Swedish Startup Hall of Fame gets its fourth entrepreneurial superstar

Last week, SUP46 (Start-Up People of Sweden) hosted the Swedish Startup Gala. It was a pleasure to be there, especially as the event was a part of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, the global initiative that ESBRI coordinates in Sweden.

Starting from 2013, when the first gala took place, four people have been inducted into the SUP46’s Swedish Startup Hall of Fame. With the likes of Daniel Ek, Niklas Zennström and Jane Walerud, it might have seemed challenging to choose yet another entrepreneurial heavyweight that matches those. But, apparently not in Stockholm, the Europe’s entrepreneurial hotspot.

Jessica Stark, the CEO and founder of SUP46, and Jane Walerud, last year’s inductee, handed over the trophy to Sebastian Knutsson, co-founder of King. The motivation was as follows: “Sebastian Knutsson has been a serial entrepreneur in the online and mobile industries for more than 20 years. He co-founded King.com and has designed 100+ games including the world hit: Candy Crush Saga. As a true unicorn, King has further manifested Sweden as the global startup country. Last year Sebastian founded Sweet Capital where he invests in startups and continues to develop Sweden’s startup ecosystem. He is a true role model and a real startup hero! Therefore, it is an honor to commemorate this by inducting Sebastian into the Swedish Startup Hall of Fame.”

During the evening two other awards were handed out. ”Startup Team of the Year” award went to Soundtrap, first cloud-based audio recording platform, while the company Dooer, a startup that designed an innovative accounting software, was named ”Startup Launch of the Year”.

I am looking forward to next year’s gala and hope for more such events that celebrate entrepreneurs, especially in November when the Global Entrepreneurship Week takes place around the world.

/Jelena