Who says there’s no venture money in Denmark (and the Nordics)? Earlier this year Northzone closed a new fund worth 90 million EUR and today Via Ventures announced that it has raised 134 million (a nice and round 1 billion DKK).  Northzone is an investor in Spotify and Stepstone and Via Ventures’ portfolio includes Zoomio [...]

I’ve been invited by Brian Mikkelsen, Danish Minister of Economic and Business Affairs, to join a one-day meeting called “Vækstdag” this Monday. The idea is to assemble people active in entrepreneurship and investing to pick their brains for a day. I don’t know how much real value you can get by locking people up in [...]

The Startup Weekend and [Startup Digest] teams have put together an awesome event in Kansas City. 125 SW organizers and SD curators are gathering for 3 days of workshops and brainstorming sessions on how to take these two initiatives forward. There are over 20 countries represented including Japan, Australia, South Africa, Chile and of course [...]

Something’s weird here. -IBM Smartcamp is struggling to get enough applicants. Paris had over 150 teams apply! Sure it’s Paris, but this is Denmark! -The Nordic Venture Forum had to combine its two pre-academies (free training and feedback for startups) into one due to lack of sign ups. -Startupbootcamp, which I run, had a limited [...]

Vækstfonden recently published an overview of Business Angel activity in Denmark. The main take aways: Angel investments fell by 35% between 2008 and 2009 Danish Angels expect to make more investments and exits in 2010 On average Danish Angels plan to invest 1.1 mio. DKK and to make 1-2 investments in 2010 (doc in Danish)

Silicon Valley Boot Camp – by the Silicon Valley Academy (Jeff Snider) has a few spots left open for a workshop running June 15th to 16th.  See details and how to register here: Silicon Valley Academy Boot Camp Intro vers 1.1 A4 SVA Workshop Agenda DK 15-16jun2010

A contact of mine asked me the following: “Alex, a young friend of mine, a ~20 yr old student, is fascinated with startups. Which events, fora and networks do you think he should follow, where a 20 year-old “beginner” will fit in?” Not easy – in Denmark.  Here’s what I replied, slightly edited (what am [...]

Startupdenmark News May 2010 Tech Crunch Nordic is coming to town! …followed by Mini Seedcamp. The Aarhus Copenhagen Startup Weekend is approaching fast. Ticket sales have started, go here to sign up. See you on June 11th 2010 at Incuba Science Park.

Startupdenmark News

March 2010

News archive January ’10 The first First Friday was held and it was a huge success.  60 participants watched 10 entrepreneurs take turns on stage with their 3 min. x 3 slides slots. December 09 Clint Nelsen of Startupweekend.org was in CPH to talk to us at Startupbootcamp about holding such an event in Copenhagen.  [...]