We can finally announce that the Vajek brand will live on, now in a new guise and with a new purpose, namely as Bako Ventures' investment company! After Bako Group decided that it no longer wanted to run the company under its own auspices, the question was raised as to whether the great knowledge and competence that existed in the company could be used to further develop Bako Ventures' investment activities. After intensive negotiations, we can now announce that Bako Ventures AB has acquired 52% of the shares in Vajek Finance AB and thus entered as majority shareholder in the company. 36% of the shares are still owned by Bako Holding AB and the remaining 12% are owned by private shareholders.

The takeover also means that all employees could be offered continued employment. Some employees had already left the company for other positions and we wish them the best of luck in their new endeavours.

In connection with the new ownership, the company's name will be changed to Vajek Invest AB, but with the same corporate number as before. The new name Vajek Invest was not entirely obvious. It was after an internal vote among the employees that the name Vajek Invest won with 58% of the votes. In second place was Bako Invest with 27%.

We hope that you will join us in this new chapter! The new name becomes official on 1 June 2023 and the vote for the new board of directors will be held on 28 August 2023.

Julia Streton
COO, Bako Ventures AB

During the latest board meeting (24 February 2023), it was decided that Vajek Finance AB, previously run as a subsidiary to Bako Group AB would be shut down. Due to declining sales and an already poor economic situation in the wake of the pandemic, it would be irresponsible to continue running the company in it's current state. The decision was unanimous, but the board still wants to emphasize that great responsibility will be taken for the employees whose tough situation is now expected to become even tougher. The employees were informed yesterday and talks with the trade unions concerned is ongoing. We hope to be able to offer as many of the employees as possible redeployment within Bako Group's other operations. Vajek Finance will cease it's operations on 1 June 2023. More information will be provided further on.

Customers with ongoing cases at Vajek Finance will be contacted individually within the next two weeks with information on how their case will be handled further. If you have questions about your ongoing case, please wait until we contact you to lighten the load on our already strained support staff.

Jessica Fredrikson
Strategic Development Manager, Bako Group

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Following Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, Bako and its affiliates have made the decision to pause all operations in Russia for the time being. The decision is based in part on the political implications of an illegal invasion and the need to adamantly oppose the Russian regime, and in part to ensure the safety of our staff working in Russia and neighbouring countries. The closure of our Russian offices will unfortunately also affect our markets in Belarus, Kazhaktstan, and naturally Ukraine. We apologise for any inconveniences following this decision but we are confident that this is the correct decision. The possibility to re-open will be assessed on a day-to-day basis and we will do our best to keep our customers informed. We do however want to point out that the closure is indefinite in the sense that the extent and duration of the Russian invasion will ultimately be the deciding factor for when operations can resume. 

Kevin Bess
CEO, Bako Group

Barely out of the Bako Ventures incubator, Swedish IT-startup ActionLaunch has presented it's first major contribution to the professional IT space, and the beneficiary is none other than it's parent company Bako Group itself. The team at ActionLaunch have rebuilt the Bako membership platform from the ground up to create a modern and secure interface for both customers and employees. The new platform is said to facilitate day to day tasks as well as improve the user experience significantly. The new platform will begin to roll out during Q1 of 2022 and is set to replace the current Bako Premium service entirely by the end of Q3 2022. All new Bako accounts will replace the current, rather outdated, sign in system in favor of a new and improved interface even allowing users to log in with selected social media profiles. Bako spokesperson Annie Magellan says that this is set to attract a younger audience who don't wish to create yet another user account and password which is easily stolen or forgotten.

John Kowitz, CEO of ActionLaunch, commends the teams efforts and highlights the impact that the new platform will have on Bako Groups everyday business. "We know that this will set Bako Group apart from the competition, providing a versatile and flexible solution for a plethora of different situations and needs" says Kowitz. "By presenting this new platform, we have completely reinvented the Bako digital space and brought it up to date with modern standards. You will be hard pressed to find a more secure yet adaptable solution today", he adds proudly.

The official name of the new membership platform is yet to be announced, however Bako spokesperson Magellan has hinted at the service being free-of-charge for all users, both private and public. How this will affect current subscribers of the paid Bako Premium service is yet to be presented by the developers. 

Kyle Jenkins
Business Insider

The Bako Group board of directors wishes our customers, co-workers, friends and family a happy and healthy 2022! We hope that this is the year that we manage to, with combined efforts, put this pandemic behind us and look forward. 2021 has in many ways been a taxing time for many of us, forcing us to limit social interactions and work from home. Despite no part of life being "business as usual", we have held our heads high and kept on keeping on. Nothing brings people together like a common threat, which has led to the company growing in ways we didn't think possible. A warm and heartfelt thank you to everyone for pushing through these tough times. To those who have lost loved ones, we share your sorrow and grief. May good times lie ahead.

Kevin Bess
CEO, Bako Group

Despite high hopes that we would finally receive a Christmas without covid, last minute depressing news was presented today by the Swedish government. Much like large parts of the rest of the world, Sweden has seen as recent surge in confirmed covid-19 cases, leading to new, tougher restrictions presented just days before the Christmas holidays. The spike in new cases is the fourth wave of the virus in Sweden and likely not the last looking at current developments. 

What these new restrictions mean for Bako and it's affiliates is not yet clear, and spokespeople from the various Bako companies are expected to makes statements through internal channels during the coming days. One thing is certain, however. We will all be celebrating Christmas in quarantine for the second year in a row.

Jennifer Sullivan
Bako Media

Despite ongoing rumours for the past sixth months, little information has leaked about the planned rebranding of Swedish management agency Bako Group. It has been a mere nine months since January of 2021 when Bako Group announced that it was retiring the famous "flame" logo (shared with it's affiliates in the wealth management division) in favour of a more modern and clean logo with fewer colours. At the same time, the logos of Bako Ventures and Bako Wealth Management were changed accordingly, possibly indicating that all of the group companies would see a similar change in the coming months. No further changes occured, however, igniting speculation that a much larger adaptation of the Bako graphic profile was planned for the future. The dark blue and white colour scheme which had been used since the company's founding was perhaps giving off a dated vibe, as speculated by industry expert Johnny Iyves back in June.

Today marks the end of the speculations as Bako Group, quite anonymously, updated its website www.bako.se just after midnight. The website features a brand new black and gold colour scheme and a striking use of artistic black and white imagery to match. The website has also been entirely translated into English, which I didn't notice at first since I've always had my browser set to "translate Swedish automatically". The language is professional and correct, and the new look is clean and elegant. I particularly like the new golden Bako logo at the top left which sets itself apart from the new black background. At this time, it appears that only the main Bako Group website and supporting websites such as log in pages and customer service pages have been updated with the new look. Time will tell whether or not this new brand identity carries over to other Bako services in the future, or if the board of directors are aiming to set apart the Bako Group brand from the now many companies that belong to the Bako concern. It wouldn't suprise me Bako representatives invite us to a press conference later in the day to help us delve deeper into the inner workings of their PR-department. Stay tuned!

Andrew Jenkins
Business Insider