KTH startup Univid takes over the online event market - secures investment
Erik Skogetun and Jonathan Rintala founded Univid while studying at KTH. After a flying start official supplier for the world’s largest political fair, Almedalen, and with Facebook as its first major customer, the team has now raised EUR 800,000 in funding to continue its expansion.
In 2019, before digital meetings had become part of daily life, Erik Skogetun and Jonathan Rintala came up with an idea on how to digitalize lectures, and got in touch with KTH Innovation.
The idea quickly caught on and the founders realized their idea had potential outside the world of academia. They switched to focusing on digital events, and secured Facebook as the company’s first major customer.
“We quickly realized that the market severely lacked good solutions. Today, companies around the Nordic region use our platform to create engaging and beautiful events and webinars in less than a minute. Events that can be tailored by the user directly in the browser,” says Skogetun.
In 2021, Univid was the official supplier for Almedalen Week 2021, which involved more than 700 digital events over four days. As the use of virtual meetings has surged during the pandemic, the company is now experiencing considerable demand in Europe and beyond.
Laid the foundation with KTH Innovation
In April 2021, Univid finished the KTH Innovation pre-incubator program , a 12-month program for promising startup projects from KTH. The teams in the program get office space at KTH Innovation’s premises at Teknikringen 1, access to makerspace and production studio, weekly workshops to develop their ideas, and perhaps most importantly, become part of a creative and supportive community.
- KTH Innovation played a great part in laying a solid foundation for Univid - when validating the market and finding pilot customers in the event space, says Jonathan. The solid network was also a boost. Those things have really made a difference in our journey!
Backing from well-known investors
In Univid’s first funding round, the company has obtained backing from a number of well-known investors including venture capital firms Spintop Ventures, JNE Invest, and Quinary, as well as angel investors with solid experience in the industry.
Future plans
The platform and video technology are in place. The plan for the future is to continue to optimize and expand functionality, including interaction and networking. Today, Univid consists of three people, but with fresh funding, Univid has made it its goal to accelerate its growth journey.
“We’ve validated the market properly and now it’s time to grow our team with skilled developers and salespeople to meet the high demand,” concludes Rintala.
Univid's KTH Innovation business development coach Donnie Lygonis adds:
- I’m really impressed with the team and this milestone is further proof of their abilities. From day one they showed a total commitment to their idea and just like any successful start-up their idea has evolved through a series of pivots, but with a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve, in combination with their constant strive to understand their customer’s needs, they now a have a product people simply want to use, and tell their friends about.
For more information, please contact:
Jonathan Rintala, co-founder
+46 (0) 73 026 98 87