Press

Since 1980, the share of female entrepreneurs in Sweden has increased by one percentage point, and today only a quarter of all entrepreneurs are women. To inspire more women to take the plunge and start a business, Froda is launching the third edition of the Women Entrepreneurs of the Future. The five finalists can now be presented: Claudia Losciale, Ebba Adolfsson, Emmy Berggren, Linda Alexandersson and Tina Saleh.

The award aims to both encourage more women to start their own business and to promote gender equality and diversity in business. Established in 2022, the award is now in its third year and the winner of the Women Entrepreneurs of the Future will be announced on March 6.

To select the winning entry, Froda has assembled a jury with a diverse set of skills and experiences, reflecting the breadth of innovation and entrepreneurship the award wants to highlight and providing the opportunity to assess the entries from different perspectives. The jury consists of Jonas Groth, co-founder of Aarke, Ludwig Jonsson, co-founder of Rodolfo, Olga Beck-Friis, co-founder of Pocketlaw, Oliver Mohseni, co-founder of Froda, Paula Runsten, co-founder of Rebaba, Sara Serray, founder of Wellibites.

- The competition is about creating better opportunities for women entrepreneurs and giving more women the chance to turn their ideas into reality. It is truly inspiring to see so many innovative and impressive ideas from such diverse industries. The breadth of business ideas really shows the power and creativity of the women entrepreneurs of the future. It is particularly impressive to see how far these entrepreneurs have already come in their first year - it bodes well for the future," said Oliver Mohseni, co-founder of Froda.

The winner will be awarded a grant to invest in their idea and take their business to the next level.

The finalists:

Claudia Losciale, founder of Historical Parts
Claudia Losciale is the product and interior designer who, together with her co-founder, founded Historical Parts. The company has created a platform where architects, builders and individuals can find and buy reusable building materials. By combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technology, the company aims to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry and promote sustainability. They rescue historical objects, save resources and build a circular future. Historical Parts is also part of KTH Innovation Launch batch 19.

Ebba Adolfsson, founder of Anferra
Ebba Adolfsson from Gothenburg is one of the founders behind Anferra. With an education in product design and entrepreneurship, she started Anferra, the company that develops innovative technology to recycle steel waste grinding wool. The waste, which today is often incinerated or landfilled and poses an environmental and economic challenge to the steel industry, is instead converted into valuable chemicals for water treatment and hydrogen. Anferra creates increased circularity, sustainability and profitability for both the steel and chemical industries.

Emmy Berggren, founder of Gralg
Emmy Berggren is a 20-year-old from Gothenburg, Sweden, working to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture. Together with her two co-founders, she has started Gralg, a company that creates climate-friendly fertilizer based on microalgae, following a circular business model. Gralg started as a JA company 1.5 years ago, and has already won three Swedish Championship gold medals and one European Championship silver medal in Young Entrepreneurship.

Linda Alexandersson, founder of Maybe Baby
Linda Alexandersson, from Stockholm, is one of the founders of Maybe Baby, a company that started with the question: Why is it so hard to get answers about fertility? After her own experiences with long waiting times, unclear information and expensive tests, Linda and her team wanted to change this. With over 10 years of experience in the startup world, Maybe Baby combines technology and medicine to offer women clear, personalized insights into their fertility through a simple home test at a reasonable price.

Tina Saleh, founder of Adoringo
Tina Saleh is an engineer with a passion for both technology and dogs. She is the founder of Adoringo, a digital platform that simplifies dog adoption and helps dogs find homes. Tina started working on the solution after feeling overwhelmed herself by the unstructured flow of information about pet adoption. The app brings together dogs ready for adoption and guides users to the right products and services. In the longer term, Adoringo plans to cover other animal groups as well.

Froda, a leading fintech in embedded finance, and digital challenger bank Lunar, today launch their smart business financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sweden. After a successful collaboration in Denmark since 2023, the goal is now to facilitate growth for Swedish companies as well.

Sweden is currently ranked as the EU's second most innovative country, having been overtaken by Denmark in 2023. At the same time, small businesses, which contribute over 50% of the country's GDP, face challenges, especially in terms of financing. In 2024, more than 10 000 limited liability companies went bankrupt, the highest figure in over a decade. The changing economic climate and challenges in obtaining loans from traditional banks make it even more difficult for small businesses to realize their ideas, slowing down Sweden's growth and competitiveness.

- Small businesses are the engine of Sweden's economy and innovation, but without access to capital we risk losing momentum. This partnership shows our common drive to strengthen small businesses by combining fintech innovation with the digital banking services of the future," says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda.

A new standard for corporate finance

Through Froda's Embedded Lending platform and Visa's global card infrastructure, Lunar's Swedish customers get access to fast and flexible business loans directly in the app. Disbursements are made in seconds and repayments are handled automatically via card transactions. The process is fully digital and designed to eliminate traditional barriers such as long waiting times and high requirements.

- In addition to an affordable bank account with good service, loans are the most requested product among our corporate customers. Together with Froda, we share the vision of making it easier for small businesses to grow, and we look forward to strengthening our collaboration in Sweden as well," says Mats Persson Bergius, Commercial Director at Lunar.

The product will be available to Lunar's Swedish customers from February 2025. With this launch, Froda and Lunar are creating a new standard for business financing in Sweden, fast, transparent and fair that empowers small businesses to grow on their own terms.

About Froda
Froda was founded in 2015 with the ambition to redefine business finance by making it more accessible and efficient for SMEs. Froda creates opportunities for all entrepreneurs, regardless of background, to realize their business ideas. Using digital processes and technological innovation, Froda has revolutionized the loan process, shortening it from months to minutes - with a focus on providing fast, fair and inclusive financing. Today, Froda is one of Europe's fastest growing tech companies, backed by investors such as Karl-Johan Persson, Nicklas Storåkers and Victor Jacobsson. In 2021, Froda launched an embedded finance initiative, through which the company has expanded to the Nordic region, the UK and Germany, and entered into partnerships with Visa, Lunar and Checkout.com, among others. As a credit market company, Froda is under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. Read more about Froda

About Lunar
Lunar is a digital challenger bank with the goal of making it easier for private customers and companies to manage their finances by building the best everyday bank in the Nordic region. Lunar was founded in Aarhus and has about 400 employees in the Nordic region. In 2019, Lunar received a Danish banking license and is now one of the few banks with a Nordic banking platform. Lunar currently has around 950,000 private and corporate customers in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. lunar.se

Froda is strengthening its cooperation with the European Investment Fund (EIF) by securing additional lending capacity of SEK 1.14 billion. This builds on an existing guarantee of SEK 560 million. Froda thus becomes the first partner to secure an EU-wide microfinance agreement with the EIF, opening up better opportunities for small businesses across Europe.

The financing gap for small businesses in Europe is estimated at €400 billion, and many small businesses struggle to access the finance they need to grow and compete. To address this, the EIF is working on various guarantee programs to expand financing opportunities for SMEs. Since 2022, Froda has been working with the EIF to improve access to finance for micro-enterprises, companies with fewer than ten employees in Sweden. Froda has already demonstrated how the financing model works in practice, with Froda's customers increasing their growth by an average of 131% in the first year after receiving financing.

With SEK 1.7 billion in loan guarantees, Froda aims to replicate the success of Sweden on a larger scale to 10,000 small entrepreneurs across Europe. The goal is to drive economic growth and innovation, and reduce the financing gap for microenterprises with limited access to fair financing. This agreement strengthens Froda's ability to reach out across Europe and create a more connected and supportive financial ecosystem for small businesses.

- The increased support from the EIF is an important step in our ambition to grow and create opportunities for small businesses across Europe. We can now follow our Embedded partners into new markets and help more small businesses. Our goal is to find solutions that enable international expansion for both us and our partners," says Olle Lundin, CEO and co-founder of Froda.

Froda and the EIF share the idea of creating a well-functioning market and better access to finance for small businesses across Europe. The new agreement opens up for international expansion, where Froda's Embedded partners can offer their customers loans with EIF guarantees. As the first player with guarantee coverage in all EU countries, the agreement is unique.

- The goal of the InvestEU program is to create working solutions for microfinance. We have seen how the guarantees have enabled Froda to make financing more accessible to microenterprises in Sweden. It is therefore natural that we increase the scope of the cooperation to include the entire EU. I am convinced that together we can create a sustainable and effective solution for financing in Europe," says Marjut Falkstedt, Director General of the EIF.

Since 2021, Froda has focused on developing embedded finance solutions that have been the foundation of its international expansion. Through collaborations with banks, payment providers and fintech companies, Froda is able to offer a white-label SME lending service that integrates seamlessly with its partners' platform and enables them to offer business loans directly to their customers. The increased support from the EIF is expected to strengthen Froda's role as a leading European player in financing for SMEs.

About Froda
Froda was founded in 2015 with the ambition to redefine business finance by making it more accessible and efficient for SMEs. Froda creates opportunities for all entrepreneurs, regardless of background, to realize their business ideas. Using digital processes and technological innovation, Froda has revolutionized the loan process, shortening it from months to minutes - with a focus on providing fast, fair and inclusive financing. Today, Froda is one of Europe's fastest growing tech companies, backed by investors such as Karl-Johan Persson, Nicklas Storåkers and Victor Jacobsson. In 2021, Froda launched an embedded finance initiative, through which the company has expanded to the Nordic region, the UK and Germany and entered into partnerships with Visa, Lunar and Checkout.com, among others. As a credit market company, Froda is under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. Read more about Froda

About the European Investment Fund (EIF)
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its main mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by helping them access finance. The EIF designs and develops venture capital, growth capital, guarantees and microfinance specifically targeted at this market segment. In this role, the EIF promotes the EU's objectives of sustainability, innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and jobs.