Nordic Innovators helps startups find free money

from The Guide (2023) - A comprehensive overview of the Danish startup ecosystem

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Innovative startups have good opportunities to finance their development through soft funding. Nordic Innovators helps navigate the jungle of public funds and application forms.

Developing new technologies and bringing groundbreaking business models to market are an expensive task. That is why a wealth of Danish and European funding schemes have been established to help innovators without requiring ownership in return - so-called soft funding. But it can be a difficult and time-consuming job to find the right support programmes, especially as a startup with very limited resources in terms of both time and finances.

“However, all startups should consider soft funding. There are not equal opportunities for everyone, and it usually requires a certain level of innovation. It is also not necessarily something you should prioritise - but everyone should at least think about the possibilities,” says Kristoffer Riis.

As partner and CCO of Nordic Innovators, a consultancy agency that special- ises in helping startups and companies raise funding from Danish and European funding programmes, he has in depth knowledge about the opportunities.

A long-term funding opportunity

With 10 years of experience, Nordic Innovators has a broad overview of the many funding opportunities in Denmark and abroad. They use this overview as a basis for a strategic discussion with startups, so that their development plan can be matched with potential soft funding opportunities.

“What does the roadmap look like and what do you want to do in the future? We want to look a bit further ahead because if you need money now, soft funding is not the right way to go. It is not quick money, so it is about looking a year or two ahead and seeing what developments are in the

3 companies which received funding with support from Nordic Innovators

• Tada Medical: DKK 50 million in EU funding (Eurostars & EIC Accelerator)

• IO Interactive: DKK 1.2 million (Innobooster)

Airflight: approx. DKK 5 million (Innobooster) pipeline and getting it planned in terms of applications,” says Kristoffer Riis.

Once the plan is in place, Nordic Innovators also has experience in translating the plans into concrete applications, so that the chance of getting funding in return of the hours invested is as high as possible.

“Our customers have knowledge in their field, and our job is to get that knowledge into an application. It is a written process, and sometimes it also involves pitch training - but in both cases, we help assure the quality of the application so that the chance of success is as high as possible,” says Kristoffer Riis.