The Nordics’ first scaleup ranking

What type of milestones make a startup a scaleup? How do the Nordics perform when it comes to growing unicorns, and why does it matter?

An engaging discussion was had at Dealroom’s in-depth panel covering ‘The Art of Scaleup Hunting’ at TechBBQ in Copenhagen, where tech meets hygge. The can’t-miss annual summit brought together tech leaders and enthusiasts to talk the latest tech trends, listen to expert speakers, and enjoy some good old-fashioned BBQ.

Our partners at Nordic Innovation joined us in the hygge spirit to discuss the latest findings from our report on Nordic Scaleups 2022. Made in partnership with Nordic Innovation, The upcoming report will introduce the top 1,000 scaling companies in the Nordics, including the national rankings of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland’s top 50 scaleups.

(Left to right): Bjarne Schøn, Mia Grosen, Kristian Grum, Anna-Maija Sunnanmark, Louis Geoffroy-Terryn and Christiana Manzocco.

Expert panelists included Nordic Innovation’s Anna-Maija Sunnanmark, and other stakeholders to the Nordic Scalers program Mia GrosenBjarne SchønKristian Grum as well as Dealroom’s own Louis Geoffroy-Terryn & Christiana Manzocco. Along with discussing our report’s key findings, and exploring how the Nordics fare when it comes to developing unicorns, panelists covered Nordic Innovation’s scaleup program.

What is it: A scaleup program initiated by Nordic Innovation, to help Nordic scaleups manage and accelerate their next stages of growth via access to new competences, networks (mentors, peers) and capital.

Who is it for: To be eligible, the scaleups need to have at minimum an annual revenue of 2M€, personnel of at least 10 people, Annual growth figures of at least 20% in the past 3 years

How does it work: Implemented in public-private partnership, with a clear Nordic added value: Nordic Scalers pilot (2017 – 2019), Nordic Scalers 2.0 (2021 – 2023)

(Left to right): Louis Geoffroy-Terryn, Anna-Maija Sunnanmark, and Christiana Manzocco.

"We have a huge job to do in our ecosystem to support companies becoming unicorns. Capital is not enough. The companies also need a lot of sparring."

Mia Grosen, Founder of Canute

There was a general agreement among the panelists, that there needs to be more initiatives to support Nordic startups in becoming scaleups. With an event like TechBBQ, that supports and strengthens the Nordic startup and scaleup ecosystem, a scaleup program like Nordic Innovation’s Nordic Scalers, and our upcoming report covering the Nordic scaleup landscape, the Nordics look to be a developing hub for future unicorns.

Keep an eye out for can’t-miss findings from our upcoming Nordic Scaleups 2022 report, expected to be released this fall here and on Nordic Innovation’s website.