Since 1980, female entrepreneurship has only increased by one percentage point and only a quarter of all entrepreneurs in Sweden are women. To reverse this negative trend and encourage more women to start and run businesses, Froda is awarding the "Female Entrepreneur of the Future" scholarship. The SEK 100,000 scholarship, which is being awarded for the first time, received almost 200 applications and now four finalists can be presented: Paula Runsten, RE:BABA, Tugce Özdeger, Datatera AB, Miranda Matti, Lexflix AB and Mona Aghai Berg, All About Music Sweden AB.

The winner of the scholarship will be announced on March 8, International Women's Day, during Froda's Tomorrow's Founders event, which will focus on female entrepreneurship. Tomorrow's Founders is a regular event organized by Froda and aims to inspire more people to start their own business in general, and to encourage more gender equality and diversity in business in particular.

During the event, entrepreneurs Nebe Almayahi (founder of Teint) and Victoria Carlsson (founder of Denjo Dogs) will speak, and the nominees' ideas will be presented and winners announced. Ms. Almayahi and Ms. Carlsson will delve into topics such as diversity in business, the benefits of becoming self-employed, and share both tips and lessons learned for future female entrepreneurs.

- The purpose of the grant is to help improve the conditions for female entrepreneurs and give more women the opportunity to invest in their ideas. That's why it's great that we have received so many applications and fantastic ideas. All the finalists are really good examples of the female entrepreneurs of the future," says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda

The SEK 100,000 grant aims to provide women who want to, or have just started a business, with capital that enables the realization of their idea.

Do you want to be present during the award ceremony? Register for the event here: https://tomorrowsfounders.conf...

About the nominees

Paula Runsten - RE:BABA
Paula Runsten grew up in Danderyd, Stockholm and studies Mechanical Engineering at Lund University. In the summer of 2023, Paula will graduate and then the plan is to focus wholeheartedly on RE:BABA. Paula is passionate about sustainability and has during her studies had internships at both Tesla and Northvolt, where her idea was also brought to life. Focusing on the life and reuse of lithium-ion batteries, Runsten wants to give batteries an extended life, and has an approach that is sustainable in the long term.

Tugce Özdeger - Datatera AB
Tugce Özdeger grew up in Istanbul, Turkey, and in 2010 she moved to Uppsala to study her master's degree at Uppsala University. In 2022, Tugce started Datatera AB with the goal of closing the gap between healthcare and technology and giving HealthTech companies access to high-quality and real-world data.

Miranda Matti - Lexflix AB
Miranda Matti grew up in Spånga, Stockholm, and is studying the teacher program at Stockholm University. Since her teenage years, she has been passionate about making education and homework help accessible to everyone. Since 2018, she has run the Facebook group "Homework help for everyone" alongside her studies, which today has 14,000 members. In 2022, Miranda started the homework help platform Lexflix AB. Lexflix is Sweden's first two-sided digital platform for pupils and students who need and can offer homework help within their geographical area or remotely in all subjects, completely on their own terms.

Mona Aghai Berg - All About Music Sweden AB
Mona Aghai Berg is from Skarpnäck in Stockholm and has studied at Berghs School of Communication. At the age of 25, Mona ended up in the music industry and today has 18 years of experience in the industry. In recent years, in addition to her role as a music publisher and manager, Mona has invested in gender equality work together with the group SLÄS, which wants to improve the situation for primarily female and non-binary producers, but also songwriters in the music industry. Now Aghai Berg wants to do more and has started All About Music to spend even more time on SLÄS.

About the Future Female Entrepreneur Scholarship

The Female Entrepreneur of the Future was established in 2022 by Froda and is awarded annually to a female entrepreneur. The scholarship is SEK 100,000 and aims to provide women who want, or have just started a business, with capital that enables the realization of their idea.

The assessment criteria for the scholarship are Drive, Creativity, Sustainability, Feasibility, Problem solving, Impact that the company would have and Impact that the money would have for the company.

Read more about the scholarship: https://froda.se/stipendier/fr...

Lack of available funding has long been one of the biggest obstacles for businesses looking to grow. That's why Visa, Froda and Lunar are partnering globally to launch an innovative new technology that aims to change this for good. The product, which for the first time uses push-payment functionality for financing, aims to reduce both processing and transaction times to seconds. Something that previously took several months.

Fintech company Froda has partnered with Visa to develop a brand new lending solution for entrepreneurs. Initially, Froda and Visa are working with the Nordic digital bank Lunar. The partnership will allow Lunar's customers to access business loans via Froda's embedded lending platform, with direct disbursements and repayments via debit cards. Visa's presence in over 200 countries provides a consistent experience for customers regardless of market, making the product globally scalable.

- I am delighted to announce our new partnership with Visa and Lunar. Our goal was to create a new ecosystem in business finance that gives entrepreneurs easy access to funding with direct payments. Thanks to the partnership with Visa, we can offer a solution to both neobanks and big banks on a global scale. This is a major milestone in fintech, but above all for all the millions of entrepreneurs globally who can now grow on the right terms," says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda.

In challenging economic times, access to finance is more important than ever for businesses to invest for the future. The new solution aims to remove unnecessary barriers by digitizing the process and allowing disbursement and repayment directly via a payment card. With the new product, customers can pay off their loans via recurring card transactions and avoid monthly invoices.

- At Visa, we are constantly looking for new innovative ways to use the card infrastructure. The solution that Froda has developed offers something new in corporate finance and embedded lending. We are very excited to be a part of this and look forward to seeing the impact it will have on business lending," says Philip Konopik, Regional Managing Director Nordics & Baltics at Visa.

Visa's global infrastructure allows the new product to offer the same solution regardless of the market, without the need for local adaptations for billing and direct payments. Partnerships with various neobanks and card issuers enable international expansion. It also provides access to transaction data for better credit assessments, for example by offering more accurate pre-scoring of the customer's available credit.

- It's a great opportunity to be part of this collaboration, as it allows us to offer our customers a fully digital experience with the payment card application as part of the loan process. In addition, we do not need to create separate processes for direct payment application and billing information. Through direct loan disbursements, our customers can quickly and easily access the financing they need," says Mats Persson Berguis, General Manager at Lunar.

The product will be available to Lunar's customers in the second quarter of 2023. More card issuers for entrepreneurs can connect to the product.

About the product
Froda will provide the product through an API-based service in partnership with Visa corporate card issuers. Businesses will be able to apply for a loan directly through their card issuer (for example a neobank). The fully digital application process takes just a couple of minutes and is built into the card issuer's app or web portal. As part of the loan application, customers will be able to register their business card for loan disbursements and future amortization and interest payments. In the background, Froda performs an automated risk assessment of the company. As soon as the digital contract is signed, Froda will initiate a Visa Direct disbursement of the loan amount and the money is in the customer's bank account in just a few seconds. Through tokenization, the cardholder's information is securely managed and kept up to date, without the customer having to confirm their identity at each repayment or interest payment.

About Froda
Froda was founded in 2015 with a clear idea - give small and medium-sized businesses the same opportunities to grow as large ones. The company's service makes it easy and affordable for entrepreneurs to invest in their ideas. By digitizing the process, Froda has made it possible to help more companies with financing tailored to their unique business and its needs. A smarter business loan, simply put.

Today, Froda is one of Sweden's fastest growing fintech companies and has helped more than 50,000 companies grow. The company is a credit institution covered by the state deposit guarantee and is under the supervision of Finansinspektionen (FI).

About Lunar
Lunar is a Nordic digital banking challenger with operations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The company was founded in 2015 and has a total of more than 325,000 users on its platform. In total, Lunar has raised over €300 million in equity and in 2019 the company received a European banking license.

About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the global leader in digital payments, offering transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments in over 200 countries. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, trusted and secure payment network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone, everywhere, also lift up everyone, everywhere - and we see accessibility as fundamental to the future of transactions. Find out more at Visa.com.

The global economic situation continues to affect Sweden's small businesses, according to new statistics from fintech company Froda. The last quarter shows an increased need for capital to cover unforeseen expenses. The category has increased by as much as 25.9 percent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2021.

The fourth quarter has been marked by a rise in the key interest rate and high electricity prices. But despite the uncertain global situation, Sweden's small businesses continue to invest. For the second quarter in a row, there has been a continued increase in seasonal investments, up 13.5% from the previous quarter. Demand for financing to make renovations to businesses has risen by 11.6% compared to the same period in 2021.

- Inflation and increased electricity and interest costs are having a major impact on small businesses. The macro situation creates many uncertainties, which increases the need to cover unforeseen expenses and the need for an extra buffer. But we can also see that Sweden's small business owners continue to invest in their businesses, which indicates long-term confidence in the business despite tough times," says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda.

During the fourth quarter, it can also be seen that Sweden's small business owners are investing in inventory, the category has increased by 9 percent compared to previous quarters and 7.1 percent compared to previous years. On the other hand, it can be seen that machinery investments are taking place to a slightly lesser extent, the category has decreased by 13.6 percent compared to the previous quarter and by 10.7 percent compared to the same month last year.

- The high cost situation probably means that those who can extend the life of their machinery and thus postpone such an investment, says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda

About the statistics
Every quarter, Froda compiles statistics showing what Swedish small businesses invested in during the last quarter. The statistics come from Froda's databases and are based on information about thousands of companies.

Contingencies
+ 25.9% compared to the previous year.
+ 22.3% compared to the previous quarter.

Machinery
- 10.7 percent compared to the previous year.
- 13.6 percent compared to the previous quarter.

Purchases of goods in stock
+ 7.1% compared with the previous year.
+ 9.0% compared with the previous quarter.

General liquidity
- 6.3% compared to the previous year.
+ 2.7% compared to the previous quarter.

Seasonal investments
+ 2.4% compared with the previous year.
+ 13.5% compared with the previous quarter.

Renovation
+ 11.6% compared to the previous year
+ 1.9% compared to the previous quarter