than direct competitor.

Direct peers

• Luminar Ventures: Swedish early-stage VC firm that has co-invested with Brightly Ventures in Open Payments, Frequencz, and Starmony. Closest peer by stage, geography, and check size in the Nordic seed ecosystem.
• Oyster Bay Venture Capital: Swedish early-stage VC that co-invested with Brightly Ventures in Hooked Foods. Comparable seed-stage Nordic tech focus and check size.
• Almi Invest: Swedish state-owned investment company that co-invested with Brightly Ventures in Starmony. Comparable seed-stage Nordic mandate with government LP backing.
• Spintop Ventures: Swedish early-stage VC that led the Adway round with Brightly Ventures participating. Closely comparable by stage, geography, and B2B SaaS / Nordic tech focus.
• Chalmers Ventures: Swedish early-stage VC connected to Chalmers University of Technology that co-invested in Dialogtrail. Operates a similar seed-stage Nordic tech mandate with university spin-out angle.

Regional players

• Maki VC: Finnish early-stage VC that co-invested with Brightly Ventures in Zevoy. Comparable seed-stage Nordic tech mandate, but primarily Finland-focused rather than pan-Nordic.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BrightlyVenture
• Facebookfacebook.com/brightlyventures
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/brightly-ventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments31 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Brightly Ventures