There are limited early-stage funds for entrepreneurs. Available capital often comes from the government, where funders often lack the relevant experience and understanding of entrepreneurship. Outside the Nordic countries, the best resources are hard to access.For the people behind the Nordic One project the answer to these challenges lies in creating an ecosystem in which new entrepreneurs can be matched with successful ex-entrepreneurs through a founders fund, and a Nordic alliance of incubators can be forged to establish a stronger access to Nordic and international resources.
Among the objectives are establishing a Nordic founders fund of MNOK 100 and developing the Nordic One Alliance as one of the leading ICT incubators in the world – ultimately fostering a highly competitive base of ambitious Nordic ICT entrepreneurs.
Project status
As of May 2015, the Nordic One project has held six meetings/workshops for planning and mutual knowledge exchange regarding best practices for working with Nordic startups. It also has several activities coming up:
- Nordic Startup Ambition Booster trip – first batch scheduled to go to SFSV in September 2015.
- SVCatalyst: a tailor-made Nordic/US bridge to help more mature startups enter the US – and explore how to attract more capital to the Nordic region.
- Nordic Rolodex – a better way to connect with stakeholders across countries within the Nordic startup ecosystem.
- Startup recruitment (offline and online) and PR/marketing best practices across all Nordics.
Project partners
Norway:
StartUpLab Norway (Project Managers)
Sweden:
STING Sweden
Denmark:
Scion DTU A/S
Finland:
KoppiCatch
Iceland:
Innovation House Iceland
