From the Spotify Mafia to the Lovable Mafia: inside Stockholm's founder network

Vibe-coding darling Lovable just raised $400 million at a $13.3 billion valuation (techcrunch.com/2026/08/12/lovable-confirms-new…), roughly doubling its worth in eight months. But Lovable isn’t the only Stockholm startup putting up huge numbers lately — legal AI company Legora (techcrunch.com/2026/04/30/legal-ai-startup-leg…) and health tech startup Neko Health (techcrunch.com/2026/07/15/daniel-eks-body-scan…) are right there with it.

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity (techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity) podcast, Dominic-Madori Davis is joined by Sophia Bendz (cherry.vc/team/sophia-bendz), a partner at Cherry Ventures and longtime fixture of Europe’s startup scene, to unpack what’s driving startup growth in the Nordic ecosystem, from Sweden’s social safety net to the wave of U.S. capital flowing in.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

• How the “Spotify Mafia” set the template for founders funneling their time, capital, and hard-won lessons back into Stockholm ecosystem, and how the same cycle may be starting again with the “Lovable Mafia”

• Why Sweden’s social safety net might be fueling founders’ willingness to take bigger swings

• Why Bendz is seeing American investors flying into Stockholm and handing out term sheets with little to no diligence, and the culture clash that’s creating with local funds

• How Europe’s sovereignty conversation is shaping how founders and investors think about building, even as most of them still plan to IPO in New York

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube (youtube.com/@TechCrunch), Apple Podcasts (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780), Overcast (overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?s…) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X (twitter.com/EquityPod) and Threads (threads.net/@equitypod), at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

0:50 Why Stockholm’s startup ecosystem is accelerating

2:34 How Stockholm’s “Spotify mafia” passes knowledge down

4:10 Founders House and building a culture of mentorship

5:50 Does Sweden’s social safety net make founders more ambitious?

10:00 Is there a “Lovable mafia” now?

10:00 Europe’s push for tech sovereignty

14:00 The U.S. venture capital flooding Stockholm

18:08 How Europe can build more growth-stage funds

19:45 Founders are asking VCs, “How can you help me?”

21:05 Stockholm’s tech conferences

25:51 Could robotics become Stockholm’s next big thing?

29:45 Outro

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices