STOCKHOLM: Flat Capital AB has made an initial investment of 16 million Swedish kronor ($1.9 million) in Afactor Group AB, a specialized security services company, the firms announced. The investment makes Flat Capital the largest shareholder alongside founders Maria Öström and Anna Schneider.
Afactor, founded in 2020 by two former police superintendents from the Swedish Security Service, provides security advisory services, investigations, preparedness planning and operational protection. The company said it plans to expand both organically and through acquisitions, with Sweden as its base and the broader Nordic region as its next target.
The security sector is experiencing rapid growth due to geopolitical shifts and new regulatory requirements, according to the companies. Organizations are increasingly seeking to strengthen their ability to prevent and manage security risks, they said, while the market remains fragmented.
Afactor operates across three areas: intelligence, which includes advisory services and protective security; resilience, covering preparedness and total defense planning; and protection, which involves operational guarding services. The company is working with the Swedish Institute for Standards to develop Sweden’s first standard for organizational preparedness in situations involving war or wartime conditions.
“When we founded Afactor, we wanted to make the experience and ways of working we brought with us from the public agencies available to more organizations,” said Maria Öström, CEO and co-founder. “We saw a gap between traditional security advisory services and operational reality. We have now demonstrated that the model works, and the next step is to build a larger platform.”
Afactor has grown organically and profitably since its founding, bringing together expertise from the Swedish Security Service, the Police Authority, the Economic Crime Authority and the Armed Forces.
“In the same way that Flat Capital helped shape an entrepreneurial group within the defense sector through Defensor, we now want to support Afactor in the security industry,” said Rickard El Tarzi, CEO of Flat Capital. “We see a growing need for specialized security services and have been impressed by Afactor’s ability to quickly become an important partner to both the public and private sectors.”
Flat Capital said it intends to make further investments as Afactor develops. In connection with the transaction, Amaury de Poret, an executive board member of Flat Capital, will join Afactor’s board of directors.
