Stockholm-based Gilion (formerly Ark Kapital), a growth and funding platform, announced that it has closed a €10M equity funding round, raising its total equity to €40M.
The investment for Gilion comes after a “strong” year of growth, with revenue quadrupling year-over-year and an 8x increase of companies on the platform. The company claims that its platform supports hundreds of companies in optimising their growth strategies.
Oscar Werner, CEO at Gilion, says, “In today’s economy, founders increasingly require diverse funding options tailored to their unique needs.”
“By adding debt to their cap table founders get an additional, and different, funding partner that can reduce dilution of the best companies, and provide funding in times equity owners may not. This is very strategic for all companies.”
“Securing this new round of funding for Gilion, in the current market climate, is a huge testament of trust in our business and that we’re on the path of building something special,” adds Werner.
Investors supporting Gilion
The funding round includes a mix of existing investors, including Annika Falkengren, former CEO at SEB and former Managing Partner at Lombard Odier, along with new investors who aim to reshape tech company funding.
The new investors include Gilion’s newly appointed CEO Oscar Werner, Göran and Henrik Garvner, the founders of SignUp Software, and Andrew Konopelski, former Head of EQT Credit turned investor.
Konopelski says, “The pace of innovation that Gilion has shown over the past two years is truly remarkable, and I believe their product suite is a game-changer in debt financing and the wider startup funding ecosystem.”
“With more flexible financing options, tech companies around the globe will be able to access critical programmatic funding that is designed for the specific needs of their business and will fuel innovation in ways that haven’t existed before.”
Helping founders build lasting companies
Founded in 2021 by Oliver Hildebrandt, Axel Bruzelius and Henrik Landgren, Gilion has developed a platform enabling real-time access and analysis of all key company data, offering a novel approach to evaluating and identifying fundamentally strong startups.
Gilion provides tech companies with real-time performance insights through proprietary analysis and predictions. Using Gilion Scores, it offers non-dilutive Growth Loans with up to 2 years of interest-only periods and repayment terms of up to 6 years.
Co-founder Landgren says, “With our growth analytics platform, we’re dedicated to democratising access to the analytics resources traditionally reserved for larger companies.”
“Our innovative tools, including pre-made SaaS dashboards, benchmarking, advanced AI forecasting, cohort- and retention analysis, level the playing field for startups – empowering them to achieve long-term success while retaining ownership.”
Gilion is supported by investors like LocalGlobe, Creandum, former Blackstone Co-head John McCormick, banking veteran Annika Falkengren, and seven unicorn founders including Hjalmar Winbladh, Jacob De Geer, Ilkka Paananen, Sebastian Knutsson, Riccardo Zacconi, and Steve Anavi.
In 2023, Gilion expanded its operations to include Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and Finland and raised its capital pool to €400M, which is available to European founders and tech companies.
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