Stockholm doesn't usually deliver consumer billion-dollar rounds. Wednesday changed that. Nordic Knots, a 2016-founded e-commerce brand that sells handwoven Scandinavian-design rugs, has raised approximately €86 million ($100M) in a growth round that values the company at roughly €1.9 billion (~$2.2B).

The lead is Imaginary Ventures. The co-investors are Creades, Iris Ventures and angel Lauren Santo Domingo. The unit economics, apparently, are tech-grade.

Read the cap table. Imaginary Ventures is the New York firm anchored by Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet. They invest in consumer brands that look like tech companies: high gross margin, viral product loops, direct-to-consumer pricing power, real brand equity. Creades is the Swedish public investment company that's quietly built one of the best Nordic consumer track records of the last decade. And Lauren Santo Domingo is Moda Operandi's co-founder.

These aren't tourists. These are operators who can spot when a consumer brand is breaking out of the home-goods graveyard.

Founders Liza Berglund Laserow, Fabian Berglund and Felix Berglund built Nordic Knots from a transatlantic perspective from day one. They had US e-commerce experience before starting the company. They saw demand for large-format home goods online before most retailers believed shoppers would buy a $2,000 rug from a website.

Reported turnover hit €34 million in 2024 and the company has been growing into the US faster than the European base. Scandinavian-designed, India-handwoven, GoodWeave-certified, sold mostly through a direct-to-consumer site that converts at fashion-grade rates.

It's a strange shape for a Swedish unicorn. It's exactly the shape Imaginary Ventures looks for.

Pull on this thread for a second. A premium rug brand can in theory carry better gross margins than a consumer software company. The product is differentiated, the price points are high, returns are limited by sheer logistics, and once a customer puts your rug in their living room you're in their consideration set for the next ten years of upholstery, throws and bedding.

Brand equity is sticky in furniture in a way it almost never is in apparel. That's the part the LBO crowd knows and the venture crowd has been slow to price.

Nordic Knots is the latest test case. If the company can hit cohort retention numbers that look closer to subscription software than to seasonal fashion, the €1.9B valuation works. If it doesn't, this round will look heroic in eighteen months.

Most of the round goes to US growth. The company's logistics, customer service and showroom infrastructure get expanded. Reported plans include opening additional physical brand experiences alongside the digital flagship. The category that RH and Restoration Hardware once owned is now contested by digital-native brands with better cost structures and faster product iteration.

Nordic Knots is moving into that fight. With €86M, it can fight.

The Stockholm consumer scene has been overshadowed for years by Klarna, Spotify and the broader fintech and SaaS surge. The historical script said real Nordic consumer companies (your Ikeas, your H&Ms) belonged to the previous generation. The next big things came from software.

Wednesday's news flips that script slightly. Consumer is back, at premium-brand pricing, and US capital is willing to underwrite Stockholm-led brands at unicorn-class valuations. If you're a Nordic consumer founder with a brand that travels, the Imaginary Ventures phone number is more accessible than you think.

The Berglund siblings just proved it.

Three signals.

One, retention curves. If Nordic Knots starts publicly disclosing repeat purchase rates and 24-month customer LTV, the company is making a financial case for IPO-track scrutiny.

Two, category expansion. Rugs are the wedge. Pillows, throws, bedding and lighting are the next product lines. Each adds basket size and reduces customer acquisition payback. Watch the product roadmap.

Three, IPO timing. With Imaginary Ventures and Creades on the cap table, an eventual public listing is on the table. Stockholm or New York is the open question. Both have implications for the Nordic consumer playbook for the next five years.

Quiet category. Loud cap table. The American living room just got more expensive.

Source: Startup Rise EU