FAV FOOD: Hummus. FAV COUNTRY: France. FAV QUOTE: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde. CELEB CRUSH: Pedro Almodóvar. PEOPLE DON’T KNOW: I’m almost always enrolled in some university course.
Mats Ulenius
Driving authenticity in content marketing
GLOBAL EXPLORATION. For Mats Ulenius, the Founder and CEO of Reeler, entrepreneurship is rooted in a quest for adventure and a desire to create meaningful connections. Growing up in a small industrial town in northern Sweden, Mats learned early on to take initiative and make things happen for himself. This self-starter attitude, combined with a love for learning and exploration, has defined Mats’s journey from a curious student to a pioneering entrepreneur.
Reeler, based in Stockholm, is Mats’s first venture, a marketing tech startup that automates all processes of user-generated content (UGC) marketing. The enterprise SaaS platform developed by Reeler makes it easy for companies to collect and publish authentic content.
Mats’s passion for learning and exploration was evident early on. A pivotal moment came during a high school exchange program in Medford, Oregon, which sparked his desire to continue exploring the world. Mats has since lived in 10 countries and learned six languages.
Pursuing a degree in Industrial Engineering in Sweden, Mats leveraged his education as a vehicle to establish an international career. Despite finding engineering “quite boring, in all honesty,” he knew it would open doors. His university studies included exchanges in Spain and the US, where he studied AI at Berkeley. “I’ve always taken the opportunity to go see new places, get to know them, and learn from that,” he says.
Mats’s early career took him to Education First (EF), an educational youth travel company, where he transitioned from engineering to marketing. His work at EF took him around the globe. “I would find the office, hire the people, train them, and do all the marketing activities,” Mats explains. He eventually advanced to a global CMO role, leading a large team of creatives and tech experts, where he felt he had the most amazing job in the world.
The pandemic, however, provided the impetus Mats needed to take the leap into entrepreneurship. With the travel industry in turmoil, Mats saw an opportunity to finally start his own venture.
He joined the Antler accelerator program, where he met his co-founder Magnus Bågenholm and brainstormed various business ideas. The concept for Reeler emerged from Mats’s marketing background and his passion for film and content production. “The idea for Reeler is essentially what I wanted when I was CMO.”
POWERED BY USERS. Launching Reeler during the pandemic was challenging, but Mats’s and his co-founder’s determination and vision drove the company forward. “We started with nothing, spent the first weeks brainstorming different ideas, and after a couple of months, we created Reeler and got funding,” he recalls. Today, Reeler continues to evolve based on its founders’ vision as well as customer feedback.
As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Mats’s experience launching Reeler has been largely positive, however, he acknowledges the need for greater diversity in Sweden’s startup ecosystem. “Diversity is often simplified to gender equality in Sweden,” he notes. “Other aspects of diversity, including sexual orientation, are often overlooked—especially compared to how much it’s progressed in America.”
As a relatively new founder himself, Mats’s advice for LGBTQIA+ founders is to lean into their strengths. “Your passion is your strength,” Mats emphasizes.
Mats is optimistic about the future of user-generated content (UGC). “People are increasingly skeptical of traditional advertising and wary of manipulated imagery, such as photoshopped models and AI-generated content,” he explains. “This shift toward valuing authenticity influences what we eat, how we dress, and everything we consume. With Reeler, we’re equipping brands with a tool to drive growth through genuine authenticity.”
