Martin Frey

Martin Frey is a Swedish digital-marketplace veteran who spent roughly 21 years (2001–2022) at Schibsted, the Nordic media and classifieds group. He first made his name as CEO of Blocket.se, Sweden's dominant online classifieds site, which he led for about a decade — eight of those years as CEO — growing the operation from around 7 people to more than 125 and helping export the Blocket concept to over 30 markets internationally. Over his career he also worked with Aftonbladet, Schibsted Classified Media (the classifieds business later spun out as Adevinta), and Schibsted Growth & Venture.

After Blocket, Frey became Senior Vice President for Schibsted Classified Media across Northern & Eastern Europe, overseeing operations in six countries. From July 2017 he served as acting CEO / head of Schibsted Growth, Schibsted's corporate venture and growth-company arm, and between roughly 2017 and 2021 he was responsible for the group's growth companies and venture investments — sitting on the management team of Schibsted Media. In that role he chaired or sat on the boards of numerous Nordic digital businesses, including chairing Prisjakt and Personal Finance Sverige, and board seats at Lendo, Compricer, Kundkraft and Schibsted Fintech.

His final Schibsted post was CEO of Schibsted Sweden, which he held for a little over a year before departing in October 2022, closing out a 21-year run with the group. Reflecting on his exit, he described his time at Schibsted as "a fantastic journey."

Since leaving Schibsted, Frey has operated as an independent advisor and angel investor and taken on board and operating roles with private companies. He is listed as a Board Member and Partner at DelikatessKungen (a Swedish online delicatessen/food e-commerce business) and holds board positions at Insurello AB (insurance-claims fintech) and Mini Rodini AB (a Swedish children's fashion brand). Swedish company records associate him with several other board mandates in Swedish business.

• Stage: Seed and early-stage companies (consistent with an active angel / advisor profile).
• Sectors: Deep expertise in online marketplaces and classifieds, fintech / personal finance (price comparison, insurance, loans, energy switching), and consumer internet / e-commerce — the categories he built and scaled at Schibsted.
• Geography: Primarily the Nordics / Sweden. Schibsted Growth, which he ran, described its mission as helping "smart founders and winning teams, primarily in the Nordics" establish products, maximize growth, and scale locally and internationally.
• What makes him say yes: A bias toward strong founding teams and proven product-market scalability — his own track record is about taking a small team and building it into a market leader across many geographies. His value-add is operational: marketplace mechanics, growth, and international expansion, not just capital.