Nasdaq First North Stockholm is the most active alternative equity market in the Nordic region. It lists over 200 companies — the majority below €200M market cap — spanning B2B technology, online gaming, life sciences, and precision industrials.
Most of these companies are not in any non-Nordic institutional research database. They are not on Bloomberg's standard screening universe. They receive no coverage from international brokerages. Yet many are profitable, growing, and trading at valuations that would attract serious attention if they were listed on a Western European main market.
What is Nasdaq First North?
Nasdaq First North is a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) operated by Nasdaq across three Nordic markets:
- First North Stockholm (Sweden) — the largest, with 200+ listings
- First North Denmark (Copenhagen) — 80+ listings
- First North Finland (Helsinki) — 90+ listings
Each operates under the same Nasdaq First North regulatory framework but with national listing requirements layered on top. The Stockholm market is the largest and most liquid of the three.
First North vs Nasdaq Stockholm (main market): The regulated Nasdaq Stockholm main market requires a full prospectus approved by Finansinspektionen (Sweden's financial regulator), annual and semi-annual reporting, and full EU Transparency Directive compliance — this is where Ericsson, H&M, Volvo, and SSAB trade. First North requires only a Certified Adviser (CA), an admission document (not a full prospectus), and annual reports.
The Certified Adviser requirement is important: a CA is a regulated intermediary (typically an investment bank or independent advisory firm) that co-signs the company's First North listing and takes on responsibility for ensuring ongoing compliance with First North rules. This creates a governance floor above unregulated OTC trading while remaining substantially lighter than main market requirements.
The Certified Adviser requirement
Every First North company must have a Certified Adviser at all times while listed. The CA's responsibilities include:
- Reviewing the admission document and confirming accuracy
- Advising the company on compliance with First North rules
- Immediately notifying Nasdaq if the company breaches its obligations
- Being replaced immediately if the relationship ends (failure to replace triggers suspension)
For investors, the CA requirement functions as an ongoing third-party oversight mechanism. The largest CAs — Redeye, Carnegie, Handelsbanken, and Swedbank — have built institutional research capabilities around their CA clients and produce research reports on many of their First North companies.
This creates a secondary benefit: some First North companies have more structured research coverage than comparable-sized companies on unsponsored alternative markets elsewhere in Europe.
Sectors most active on First North Stockholm
Technology (B2B SaaS and software): Sweden has produced a disproportionate number of B2B software companies relative to its population — ERP for healthcare, HR tech for Nordic employers, compliance tools for financial services, and workflow automation for manufacturing. Many of these are in the €10M–€80M ARR range and trade on First North as their primary growth capital platform.
Online gaming and igaming technology: Stockholm is one of Europe's two largest gaming hubs (alongside London). First North has a significant cluster of igaming platform providers, content studios, and affiliate marketing companies. Many are profitable at the operating level with high recurring revenue.
Life sciences (preclinical and clinical stage): Sweden has a strong biotech and medtech tradition centred around the Karolinska Institute cluster. First North lists numerous life sciences companies at earlier commercial stages — from pre-revenue development-stage biotechs to growing medical device manufacturers with positive EBITDA.
Industrial technology: Swedish engineering tradition produces precision instrument companies, specialty materials suppliers, and industrial automation businesses that are too small for the main market but have genuine competitive moats. Many are 50–100 year old businesses that listed to provide partial liquidity for founder families.
Liquidity characteristics
First North companies below €50M market cap typically have daily trading volumes of €5,000–€50,000. This creates a practical constraint: building or exiting a position above €200,000–€500,000 in a single stock requires weeks or months of patient accumulation.
For individual investors and small funds with positions below €500K per stock, this is not a meaningful constraint — the bid-ask spread is typically 0.5–2% for the more active First North companies, which is wide by large-cap standards but acceptable for a long-term holding.
For institutions with minimum position sizes above €1M per stock, First North companies below €30M market cap are generally uninvestable in practice. This creates the fundamental mispricing opportunity: institutional exclusion due to liquidity constraints keeps valuations low for companies that are genuinely high quality.
How to screen First North Stockholm stocks
The Swedish microcap screener filters Nasdaq Stockholm (STO exchange code) below €300M market cap. This includes both the main market smaller listings and First North companies.
Quality growth screen for First North:
- Exchange: STO
- Market cap: < €300M
- Profit margin: > 5%
- ROE: > 10%
- Sort by EV/Revenue ascending (for growth-oriented screening)
Value screen for First North industrials:
- Exchange: STO
- Market cap: < €200M
- P/E: < 15
- EV/EBITDA: < 10
- ROE: > 10%
- Sort by EV/EBITDA ascending
The value screen typically returns 30–60 Swedish microcaps — profitable, capital-efficient companies at reasonable valuations. Many will be names with no English-language coverage despite filing annual reports in both Swedish and English.
English-language availability
Unlike French or Italian microcaps, many Swedish First North companies file annual reports in both Swedish and English — particularly those that have sought institutional investors outside Scandinavia or have significant UK/US ownership in their shareholder register.
The CAs themselves publish research in English for many of their clients. Redeye, the largest dedicated Nordic small-cap research firm, publishes English-language research on 100+ First North companies on a subscription basis.
This makes Swedish microcaps more accessible to non-Swedish-speaking investors than French or Italian alternatives — a factor that partially explains why First North companies sometimes trade at modest premiums to comparable markets.
Key metrics for First North due diligence
Recurring revenue ratio. For SaaS and subscription businesses, ARR as a percentage of total revenue tells you how predictable the revenue base is. First North technology companies often disclose ARR in their quarterly reports even when not required to.
Gross margin trajectory. Swedish software companies should show gross margins of 60%+ and improving. If gross margins are compressing in a subscription business, the economics are deteriorating despite revenue growth.
Cash burn rate. Pre-profitability First North companies often disclose cash runway in their quarterly updates. For companies not yet profitable, the question is how many quarters of cash exist at the current burn rate — this determines whether dilutive fundraising is likely.
Management ownership. Many First North companies are founder-led or family-controlled. Founder ownership above 20% generally aligns incentives well. Declining founder ownership (via secondary sales at listing) is a warning sign that the founders are extracting value rather than building it.
Screen Swedish microcap stocks on First North, or screen all Nordic markets to compare Swedish stocks with Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish alternatives. The Swedish stock screener covers all Nasdaq Stockholm listings including First North companies. Free, no account required.