Beyond Spotify and iZettle: How Sweden became Europe’s capital of startup exits

The exits earlier this year by two of Sweden’s biggest startup names would be enough to swell the pride of any regional ecosystem. Spotify’s $27 billion IPO and iZettle’s acquisition for $2.2 billion were big deals no matter where the companies were based.

But far from being exceptions, these two headline-grabbing exits are just the latest evidence that Sweden, long recognized as a dynamic startup hub, has somehow shifted into an even higher gear. It is now arguably Europe’s top entrepreneurial hub. Though still small in terms of population and economic might, Stockholm in particular is producing exits at a pace that is the envy of other European startup capitals.