SSE Business Lab marks 25 years with its largest Demo Day to date
Ten startups took the stage in front of a packed aula of investors as SSE Business Lab held its largest Demo Day to date. The event comes as the School’s startup incubator marks 25 years of supporting entrepreneurs, amid growing international interest in Stockholm’s startup ecosystem.
On September 11, ten companies from the latest SSE Business Lab cohort presented their businesses to investors. Demo Day is where each cohort gets the opportunity to present to investors and has become a recurring fixture in Stockholm’s startup calendar. This autumn’s edition attracted the event’s largest audience to date, filling the room in Stockholm while investors followed the presentations from several continents.
Ten startups across ten industries
This year’s cohort spans ten industries, with founders addressing challenges ranging from manufacturing and engineering to financial planning, education, food waste, and elite sports.
Several of the companies are bringing new technology to sectors where digital transformation has traditionally moved more slowly. The company Polhem develops software for contract manufacturers and has relocated from Stockholm to Gnosjö to work closer to the factories it serves. TraceArc helps identify inconsistencies across the large volumes of technical drawings involved in complex engineering projects, while the company Molecular Works is addressing losses of perishable goods before they reach consumers.
Other companies are exploring new applications of artificial intelligence. Company Elyra, which recently completed Y Combinator, helps restaurants handle calls they would otherwise miss. Aurem is developing infrastructure intended to make autonomous AI agents insurable, while Loira uses statistical inference to identify dependencies and bottlenecks in project management.
The company Forecasterly aims to shorten financial planning cycles, and Klose is developing tools to streamline work for M&A teams.
The cohort also includes company Nuro, a learning-support platform for neurodivergent students, and Kin, a performance-intelligence platform for athletes, teams, and other high performers, initially focused on elite hockey.
Growing international attention
The international audience at Demo Day reflects a broader interest in Stockholm’s startup environment.
Over the past year, representatives from Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and General Catalyst have visited Stockholm to meet founders at SSE Business Lab.
Companies from previous cohorts have also continued to develop after leaving the program. According to SSE Business Lab, 80 percent of the companies that presented at the previous Demo Day have since raised funding. One went on to participate in Y Combinator, while others have expanded into the United States and secured major customers.
25 years of entrepreneurship at SSE
The record Demo Day comes as SSE Business Lab marks 25 years since its launch in 2001.
Since then, more than 360 companies have gone through the incubator. Around half remain active today, including companies such as Klarna, Voi Technology, and Legora.
Earlier this year, SSE Business Lab also rose from eighth to seventh place in the Financial Times ranking of European startup hubs, remaining the only Nordic incubator among the global publication’s European top 10.
Twenty-five years after the first companies entered SSE Business Lab, Demo Day continues to provide a meeting place for founders, investors, and new ideas. An opportunity for the latest generation of entrepreneurs to take their next step.
For more information, contact:
Milena Vergara, Ecosystem Manager, SSE Business Lab
milena.vergara@hhs.se
