With its culture best defined by its famed hygge and renowned as one of the happiest country’s in the world, Denmark is also home to an exciting startup ecosystem.
With design and innovation as part of the Danish DNA, Denmark has an interesting blend of creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, and an educated talent pool that is generating exciting ideas and companies. The Danes show an interest in particular in guiding startups toward sustainable, innovative, human-centric ideas and technologies. It is one of the world’s most digital and agile societies, and with the national goal to be powered 100% by renewables by 2050, innovation in tech is soaring.
In 2021, the Nordic country established itself as a hub of activity in the region, with record-breaking rounds and increased global attention. In Copenhagen especially, the combination of a supportive and experienced entrepreneurial community, hassle-free business environment, and highly educated workforce is making for exciting developments. The home of European titans Just Eat and Zendesk, Denmark was also the birthplace of two of Europe’s 2021 stand out unicorns – Pleo and Lunar.
2022 is therefore set to be a big year for Denmark! So, here are 10 Danish startups, all founded since 2019, that we reckon you need to keep a close eye on this year.
Klimate – Founded in 2020, Klimate is a green tech startup delivering robust, future-proof climate impact strategies that avoid the greenwashing pitfall. Klimate helps companies work towards achieving net-zero, combining the best carbon removal tech and maximising climate impact within specific budgets and ambitions. Klimate was founded on the realisation that a lot of money is being spent on climate action – but a lot of it is actually wasted on bad offsets. Greenwashing is too common in the climate conversation. The startup is on a mission to help companies do better, using business and tech to work together to have a positive impact on the world. The team of 11 based in Copenhagen have already removed 1500 tons of carbon and raised over €639k.
Monta – In 2020 the idea for Monta came from a place of frustration with the electric vehicle (EV) market. While the EV sector has been skyrocketing across Europe, full of cutting-edge tech, the charging experiences is still painfully limited. Monte is a charging management system for all EV driver to manage their charge points smoothly and flexibly. EV is set to be the future of mobility, so it makes sense that we need better systems in place to manage the logistics. Monta adapts to the needs of the user – regardless of whether they are individuals trying to reduce personal CO2 consumption or a big corporation. The startup began 2022 with a €17 million funding boost and has exciting plans in place to accelerate the adoption of EVs by giving EV drivers a look into charge point availability, prices and a seamless payment solution.
Female Invest – On a mission to close the financial gender gap, Copenhagen-based Female Invest educates women on personal finance and investing through a subscription-based learning platform. Founded in 2019, the edtech startup has now raised a total of more than €5 million and has members in over 60 countries. The startup was founded by three women who were interested in investing, but unsure of how to get started. They got together to make investing a more inclusive, transparent and fun space for women. By creating a space for women to talk and learn about money, the startup is helping improve the outlook of financial equality around the world. As a social e-learning platform, Female Invest, at its core, is a community. Membership includes access to webinars, recordings, eLearning videos, in-depth articles, quizzes, downloadable content, masterclasses, access to an online magazine, as well as access to the growing online community.
Levitate – Founded in 2020, Levitate has already raised over €730k for its mission to bring about equal access to an active life. The young startup specializes in producing high-quality and environmentally friendly sports and exercise prosthetics for amputees at an affordable cost. It is specifically tailored to help people who either experienced leg amputation or were born with it and who want to be active. Until Levitate, amputees, like the startup’s founder, have had to overcome a series of financial and emotional hurdles to get the gear they need to get moving. Levitate has reimagined the entire system, granting people the power to directly order running blades to their homes. The startup now counts customers across 17 countries.
Finematter – Using tech to help jewellery designers scale sustainably, Finematter was founded in 2020. The platform connects consumers with a curated selection of jewellery handcrafted by independent artists, supporting independent creatives and entrepreneurs to scale their businesses without losing creative integrity. In a world of mass-produced convenience, Finematter is a breath of fresh air that celebrates individualism, artistry and above all – a human touch. Sourcing from the finest independent jewellery artists from across the globe, the platform showcases a selection of supremely unique and design-leading pieces – the ‘white-gloved jeweller available on the web’. Finematter also aims to be a source for positive impact and so offers support and education for studios and artists in developing more sustainable production methods. Enabling experience and information-sharing as well as apprenticeships, this community gives independent brands the power and knowledge to build their businesses in a way that is good for both themselves and the planet.
Responsibly – Supplier data platform for responsible procurement Responsibly was founded in 2021 to provide a one-stop-shop for responsible supplier data across a wide variety of data providers. The startup has now raised over €1.75 million and is growing at an exciting pace. Responsibly was founded with the mission to make every purchase in the world responsible, believing that there’s a global force for change locked inside the worlds procurement departments. The fast-growing company has built the data infrastructure to help all players in procurement connect – giving buyers the transparency they need to make decisions, suppliers only have to update one product, and data providers can easily find users for their data. Procurement software doesn’t need to build hundreds of integrations, and that’s what Responsibly is offering – a movement to sync up and collaborate.
Podimo – Founded in 2019, Podimo has been growing fast, receiving €69 million in November last year. The company offers a subscription service for audio entertainment and podcasts and are on a mission to expand their content offering across the world. Podimo offers thousands of exclusive podcasts, audiobooks, and experiences in both short and long formats, as well as popular podcasts from anywhere in the world via RSS feed. Finding that the vast majority of listeners like to access content in their native language, the startup has the vision to put local language content to the core of user experience, creating an internationally accessible service that is tapping into the massively growing market of content consumption. In 2021, Podimo doubled its output of exclusive shows week on week, spanning today’s most exciting and important voices and are now offering more than 950 original productions and exclusive shows. Currently, the service is available across Denmark, Germany, Spain, Norway and across Latin America, with an aim to expand further this year.
Dynasty Studios – Founded just last year, Dynasty Studios is a next-generation gaming startup working with blockchain to develop rich, high-quality gameplay that aims to shape the future of gaming. The young company has already picked up more than €5 million, following a gamer first ethos as it transforms both the gaming and blockchain communities. Based in Copenhagen, the startup was built by a team of veteran game developers with a passion for player-driven experiences. Gaming and blockchain are two megatrends at the moment, and so Dynasty Studios is well-positioned to grow at a fast pace this year, with lots of plans for expansion already in the pipeline.
Capturi – Founded in 2019, Capturi uses AI and Speech Analytics to improve customer interactions. So far, the startup has raised over €5.5 million. The Capturi platform identifies the characteristics of successful customer conversations. Capturi customers can then use this to replicate the techniques of their best employees for the rest of the team. Customer services is more important than ever since the pandemic, and SMEs across Europe have noticed the heightened expectations that customers have. By harnessing the power of AI, Capturi is empowering businesses to provide better service for customers, equipping teams with the tools and knowledge they need.
Cytoki Pharma – Treating epithelial injury diseases, CytoKi Pharma is a pre-clinical biotech company founded in 2019 and has now raised over €39 million. Cytoki’s lead program is an engineered long-acting IL-22 protein that secures the survival and repair after an injury – the immune system’s “Survive and Recover” signal to the tissue. CytoKi harnesses the power of IL-22 in the treatment of organ injuries, through a modified IL-22 protein engineered to have optimal pharmaceutical properties. The company is aiming to begin clinical testing in 2022. At the same time, the company is maturing a small, diversified portfolio of projects for diseases involving epithelial injury based on IL-22 biology and highly proven technology for protein engineering.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
