Stockholm is undoubtedly one of the leading tech cities in the world.

With companies like Skype, Spotify, King (Candy Crush) and Mojang (Minecraft) hailing from Stockholm, the city has rightly been receiving considerable attention lately.

As a result, we often get questions about the startup scene in Stockholm. To keep things convenient, here are the 10 most impressive facts about the Stockholm’s tech scene:

1) $1,4 Billion Invested in One Year

Over $1,4 billion was invested in Stockholm-based tech companies in 2016. That is a $500 million increase compared to the year before, and a 7X increase in just 4 years.

The amount ($1,4 billion) is more than half of the total amount invested in the entire Nordics! And that is in just one city, not to a country. Stockholm accounts for about 4% of the total population in the Nordics, but attracted 54% of the amount invested in tech companies.

Source: The Nordic Web

2) $1,75 Billion Exits in One Year

There was a total of $1,75 billion in exit value among Stockholm based tech companies in just, one, year!

When we presented the investment figures for 2016, an investor asked about the exit value. They said that the exit value was more relevant them as an investor. So we did some research and found a significant amount of exits in the past couple of years in Stockholm.

There were a total of 49 tech exits in 2016. They accounted for a staggering 58% of the total exit value in the entire Nordics! Again, this is from a city that accounts for only 4% of the Nordic population.

Some of the most notable tech exits in Stockholm are King ($7+ billion), Mojang/Minecraft ($2,5 billion) and Transmode ($345 million).

Source: The Nordic Web & Invest Stockholm

3) Programmer is the Most Common Job

Programmer is the most common job title in Stockholm. ✌️

Source: Statistics Sweden

4) Highest Share of Workforce that Work in Tech

In Stockholm, 18% of the workforce work in high-tech related jobs. That’s almost one fifth of the entire workforce that work in tech! This is the highest share compared to any other city in Europe. In Europe the total average is 10%, which means Stockholm has almost double the average compared to Europe overall.

Source: High-Technology Employment in the European Union

5) Second Highest Number of Unicorns per Capita

This is probably the most well-known fact about the Stockholm tech scene: Stockholm has the highest amount of Unicorn startups per capita in the world after Silicon Valley.

Unicorns are loosely defined as startups valued at $1 billion or more. In general terms it basically refers to a tech company that is wildly successful (based on their valuation).

The number of impactful tech companies from the same city is a good indication of how well that city is performing as a tech hub.

Many international media outlets such as Forbes Magazine, The Telegraph and Inc. Magazine have cited this fact, which is based on Atomico’s analysis of the worlds unicorns.

Silicon Valley is the undisputed epicenter of startups in world — both in relative and absolute terms. When it comes to a per capita basis, Stockholm ranks second.

Source: Atomico

6) Stockholm Ranks Among the Top Places for Gaming and MusicTech

Teenage Engineering OP-1 Synthesizer

Stockholm is ranked among the top clusters for game development and music technologies in Europe, and the world, by the Cluster Observatory.

It’s no surprise that Stockholm is strong is these two areas, as major companies like King, Mojang and Spotify would be included in the dataset. But besides these massive success stories there are a number of equally impressive companies that are innovating and growing in both gaming and music. Some of these companies include Resolution Games, Paradox Interactive, Soundtrap and Auxy.

You can read more about the game development scene in Stockholm here and about the MusicTech scene here.

Source: The Cluster Observatory/Ivory Tower

7) Highest Smart Device Penetration in Europe

Sweden has the highest smart-device penetration in Europe: A staggering 150% penetration level!

This means that on average, every person in Sweden owns 1,5 smart-devices.

This is an important fact. It sends a very clear signal that Sweden has a population of early adoption, and that tech-adoption is extremely high.

What does a society look like where EVERYONE has a smartphone? Just look at Sweden and you’ll get the answer. Here you can pay your bills, open a bank account, start a company, visit the doctor, apply for free daycare and even order food to be delivered into your refrigerator at home when you’re not there — ALL from your smartphone.

We don’t have the highest amount of smart-devices, so we’re not the biggest market. But Sweden is a perfect test-bed for innovation.

As Natalia Brezinski said: “Stockholm has reached the future first”. If you want to glimpse the future, come to Sweden.

Source: Flurry Mobile

8) First City in the World to Introduce 2G, 3G, 4G…

Stockholm was the first city in the world to introduce the 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks.

Stockholm will also be the first city to introduce 5G in hopefully the coming year. You can actually try 5G out in the public already in Urban ICT Arena in Kista.

Source: Wikipedia

9) Ranked Second Leading Startup Ecosystem in the World

Investment firm Sparklabs ranks Stockholm the second leading startup ecosystem in the world. Stockholm ranks below Silicon Valley and right above Tel Aviv, New York and Los Angeles. The ranking is based on a number of factors such as Funding Ecosystem & Exits, Engineering Talent, Active Mentoring, Technical Infrastructure, Startup Culture and Government Policies & Programs. It’s the second year in a row that Stockholm ranks second on the list.

Source: Sparklabs/Venture Beat

10) Five of the Top 10 Fastest Growing Companies in Europe are from Stockholm

The fastest growing company in Europe is Stockholm based Daniel Wellington. It’s not a tech company per se (it’s a fashion brand/watch company), but it has links to tech as most of it’s growth comes from extremely successful social media accounts on platforms like Instagram.

What’s perhaps is even more impressive is that 5 of the top 10 fastest growing companies in Europe are from Stockholm.

Now THAT’s a great sign that Stockholm is a great city for tech, business and growth.

Source: Inc. 5000