Tech Nordic Advocates

🚨 HOT OFF THE PRESS! The final jolly edition of the Tech Nordic Advocates' Newsletter is out now! 🔥 🎁 This gift is loaded with more exciting breaking news, community updates and global opportunities in 2025 for you, the reader - so, here's a quick taster of what you'll find inside... ❄️ December Wrap-Up – Highlights from another successful month ❄️ Upcoming Events – BIG partner collaborations and opportunities in 2025 ❄️ US Market Access Program – Final chances to sign up in Finland & Sweden ❄️ New TNA Ambassador announcement ❄️ Access to Funding – New opportunities and DVF partnerships revealed ❄️ Startup Stories – Exciting investment news to share from Nordic and Baltic startups ❄️ Global Highlights – International tech community events & celebrations ❄️ Female Founders – Insights from our events & international programmes - showcasing their success, and our impact 🔥 ☕ So, time to sit back, relax, and and dive into the final news of 2024 from the Nordic, Baltic, and Global tech community: https://lnkd.in/dQ3QfjG9 👀 Enjoy, and see you in 2025 for the next edition! #NordicMade #Newsletter #StartupNews #BalticTechNews #NordicTechNews

🇩🇰 🇫🇮 🇳🇴 Masterclass Spotlight - "Building Your Organisation for Success" 📈 Recently, we had the pleasure of hosting an inspiring session with Paul Webber, a long-standing Tech Nordic Advocates' speaker and mentor. Paul has been guiding fast-growth businesses and entrepreneurs for years, helping them reshape strategy, enhance stakeholder engagement, and secure critical fundraising through institutions like EIB, EIC, InnovFund, and VCs. 🌟 With over 25 years of international and multi-sectoral experience, Paul works closely with innovative tech ventures, circular economy initiatives, and social entrepreneurs. On a voluntary basis, he’s a passionate advocate for women in tech, social entrepreneurship, and disadvantaged young people. In the session, Paul shared key insights that every founder and leader can apply: ✅ The importance of personal leadership as a foundation for success. ✅ What truly matters when building a team that can scale and thrive. ✅ How to lead high-performing teams to drive sustainable growth. ✅ How professional investors evaluate a team, proving that the "who" is often as critical as the "what". Paul’s deep expertise gave founders practical strategies to elevate their leadership and team-building efforts, offering a roadmap for success on the scale-up journey. 🚀 🙌 A huge thank you to Paul for sharing his wisdom and for your continued support of the TNA community! See you in 2025! #Leadership #ScaleupSuccess #TeamBuilding #StartupGrowth #TechNordicAdvocates #NordicMade

🇩🇰 💰 Big news from our Diversity Venture Fund team! We’re excited to welcome Alliance VC as our newest DVF investor - they are now ready to be matched with, and receive pitch decks from, tech companies led by women, as part of our DVF programme. 🤝 Alliance VC is a forward-thinking VC firm with a mission to empower founders and ideas that push the tech industry forward. Their belief in the power of diversity aligns perfectly with DVF’s vision to create more inclusive opportunities for underrepresented founders. A special mention to Stine Mølgaard Sørensen, GP at Alliance VC and an incredible role model in our community. Stine’s commitment to diversity and her inspiring presence, whether on stage as a speaker or in a panel, continues to pave the way for success. Her energy, insight, and passion are unmatched. As Stine says: “At Alliance, we wish to see a great variety of startups and founders that represent new ideas and solutions that can propel the tech industry forward. In essence, we believe that diversity in its broadest definition fuels innovation and strengthens our industry's future.” Together with Alliance VC, we’re ready to champion the next wave of game-changing startups. Let’s build a future where innovation knows no boundaries. #diversityintech #femalefounders #funding #investing #startups #nordicmade

🇩🇰 🇫🇮 🇳🇴 MASTERCLASS SPOTLIGHT 🇩🇰 🇫🇮 🇳🇴 This week, we had the privilege of hosting Dennis Kayser, Co-founder of Forecast, who shared invaluable insights into their impressive journey from Denmark to global success, with his masterclass on "The Scaling Journey of Forecast ". Dennis took us behind the scenes of Forecast's growth journey and broke down critical steps for successful scaling... ✅ International expansion: How Forecast approached and planned their expansion ✅ Timing for expansion: What traction and revenue milestones informed their decision to expand internationally? ✅ Scaling operations: Managing organisation, team, processes, and technology during rapid growth ✅ Fundraising: The role of capital in their strategy and the challenges they overcame along the way ✅ Lessons learnt: Do’s and don’ts for scaling companies embarking on a similar journey. 🚀 Dennis gave founders and entrepreneurs an honest, practical look into the challenges and triumphs of scaling globally. His experience offered a powerful playbook for anyone preparing for international growth. 👏 A huge thanks, once again, to Dennis for sharing Forecast's inspiring story and for his actionable advice! What key milestones or challenges did you face during your own scale-up journey? Let’s us know in the comments below... #ScaleupJourney #StartupGrowth #GlobalExpansion #Leadership #TechNordicAdvocates #NordicMade

🇫🇮 🇩🇰 🇳🇴 Calling female and non-binary founders! Do you, too, want to get your hands on international support? 🌍 Apply to our International Female Founder Programmes and discover how Tech Nordic Advocates’ global initiatives and support have empowered countless companies to achieve their dreams. Let’s make 2025 your breakthrough year - don’t miss out - as Annika Lundström, award winning CEO of ReMinded, shares - Tech Nordic Advocates was crucial in helping them get on their feet this year. 🚀 Established founders out there, join our International Accelerator Programme to improve your skills and mindset, and gain access to global clients, partners, pitch training, investors, real-time support from seasoned professionals. 🇫🇮 Application for startups based in Finland here: https://lnkd.in/d8MpvUPV 🇩🇰 Application for startups based in Denmark here: https://lnkd.in/dhdxpd2y 🇳🇴 Application for startups based in Norway here: https://lnkd.in/dMXMFfpP 🌱 Early-Stage Founders should join our International Mentoring Programme to kickstart your business. Receive guidance from two mentors and develop your skills to generate revenue, grow your team, and raise your first investments. 🇫🇮 Application for startups based in Finland here: https://lnkd.in/dd7NAvwi 🇩🇰 Application for startups based in Denmark here: https://lnkd.in/dxCNiHne 📨 Applications are accepted on a rolling basis so we encourage you to apply soon to secure your spot! Join the global tech community - today! ⏱️ FINAL Deadline for applications are Denmark: January 24th - Finland: January 31st - Norway: February 14th #accelerator #incubator #femalefounders #diversityintech #changemakers #nordicmade #womeintech #wepromotewomen #startups #nordictech

🇳🇴 🇫🇮 🇩🇰 🇬🇧 Scaling-up is fundamentally different from starting up - so how do you build the right leadership team to succeed? At our Scaleup Roundtable, industry experts Richard Lowe CIPD, The Training Alchemist, Managing Director at Hewlett Rand and Group Lead of Tech West England Advocates and Steve Phillips, Group Business Enablement Director at Sanderson, shared strategies for recruiting and developing top-performing teams - critical for scaleup success. ✨ Key takeaways included: ✅ Tailored professional support is vital during the scaleup phase ✅ The right team must evolve beyond startup dynamics - structure, resilience, and cultural fit matter more than ever Top tips for founders: 📈 Plan ahead for growth (12+ months) 📈 Invest in leadership development and skill-building 📈 Don’t compromise on culture - internal communication is key as teams scale   Why this matters: Research from the UK Scaleup Institute highlights that most scaleups struggle because of team capability gaps. Leaders need to recruit wisely, develop their teams intentionally, and keep the long-term view in mind. 🚀 🙏 A big thank you to Richard Lowe CIPD, The Training Alchemist and Steve Phillips for sharing your insights and expertise! #ScaleupSuccess #LeadershipDevelopment #TeamBuilding #Entrepreneurship #GrowthStrategies #NordicMade

🇫🇮 ...And that's a wrap on the Female Founder Pitching Day 2024! 🌟 Congratulations to our winner - Anna Ptukha, Founder of Mind's Eyetrack, for winning the prize of €1k! Mind's Eyetrack is a healthcare startup accelerating eye tracking diagnostics, which provides subjective, scientifically validated tests for developmental conditions, including ASD and ADHD. We are so happy - Anna is also one of the mentees of our Female Founder International Mentoring Programme! A huge round of applause also to all of our amazing female founders who gave their all on stage and definitely didn't make it easy for the jury. You should all be very proud of yourselves too! 🙌 ✨ Natasha de Koker ✨ Pia Solatie ✨ Shandra P. ✨ Sheila Riikonen, MSSc ✨ Berna BULGURCU ✨ Santa Bürkland (She/Her) ✨ Jinglu Chen ✨ Maria Panttila ✨ Geetali Dewan ✨ Aizea Arce de Muguerza ✨ Svetlana Sharifulina, PhD We'd like to extend our gratitude to our sponsors at Google and Roschier for making this event possible, as well as to our incredible panel of judges - Janiina Lammi, Peter Vesterbacka, Caritta Seppä, Petri Rajahalme, and Hilla Klemetti. 🙌 A heartfelt thank you also to Nasima Razmyar for taking the time from your busy schedule to inspire us with your keynote speech, and to Paula Miettinen for welcoming us to the iconic Helsinki City Hall. Thank you to the rest of the amazing speakers - Annika Nevaste, Tero Jormanainen, Jeanette Carlsson, Riikka Loisamo and Hanna Nyholm, to Vivian Maar and Angeliki Papagiannopoulou for hosting the stage, to our volunteers from START Helsinki - Ella Kennedy, Peggy Mikander, Hoai Mai, as well to our very own Ani Didishvili and the smashing rest of The Shortcut team, Evan B. and Anna Hiltunen! Thank you also to our organising partners, The Shortcut and Shevestments, for months of planning and collaboration, and thank you to all the attendees who have braced the ice and darkness to support female entrepreneurship! Happy Holidays, and we'll see you at our next event in 2025! 🥂 Photo credits to Wasim Al-Nasser 📷 #FFPD2024 #roschierattorneys #femalefounders #diversityintech #nordicmade

🇩🇰 🇫🇮 🇳🇴 What does it take to scale a startup from a local idea to a global success? 🌎 🌟 Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of hosting Theis Søndergaard, co-founder of Vivino, for an inspiring session on "The Scaling Journey of Vivino" for our International Accelerator Programme founders, across the Nordics. Vivino is today the world’s largest online wine marketplace and community, with over 60 million users worldwide! 🌐 Theis generously shared insights into Vivino's expansion to Silicon Valley, challenges of scaling operations across borders, including building effective teams in two different time zones, managing a global workforce with different cultures, and key learnings and advice that shaped their success - valuable lessons for any startup on the path to growth. From humble beginnings to scaling globally, Vivino’s journey is a true testament to the power of vision, persistence, and strategic growth. A huge thank you, Theis, for your candor, wisdom, and for reminding us that behind every great startup is a journey of grit, adaptability, challenges and continuous learning! 💪 #scaleupjourney #danishtech #nordicmade #founderstories #diversityintech

🇫🇮 🇩🇰 A BIG "Thank You" to Tomi Suomela and Sellai for a recent, inspiring, Masterclass "All About Sales" - for our Finnish and Danish International Mentoring Programmes! The hands-on workshop was packed with practical strategies and insights to help the founders drive results and grow their businesses. From identifying customer pain points to crafting compelling value propositions, Tomi delivered actionable advice and shared best practices, tools, and routines that can elevate any sales process. 🚀 As the CFO & Co-founder of Sellai, Tomi brings a wealth of experience - from helping companies refine their sales strategies to hiring top-performing sales talent and closing deals for clients. His expertise truly shone through in the session, leaving participants with clear takeaways to implement right away. 🌟 🙌 Thanks, once again, Tomi, for sharing your knowledge and empowering the founders to achieve more, and boost their sales across the board! #SalesMasterclass #TNAProgramme #Entrepreneurship #Nordicmade #Tech

🇬🇧 Huge congratulations to our partner, the London Stock Exchange, for debuting French Media giant, CANAL+ Group, on London's Main Market. Wow! This is brilliant news, Julia Hoggett, Charlie Walker, Ayuna N., Florence Keelson-Anfu - we look forward to following their exciting growth journey! 📈 Read more on this, below...