Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: oslo

  • Norway keeps its leading position in the electric vehicle market

    Norway keeps its leading position in the electric vehicle market

    Electric vehicles sales in Norway surpassed those of hybrid vehicles last year, and Volkswagen has replaced Tesla in the top manufacturers of battery-powered cars sold in the country, Reuters reports.

    Last year, 54.3% of new cars sold in Norway were fully electric, a world record, compared to 42.4% in 2019 and about 1% a decade ago.

    Even more, in December, electric cars accounted for 66.7% of total new car registrations, the highest level in a single month.

    In addition to tax exemptions for electric cars, their owners also benefit from other facilities such as reduced tolls, free parking and in many places free charging.

    However, the challenge is the small number of fast charging stations to keep up with the rapid growth of the electric vehicle fleet.

  • Kahoot! acquires Drops, one of the world’s fastest growing language platforms

    Kahoot! acquires Drops, one of the world’s fastest growing language platforms

    Kahoot! announced the acquisition of Drops, one of the fastest growing language platforms in the world.

    Kahoot! is acquiring 100% of the shares in Drops for a total consideration reflecting an enterprise value of USD 31 million on a cash and debt-free basis, in addition to a performance-based element up to USD 19 million depending on Drops performance in 2020-2022.

    The consideration will be settled in a combination of cash and Kahoot! shares.

    Drops is one of the fastest-growing language platforms in the world, with 42 languages and 25 million users since launch and counting.

    In 2018, Google named Drops the best app of the year, and in 2019 Fast Company named Drops as one of the top 10 most innovative education companies in the world.

    For 2019, Drops reported gross revenue of EUR 6.3m with approx. 40% cash conversion.

    Language learning has exploded

    Language learning has exploded due to globalization as well as, more recently, due to the surge in e-learning as businesses and schools adapt to remote learning.

    As a result, the global digital language learning market size is expected to reach more than $8 billion by 2025.

  • SPAR Norway opens fresh-focused supermarket in Lysaker Harbour

    SPAR Norway opens fresh-focused supermarket in Lysaker Harbour

    New SPAR Lysakerbrygge has a catchment area of 400 households as well as many offices. Lysaker Harbour, which borders Oslo, is an important transport hub and attracts a lot of additional traffic during the summer.

    SPAR Lysakerbrygge has a sales area of roughly 580m2 as well as 19 parking spots.

    The supermarket features an extensive fresh products section, with a prepared salad-to-go counter. It also offers freshly baked goods, as well as freshly prepared warm food to go.

    Cato Hambro will act as store manager at SPAR Lysakerbrygge, after gaining 11 years of experience working at SPAR Bygdøy and SPAR Snarøya as a manager of fresh goods.

    For now, the store has hand disinfection stations at the entrance, and a door policy regarding the maximum number of shoppers allowed instore at any given moment. 

  • Aker BP reported total income of USD 684 million in Q3 2020

    Aker BP reported total income of USD 684 million in Q3 2020

    Aker BP reported total income of USD 684 (590) million and operating profit of USD 242 (178) million for the third quarter 2020, positively impacted by higher oil and gas prices.

    Net profit was USD 80 (170) million.

    The company’s net production in the third quarter was 201.6 (209.8) thousand barrels of oil equivalents per day (mboepd), down four percent from the previous quarter due to planned maintenance, drilling operations and project activities at several fields.

    Due to underlift in the quarter, net sold volume was 187.7 (232.0) mboepd.

    The company maintains its full-year production estimate and has narrowed the guiding range to 210-215 mboepd. 

  • SPAR Norway returns to Kongsberg and Bekkelaget

    SPAR Norway returns to Kongsberg and Bekkelaget

    SPAR Norway opened two new stores in Kongsberg and Bekkelaget. Both stores mark the return of SPAR in this communities.

    Shoppers in Kongsberg welcomed the return of SPAR after a 15-year hiatus, with opening weekend sales reaching NOK 1.1 million (€100.000). 

    The store features self-checkouts and an LED-lighting system, in addition to the expansive assortment of food and beverages.

    Kongsberg is widely regarded as the tech capital of Norway. The SPAR store is located just outside of the city centre. An industrial area is currently under development next to the store, which is expected to create over 1.000 jobs over the next few years.

    SPAR Bekkelaget opened in Ottestad (Hamar region), a town with a population of 12.659. On the opening day, the store welcomed 1.500 customers and achieved sales of NOK 320,000 (€32.000). 

    The premises previously housed a Kiwi store. To provide customers with the best offering.

  • Kahoot! is acquiring 100% of the shares in Actimo

    Kahoot! is acquiring 100% of the shares in Actimo

    Kahoot! is acquiring 100% of the shares in Actimo ApS for a total of USD 26-33 million on a cash and debt-free basis, to be settled in a combination of cash and shares, including a performance-based element.

    Completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and the transaction is expected to be completed in October 2020.

    Actimo enhances Kahoot!’s corporate learning and engagement tools by combining the features of employee engagement from the Actimo platform with the learning approach, scale and reach of Kahoot!.

    Kahoot! will continue to develop new services and solutions, and together with Actimo extend Kahoot! 360, the company’s product for corporate learning scaled to enterprise, to fit the needs of today’s HR, learning and development roles, and internal communications teams.

    In the last 12 months, more than one billion participating players in over 200 countries attended over 200 million Kahoot! sessions.

    In the last 12 months, corporations and organizations around the world, including 97% of Fortune 500 companies, used Kahoot! at work to make learning awesome – with more than 2 million sessions and over 20 million participating players.

  • Quant Norway to take over maintenance at Alcoa Mosjøen

    Quant Norway to take over maintenance at Alcoa Mosjøen

    Quant Norway has agreed to sign a maintenance contract with Alcoa to take over the maintenance execution in the Alcoa Mosjøen site in Norway.

    Quant estimates that the contract revenue totals NOK 80-100 million (EUR 7.5-9.3 million) per year for three years.

    Quant will be responsible for maintenance execution and supporting in projects during the contract period starting 1 December 2020.

    Quant intends to offer employment to the 136 permanent employees working with the current contractor connected to the site and assignment today.

  • DigiPlex opens new data center in Lillestrom, Norway

    DigiPlex opens new data center in Lillestrom, Norway

    DigiPlex opened a second data center at Fetsund in Lillestrøm municipality. The new data center is 2.200 sqm.

    DigiPlex now operates six data centers located in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

    The new facility is built to support 3 MW and is engineered for very high levels of service availability. The majority of the site is already reserved for global customers but offers expansion possibilities to house additional customers.

    The new facility in Lillestrøm employs a very energy efficient indirect evaporative cooling system which is similar in function to systems widely deployed by DigiPlex in Sweden and Norway.

    Two new data center under construction

    One more data center is under construction next to the now two operative centers in Lillestrøm and another data center at Holtskogen in Indre Østfold municipality, south east of Oslo.

    Both campuses at Fetsund and Holtskogen have possibilities for further expansion.

    The expansion programme is partly financed through a fully subscribed NOK 655 million bond issue that will be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange this fall. 

    DigiPlex opened the first data center at Fetsund in Lillestrøm in 2015, a 10 MW center covering 4,200 sqm. At the opening, this data center was the largest data center using air-to-air cooling technology in Europe and currently primarily serves TietoEVRY.

  • Kahoot! raises $28 million in new equity to fuel growth

    Kahoot! raises $28 million in new equity to fuel growth

    Kahoot!, an Oslo based learning platform company, announced that has raised a gross amount of $28 million in new equity through a private placement of 7.5 million new shares.

    The private placement also comprised 16.5 million existing shares and amounted to $90 million in total.

    The private placement attracted very strong interest from institutional investors in Norway and internationally and was multiple times over-subscribed.

    Both CEO Eilert Hanoa and Northzone Ventures, one of Kahoot!s largest shareholders, participated in the investment round.

    The additional capital will help fuel further growth

    The additional capital will help to continue expansion of its game-based learning platform to all segments — whether it be organizations, educational institutions or families at home.

    Kahoot! also plans to invest further in research and development, product innovations, as well as expansion through value-creating strategic expansion opportunities.

    Kahoot! had more than a billion participating players in over 200 countries in the last 12 months

    Kahoot!’s game-based learning platform makes it easy to create, share and play fun learning games in minutes.

    In the last 12 months, the platform had more than a billion participating players in over 200 countries. More than 50% of K-12 students and teachers use Kahoot! during a school year.

    In addition, 87% of global top 500 universities and 97% of Fortune 500 companies use Kahoot! to make learning awesome.

    19 million active accounts on the platform

    In its latest mid-year update, the company had 19 million active accounts and 260,000 paid subscriptions, that included teachers and professionals.

    To date, the company has raised over $110 million. 

  • Scania will deliver 75 battery electric trucks to ASKO in Norway

    Scania will deliver 75 battery electric trucks to ASKO in Norway

    Scania will deliver up to 75 battery electric trucks to ASKO over the following three years. Earlier this year, ASKO started operations with four hydrogen powered fuel cell electric Scania trucks and in February, ASKO added two battery electric Scania distribution trucks to its fleet.

    ASKO has now – within its three-year framework agreement with Scania for 2020-2022 – stated its intension to order up to 75 battery electric trucks.

    ”Our goal is to have an emission free fleet of trucks by 2026. The battery electric trucks from Scania are an important step on the journey towards fossil free transports for ASKO,” says Torbjørn Johannson, Chairman of the Board, ASKO NORGE AS.

    Scania recently presented its approved Science Based Targets, which not only include a dramatic reduction of its own carbon emission but also its clear quantified aim to ensure reduced emissions among its customers.

    Scania’s official launch plans for its battery electric trucks will be presented later in 2020.