Healthcare · Healthtech · Edtech · Technology
Apriori Group
I lead and serve on the boards of healthcare, healthtech, edtech and other technology companies in the Nordics, and invest alongside the owners.
What I offer
Leadership, board expertise and capital from one person
For owners, boards and founders of healthcare, healthtech, edtech and other technology companies facing growth, turnaround or transformation.
Lead
Interim CEO and executive leadership for turnaround, scale-up and the step from founder-led to professional.
Advise
Board roles and advisory: strategy, fundraising, governance and international expansion.
Invest
Selective ownership in healthtech, edtech and other technology companies, alongside the leadership and board work.
Why Apriori
Value that lasts, for owners, teams and society
What is Apriori? It is Kant’s idea that every human being has a worth we must respect. Truth and respect for people have never been more important.
The world is accelerating in every way. Inspired by Hartmut Rosa, I answer with resonance: deep listening, full engagement and being present in the world, because that is how sustainable progress is made.
I create value for shareholders, for the teams who build the company and for society, guided by core values that do not bend.
Logical conclusions from certain facts.
Long-term
I think in decades, not quarters.
Critical and reflected
I test every conclusion against the facts and my own values.
Resonant
I listen deeply and engage fully.
Cases
Examples of what I have done
Select a case to see the company, the role and the results.
Scale-upFrom founder-led start-up to professional Nordic platformMedEasy · CEO 2021–2025
Recruited to professionalize a founder-led business and balance rapid commercial growth with organizational maturity. Today a portfolio company.
- Business
- Scandinavia’s largest health education platform
- Users
- 260,000 users · 96% average score
- Videos
- 16.5 million videos watched
- Learning
- 72.8 million questions solved
- 2×Group revenue doubled during the tenure
- 2×Product portfolio more than doubled across health subjects
- SE · DKSwedish and Danish subsidiaries and a new management team
TurnaroundNordic turnaround of the market leader under PE ownershipBiomet · Regional Vice President, Northern Europe, 2011–2014
Full P&L across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, with just under NOK 500 million in revenue and 100+ employees. Biomet was the market-leading orthopaedic company in the Nordics.
- Founded
- 1977, Warsaw, Indiana, USA
- Position
- Market leader in orthopaedics in the Nordics
- Listing
- Originally traded on NASDAQ
- Owners
- Blackstone, KKR, Goldman Sachs, TPG
- +24%Bottom line increase through restructuring and commercial focus
- 4 to 1Standalone country operations merged into one Nordic organization
- GrowthA two-year double-digit sales decline turned into positive growth
Commercial growthReviving growth and profitability in a national marketBiomet Norway · Managing Director, 2008–2011
Full P&L as Managing Director, then promoted to Regional Vice President. Led the Norwegian business through the 2007 take-private of its parent.
- Founded
- 1977, Warsaw, Indiana, USA
- Listing
- First traded on NASDAQ, delisted in 2007
- Buyout
- Completed September 2007 by a PE consortium
- Buyers
- Blackstone, KKR, Goldman Sachs, TPG
- Double-digitSales growth in the strongest year, after two flat years
- 2×EBITDA doubled during the tenure
- 2007Parent delisted from NASDAQ and sold to a PE consortium
Venture buildingFrom concept to commercializationHy5 · Co-founder and CEO, 2015–2021
Developed the world’s first hydraulic, 3D printed hand prosthetic and led every function, from fundraising and manufacturing to regulatory approval and market entry.
- Business
- Norwegian medtech, co-founded 2015
- Product
- Hydraulic, 3D printed hand prosthetic
- Site
- Own manufacturing at Raufoss, Norway
- Status
- Restructured in 2022
- NOK ~100MCapital raised, split 50/50 between private and public funding
- 3 regionsRegulatory approvals and sales in Europe, the US and Australia
- RaufossOwn manufacturing facility established in Norway
Public company governanceBoard leadership through growth and recapitalizationNorwegian Air Shuttle ASA · Board Director and Audit Committee member, 2015–2020
Through rapid growth, a pivot to profitability, strategic interest from industry players and a full recapitalization.
- Founded
- 1993 · Fornebu · Oslo Børs: NAS
- Business
- Low-cost airline, long-haul transatlantic
- Scale
- 36.2M passengers, 156 aircraft (2019)
- Status
- Board role ended 2020 · restructured 2021
- +94%Revenue growth, from NOK 22bn to 43bn between 2015 and 2019
- NOK 12.7bnDebt and lease obligations converted to equity in 2020
- PivotFrom growth to profitability: NOK 3bn rights issue, asset sales
Financial servicesGovernance from start-up to listed bankBank Norwegian · Supervisory Board member, 2008–2017
Member of the Supervisory Board of Bank Norwegian and Norwegian Finance Holding, overseeing a digital-first bank from its early years to the IPO.
- Founded
- 2007 · Fornebu, Norway
- Business
- Digital bank: loans, cards and savings
- Scale
- 1.7M customers in six markets (2021)
- Path
- Listed 2016 · acquired by Nordax 2021
- 9 yearsFrom start-up through the 2016 listing on Oslo Børs
- OversightAppointing board members and independent oversight of management
- ComplianceRegulatory compliance and protection of stakeholder interests
Merger and integrationMerging two organizations into one social enterpriseForskerfabrikken · Chair since 2022
Scientist Factory and Forskerfabrikken became one company with one strategy, management team, financial system and culture.
- Founded
- 2002, Norway
- Business
- STEM courses, summer schools and learning tools
- Reach
- More than half a million children
- Model
- Social enterprise, reinvests its surplus
- 2 to 1Companies merged under one strategy, management team and brand
- StrongerImproved liquidity and profitability, with reduced external debt
- 500k+Children inspired by courses, summer schools and experiments since 2002
Board rolesGovernance for technology and health scale-upsFive of more than 20 board roles
| Company | Sector | Contribution | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defigo | Proptech · video intercom | US and Europe expansion, fundraising | 2019–2022 |
| Snappit / Weorder | Mobile ordering · payments | Chair through rebrand and acquisition | 2016–2020 |
| Styret.com | Proptech · housing SaaS | Strategy, fundraising, product | 2016–2019 |
| Dynamisk Helse | Healthcare training | Strategy, fundraising, growth | 2021–2023 |
| GreinDX | Cancer diagnostics | Governance, commercialization planning | 2021–now |
These are a few of my board roles. In total I have served on more than 20 boards.
Governance and public serviceLong-term governance beyond the growth storyBiral · Melanor · Norway Health Tech · Vestre Aker · BI
Biral
Board member since 2012
Family-owned lubricant producer, established in 1946. Long-term planning and generational continuity.
Melanor, part of NHO Geneo
Board member, 2010–2016
Then LFH, later Medtek Norge, now Melanor within NHO Geneo. Turned a purchasing forum into a full industry association for medical and welfare technology.
Norway Health Tech
Election committee, 2020–2024
Nominated board candidates for Norway’s leading health innovation cluster.
Vestre Aker, Oslo
Borough council, 2015–2019
Publicly elected, and a member of the health and social committee.
BI Norwegian Business School
Mentor for Executive MBA students, every year since 2012
An independent foundation established in 1943, with more than 20,000 students on campuses in Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim. BI holds the three leading international accreditations (AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA), known as the Triple Crown, held by fewer than 1 % of business schools worldwide.
Reference customers
Organizations I have worked with
Principal
Christian Fredrik Stray
Interim CEO, board member and investor, with 20+ years as CEO and board director across healthcare, medtech, aviation, education and technology.
I combine hands-on operational leadership with a strategic board perspective. Through Apriori Group I also hold ownership in GreinDX, MedEasy, Styret.com and Biral.
- Education
Executive MBA, ESCP Europe · B.Sc. Biomedical Engineering, Wright State University
- Executive programs
Notre Dame Mendoza, CBS Executive and Carlson School of Management
- Languages
English · Norwegian · Danish · Swedish
Contact
Let’s talk about your next step
Available for interim CEO roles, board and advisory assignments, and selected investments in healthcare, healthtech, edtech and other technology companies facing transformation, growth or turnaround.
Christian Fredrik Stray
Apriori Group
- Phone
- +47 99706109
- linkedin.com/in/cfstray
- Based in
- Oslo, Norway