About Backstage
Backstage is a venture capital firm founded in 1996. It is primarily based out of Gothenburg, Sweden. As of May 2025, Backstage has invested in 36 companies. It primarily invests in Seed round in Sweden based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and FinTech. Most recently it participated in the €***** Series A round of Ipercept Overall, Backstage portfolio has seen 1 unicorn, 3 IPOs and 10 acquisitions including key companies like Coupa, Klarna and Truecaller. A lot of funds co-invest with Backstage, with names like CNI sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Backstage has team of 2 people including 2 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 1 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Backstage's List of Top Investments
Backstage has a portfolio of 36 companies, one of which is a Unicorn. Their most notable investments are in Innovation360 Group and Nuday Games.Their portfolio spans across Sweden, United Kingdom, China and 3 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, FinTech and 14 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Backstage:
1. Coupa
Provider of cloud-based business spend management platform leveraging AI to help companies achieve visibility, control, and optimization of total spend. It features solutions for spending management, procurement invoice automation, sourcing, travel and expense management, inventory optimization, contract management, spend analysis, data visualization, payment automation, compliance, and supplier management. It caters to multiple sectors like healthcare, hospitality, life sciences, and manufacturing.
Key facts about Coupa
- Founded Year: 2006
- Location: San Mateo (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $500M - $1B as on Jan 31, 2022
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $169M
- Employee Count: 3,711 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Meritech, Thoma Bravo and 19 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Jun 11, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
2. Klarna
Developer of an online platform for point-of-sale financing. It enables users to purchase products within the partnered merchant network and split the cost of the purchase from the stores into interest-free payments and also works in-store. It also enables users to make instalment payments by credit or debit cards on retail purchases, receive price changes, and deal alerts. Its mobile application is available on Android and iOS platforms.
Key facts about Klarna
- Founded Year: 2005
- Location: Stockholm (Sweden)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $4.19B
- Employee Count: 4,512 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Silver Lake, equitywestsecurities.com and 139 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Aug 21, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Public
3. Truecaller
App-based platform providing caller ID and spam call-blocking services. It helps users to identify, filter, and block unknown numbers, spam callers, and telemarketers. It helps to record calls, backup call history, contacts, and messages to drive, and auto-block SMS from specific countries, or those with similar digit sequences. Users can also track bills and transactional updates. It has community-based spam reporting service. The app is available across the web, Android, and iOS platforms.
Key facts about Truecaller
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: Stockholm (Sweden)
- Annual Revenue: $100M - $500M as on Dec 31, 2024
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $96.8M
- Employee Count: 592 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Inbox Capital, Atomico and 19 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Oct 10, 2018, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Web3 technology investment and venture-building company. It builds, invests in, and accelerates businesses and ecosystems focused on digital ownership. Its activities span blockchain, digital assets, gaming, identity, education, stablecoins, real-world assets, and related Web3 infrastructure, with investments and portfolio companies across the global digital economy.
Key facts about Animoca Brands
- Founded Year: 2006
- Location: Hong Kong (China)
- Annual Revenue: $100M - $500M as on Dec 31, 2022
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $998M
- Employee Count: 307 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Harmony Partners, Backstage and 126 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Nov 11, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. GP Bullhound
Provider of advisory and capital solutions for technology sector companies. It provides advice to private equity firms throughout their entire ownership lifespan in the industry and helps them raise the appropriate kind of financing. The firm delivers insights through reports, blogs, and other media. It focuses on supporting businesses in the technology landscape.
Key facts about GP Bullhound
- Founded Year: 1999
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Annual Revenue: £1M - £10M as on Dec 31, 2022
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Early Stage
- Total Funding till date: $3.9M
- Employee Count: 151 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Backstage, Mojo.capital and 7 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Unattributed, Jan 30, 2022, $*****
Backstage's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Backstage has invested in 36 companies over the last 13 years, with an average of 0 new investment annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 1 investment. Its most recent first time investment was in Ipercept and most recent follow-on round was in 24Storage.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2018 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2017 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Backstage's Investments by Stage
Backstage has made 3 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2.29M, 2 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $4.08M and 2 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $13M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 3 |
Series A | 2 |
Series B | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Backstage's Investments by Sector
Backstage has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, Consumer, Retail, Vertical SaaS and 3D Printing - Industry Applications. Notably, it has invested in 23 Tech companies, 19 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 16 Consumer (B2C) companies and at least 11 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 4 |
Consumer | 2 |
Retail | 2 |
Vertical SaaS | 2 |
3D Printing - Industry Applications | 1 |
Others | 7 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Backstage's Investments by Geography
Backstage has made most investments in Sweden (6), followed by Finland where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Sweden | 6 |
Finland | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Backstage's recent investments
Backstage has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Backstage:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 05, 2025 | Sweden | Series A | 2057 | [+2] | |
Dec 21, 2021 | Sweden | Series B | 9121 | [+1] | |
Dec 03, 2018 | Sweden | Series A | 3740 | [+4] | |
Aug 17, 2017 | Finland | Series B | 5021 | [+1] | |
Feb 20, 2017 | Sweden | Series A | 9966 | [+1] |
Unicorns in Backstage's Portfolio
Backstage has 1 unicorn in its portfolio - Animoca Brands. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Animoca Brands which became a unicorn in 2022, 4 years before Backstage first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Backstage's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
74 | Web3 technology investment and venture-building company | 2006 | Hong Kong | Series C | ndoqeur |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Backstage's Portfolio
3 of Backstage's portfolio companies have become public. Klarna got listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in Sep 2025 at marketcap of $15.1B and Haypp Group got listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (STO).Here are Backstage's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 10, 2025 | - | - | 9216 | |
Oct 15, 2021 | - | - | 2126 | |
Oct 08, 2021 | - | - | 9719 |
Acquired companies in Backstage's Portfolio
10 companies from Backstage's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Marshall in Jan 2025 by HSG for $*****.Here are Backstage's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 23, 2025 | - | - | 9956 | |
Dec 12, 2022 | - | - | 9053 | |
Dec 09, 2021 | Jan 31, 2016 | Seed | 6838 | |
Jul 27, 2021 | Dec 03, 2018 | Series A | 3155 | |
Jun 17, 2019 | - | - | 8202 |
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Team profile of Backstage
Backstage has a team of 2 members including 2 Partners located in Sweden. Backstage's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Co-investors of Backstage
Over the past 13 years, 33 investors have co-invested in Backstage's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Backstage: Sting, KTH Holding and 11 others have invested in rounds before Backstage. There are 3 companies where Sting has invested before Backstage and 2 companies where KTH Holding has invested before Backstage.
- Top Co-investors of Backstage: 14 investors entered a company along with Backstage. These include investors like CNI (1 company).
- Invested after Backstage: A total of 6 investors have invested in Backstage's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Collector Bank (1 company), Inbox Capital (1 company) and Europa (1 company).
Recent News related to Backstage
•
IPercept Raises €5M in FundingFinSMEs•May 12, 2025•Ipercept, Luminar Ventures, RunwayFBU, Backstage and 1 other
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Swedish startup IPercept bags €5 million to transform machine efficiency through its predictive AI platformEU-Startups•May 05, 2025•Ipercept, Luminar Ventures, Forvis Mazars, RunwayFBU and 3 others
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