Strawberry aims for billion-dollar deal in industrial accommodation

Through the new company Lynra, the ambition is to achieve a turnover of 1 billion kronor within five years.

The focus is on establishments in connection with major industrial investments, infrastructure projects, and emerging AI data centres.

To achieve the goal, around 9,000 rooms are required.

- We will be present around major industrial investments, large infrastructure projects, and where AI data centres are being built, Mattias Stengl, CEO of Strawberry Living and Lynra, has previously told Travel News.

The investment builds on Strawberry Living's ongoing establishments in northern Sweden, where the company has already taken a position in industrial accommodations in housing-challenged markets such as Luleå and Kiruna.

- If the Nordics are to win the global battle for talent, we must offer more than just a job. We must offer a life. The bottleneck for the major industrial projects is no longer the technology, but the lack of decent housing. Lynra is our answer to that challenge, says Petter Stordalen.

In Luleå, Aurora Village is currently being developed in collaboration with SSAB, where the first 500 rooms out of a total

2,000 planned to be ready by spring.

Together, the group is expected to generate over half a billion kronor in revenue by 2027. Lynra plans to employ over 100 already in 2027, a figure expected to more than double by 2028.

In Kiruna, the company is proceeding with Viscaria Village, linked to the reopening of the Viscaria mine. There, 132 double rooms are planned with construction starting in the spring and occupancy by summer.

The accommodations are built with prefabricated, reusable wooden modules, which shortens construction time and reduces both costs and climate impact. The standard corresponds to hotel level with private bathrooms and refrigerators, complemented by social areas and activity opportunities.

The business model means that Strawberry does not own the facilities, but focuses on operations and service.

The initiative also aims to reduce the burden on local housing markets.

The initiative is led by Mattias Stengl. The 35-year-old who started his career as a carpenter in Värmland, who over the years has become one of Petter Stordalen's most trusted innovators after creating the successful Hobo concept and turning Företagsbostäder to profitability.

- Large industrial investments are not primarily about machines, but about the people who get them in place. Many of them are far from home in a vulnerable situation. Therefore, we replace the industry's traditional housing solutions with human hospitality. By introducing service and hotel thinking, we create living environments where people actually want to be - because we are convinced that well-being is the key to both happy employees and successful projects, says Mattias Stengl.

The launch of Lynra follows a successful turnaround of the sister company Företagsbostäder. Despite a previous accumulated loss of a quarter of a billion kronor, the company is now showing a profit. The experience from that turnaround is now being brought into the new company.

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