The regional winners of the 8th season of the Nordic Startup Awards (the Nordic edition of Global Startup Awards, the world’s largest independent startup ecosystem competition) have just been announced. This year’s edition took place with a spectacular online Awards Show, obviously due to the pandemic.
The Regional Grand Finale Day gathered some of the most important startup ecosystem players such as investors, startups, corporates, and government representatives, all selected by the competition from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The actual announcement took place in the evening, while the invite-only Summit, with over 150 well-selected guests, took place throughout the day in the avatar-based virtual world of VirBELA, followed by pre-planned 1:1 matchmaking sessions.
From 4036 nominations this year, 850 were accepted and finalized, from the 5 participating countries, across 9 categories. The highest public voted company was also announced as the “People’s Choice”.
The Awards announcement also welcomed special guests like Mia Wagner, co-founder of Nordic Female Founders, David Helgason, founder of Unity & Board Member at NordicMakers.vc and Ulrik Harald Bie, Economic Editor at Berlingske.
This competition season was run in a close partnership with BioInnovation Institute, Innovation Centre Denmark, Livatek, Vækstfonden, The Danish Green Investment Fund, +impact, Goodwille, SpaceNet and Sustainary.
And the winners this year are:
Best Accelerator/Incubator Programme: Sting (Sweden)
Sting is a leading ecosystem for tech startups in the Nordics. They are an independent, founder-centric player that always acts based on what’s best for your startup.
Investor of the Year: Icebreaker (Finland)
Icebreaker invests €150k – 800k in Finnish, Swedish and Estonian software-driven companies in idea, angel and early-seed stages.
Best Coworking Space: Mesh Nationaltheatret (Norway)
Mesh Nationaltheatret gathers individuals, startups, and growth companies with an entrepreneurial mindset – who want to make a positive impact on the future.
Ecosystem Hero of the Year: Henna Keränen (Sweden)
Henna has been an active person within the Nordic ecosystem. At Sting, she is leading the strategic partnerships and community, and is also a Project Manager of Test Drive Climate Action.
Founder of the Year: Elina Berglund Scherwitzl (Sweden)
Elina is the Co-Founder and CEO of Natural Cycles which is the first and only digital birth control, cleared by the FDA in the US and CE marked in Europe as a medical device.
Best Climate Impact Startup: Saga Robotics (Norway)
Saga Robotics develops robotic solutions that address the growing labour shortages in agriculture, and makes farming more sustainable and energy efficient.
Best Health Tech Startup: Particle3D (Denmark)
Particle3D is founded on proprietary technology to 3D print patient specific, natural, and degradable bone implants.
Best Newcomer: Lucinity (Iceland)
Lucinity is an AML software startup that uses its Human AI technology to make money good.
Startup of the Year: Voi Technology (Sweden)
Voi Technology is one of Europe’s leading micro-mobility providers. It operates in more than 40 cities in Sweden, with 50% market share for scooter licenses in Europe.
People’s Choice: Sting (Sweden)
Winning a second award of the night, Sting also won the Best Accelerator/Incubator Programme category.
