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Startup ReportNorway 2016

www.StartupReport.eu/norway

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Startup Report Norway 2016

Welcome to Startup Report Norway

A very warm welcome to this year’s edition of Startup Report Norway. My name is Florian Kandler, I’m a three-time founder, passionate entrepreneur and publisher of Startup Report Norway. This report is part of my passion project called www.StartupMilestones.eu, that aims to inspire and help European startup founders. I hope you enjoy seeing how many great Norwegian startups received funding in 2016. And I hope you enjoy the insights those founders share in the Q&A section of this report.

This is the first edition of this report in Norway. It is the most complete, freely available yearly list of startup fund-ings above NOK 2 million of the past year.

All of the information in the report was validated by the startup’s founders. And it is a compendi-um of startup knowledge, insights and tipps, shared by the founders of these successful startups.

Two reasons motivated to spend evenings and weekends in January, putting together this report: firstly, because of the enthusiastic feedback I re-ceived when I did Startup Report for the very first time in Austria last year; and secondly, because of my passion for small(er) European startup ecosys-tems, that are similar to Austria in many ways. So this year, I decided to use my connections in the Norwegian startup scene, and kick off the Norway edition of Startup Report.

What motivated me to create Startup Report?

I am a passionate startup entrepreneur. In the past nine years I have founded or co-founded three companies. Two of them raised an aggre-gate of several million Euros of venture funding in three separate rounds. Many amazing people helped and mentored me along the way.

Because I received so much support, I developed a mindset of offering my help to younger entrepreneurs, too. Up until this point, I do so by giving talks, mentoring at startup events and

in incubator programs in Europe and the USA. In 2016 I started a European Startup Podcast. And I do Facebook Live Streams, where I invite fellow European founders to chat with me, share know-how about various startup topics, and answer question of live viewers.

Who is Startup Report for?

Startup Report is mainly for the first-time start-up founders, who are just getting going – fighting their way from idea towards fundability. It is also for people considering starting a startup – e.g. university students who think about launch-ing a startup on the side or after they graduate; or young people who started their first job in a company, gathered some industry insights and/or realized that corporate life is not for them.

Startup Report is for those young, inspired, mo-tivated, driven, dedicated, energized people. To show them, how many other founders have suc-ceeded, turning their idea into a fundable venture. To show them, who the individuals behind these successful startups are. And to give them a taste of how those individuals tick, what their secrets for success are, and what tips they have for them.

Showing Role Models

Role models and success stories are one funda-mental aspect to encourage young people to give entrepreneurship a try. To show that “it can

be done”, and that the people who have succeed-ed are normal, tangible human beings like you and I. People who also started out small.

Celebrating Successes

There are great, successful entrepreneurs in Nor-way! And they are getting more and better every year. But the Norwegian startup ecosystem is still not as visible and tight-knit as I have seen in Ber-lin, London and Silicon Valley. And thus, many of the successes go unnoticed, without the potential to influence the decision of the next generation of potential entrepreneurs.

For that reason, I wanted a report to exist in this world, which celebrates the successes of the eco-system. A report with a focus on the people be-hind the successes. A report from the communi-ty, for the community.

Final Notes

People asked me, why this report is in English lan-guage. There are a couple of reasons. One is, that there are more and more international founders, who moved here from abroad to make Norway their startup’s home.

But also, the information, the successes, the knowledge in this report shall be able to travel across borders and language barriers. For that European founders, investors, mentors and eco-system supporters can learn from each other, get to know each other and form a community that spans this whole great continent of ours: Europe!

Sincerely yours,

Florian Kandler

http://www.startupreport.eu/norway

http://www.startupmilestones.eu

http://www.startupmilestones.eu

http://www.startupmilestones.eu/live

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Funding Millionaires of 2016

ᴥ Venture Fundings of over NOK 2.000.000 into Norwegian Startups in 2016 ᴥ

HQ Amount (NOK m)

Lead Investors Found-ing Year

Team Size

European Investors

Global Investors

ConceptoMed Ballstad i.L. 100,0 n/a 2012 12 yes no

Cutters Oslo 30,0 n/a 2015 60 no no

EnergyNest Billingstad >20,0 n/a 2011 14 yes no

Listen as Oslo >20,0 n/a 2014 n/a no no

Greenbird Oslo >20,0 Statkraft Ventures 2010 30 yes no

Seram Coatings Trondheim 20,0 Skogen, Reiten, Aaser, Langaker 2014 9 no no

Documaster Oslo 13,0 Televenture, Norsk Innovasjonskapital 2014 21 no no

Ardoq Oslo 10,7 Geir Førre 2013 12 no no

Trybe Oslo 10,0 n/a 2015 11 no no

Timely Oslo 8,2 SNÖ 2013 13 yes yes

Eventum Oslo 7,6 Alliance Venture 2013 7 no no

ELOP Hamar >5,0 Terje Melandso, Ketil Skaget 2013 8 yes no

Mojob Trondheim >5,0 Adolfsen Group 2015 8 no no

Staaker Oslo >5,0 Gunnar Hvammen 2014 10 no no

TikkTalk Oslo >5,0 Founders Fund, StartupLab, Angels 2016 8 no yes

VIO Oslo 4,3 Kjeller Innovasjon, T. Landsgård, Ø. Grøndalen 2014 11 no no

restdb.io Bergen 3,6 Bergen Teknologioverføring, Tanstaafl 2013 2 no no

Socius Oslo 3,5 RAA invest, 500 Startups 2013 8 yes no

ShareMy3D Oslo 2,5 The StartupLab 2015 3 no no

Appsco Sarpsborg >2,0 Sixthirty Cyber, St Louis 2013 11 yes yes

Tribe Insurance Oslo >2,0 Rocket Finance, etime, Snö Ventures 2016 12 no no

Dropracks Trondheim >2,0 n/a 2015 6 yes no

ExploCrowd Stavanger >2,0 Halvor Øgreid 2016 12 no no

Smart Plants Stavanger >2,0 Angel Challenge 2016 Stavanger 2015 12 no no

Hubro Education Trondheim 2 Thomas Berglund 2013 6 no no

www.StartupReport.eu/norway

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Network and trust in yourself as an entrepreneur is key to future successes with building value for the investors. Funding is an incremental process, where attractive investors may be contacted as the project/startup reached milestones according to the strategy.

What are differences a first-time founder must understand between Angels, VCs and Strategic Investors?

It all becomes a question of corporate control and share of ownership. Plan your ownership scenari-os.

What has evolved in the Norwegian startup scene in 2016?

There is an increasing general positive atmosphere

of entrepreneurship in Norway - and tax systems being proposed to encourage R&D and investing in high-risk project development.

What change would you like to see in the Nor-wegian startup scene in 2017?

National authorities should extend early stage support towards supporting actual market uptake and market access success in the home country.

ConceptoMed is an ambitious medtech company serving the global market with

unique proprietary technology

Christian Mide CEO

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ConceptoMedNOK 100.000.000

What milestone did you achieve with your startup BEFORE the most recent funding, that really enabled you to raise the money?

After heavy work on IPR strategy and implementa-tion, we signed an attractive distribution contract and set up manufacturing, as well as CE marked our first device in November 2015.

What mindset must a founder have, if (s)he wants to build a company WITH venture fund-ing?

A founder must be coachable and actively build a network of people/peers with diversified back-grounds to ensure a wise and informed approach to decision making. Making important corporate and operational decisions without this approach

carries an inherent risk of missing out on future critical issues.

What is a big mistake a founder can make in the fundraising process?

Everyone investor needs to have a ticket for the ride and see the upside potential some years down the road. Avoid preferential shares - your early in-vestors took the highest risk, and this needs to be acknowledged during the subsequent funding rounds. I would say that not acknowledging (and communicating) risk would be a big mistake.

What is your tip to a founder who asks you: “I don’t know any investors - how do I get in touch with them?”

There are always investors in your close network.

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Be unique and make sure you have a huge poten-tial, not only national but international


With angels you usually still have the majority of your own company and you can move it in the di-rection you want. With VCs and Startegic Investors you usually give away more of you company, you loose some flexibility and you have to satisfy more people.

What aspects did you look at when choosing your investors?

I always look after investors that are hands on and that knows the market. We don’t only look for the

money, but also their knowledge.


The startup scene in Norway is having a really positive development atm. People are in general much more interested in starting their own busi-ness now, compared to how it was a few years ago. The startups also get much more attention from media these days. It also seems like investors are more likely to spend their money on startups than before.


Bring the startup scene even more into the Univer-sities and make sure that they see the potential in starting their own business, not only start working for someone else.

What was the most helpful advice you’ve ever received as an entrepreneur?

Surround yourself with smart and hard working people, and never look back

Cutters provide 15 minute haircuts for only 299,- regardless of gender

Kristian Hauge Solheim Chairman of the Board

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CuttersNOK 30.000.000


We received funding from Innovasjon Norge that helped us a lot on the way, as well as managing to make our first saloon profitable right away.


You need to make sure you have a good team, a high growth potential and an already good organic growth


- A bad pitch that don’t convince the investor

- You don’t know how to show them that your com-pany is likely to make them money


Get engaged in startup communities, such as Forskningsparken in Oslo or Nyskapningsparken in Bergen. Here you will meet a lot of people that’s been true the same process already and you will likely be invited to events where there are many investors as well.

What is one “secret of success” for getting ven-ture funding as an Norwegian startup?

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It easier to build up traction in the home market in a “small country” such as Norway. Having traction in the home market is the best argument.


In the end: It’s all about the money. And both An-gels, VCs and strategic investors want to maximize the return on investment. The core difference is the time frames they operate in and when they want to exit.


In addition to the capital, investors should add val-ue to the startup’s growth strategy through a huge network (potential clients, experienced advisors or core hires, partners) or contribute with expe-rience (management, organizational development, international growth strategy, etc). The investors should be door opener and contribute directly to generate new business.


Companies such as Greenbird have been able to raise $5M from international VC funds and that should be a great signal to others.


1. More startups, Innovation Norway and VCs should focus more on sustainable growth compa-nies within the B2B / enterprise market.

2. More founders should understand that being a founder is not a job, but a lifestyle.

3. And more people should understand the “Jan-teloven” (Law of Jante) could kill their startup.


“If people don’t occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you’re doing something wrong.” Quote by John Gierach.

So: Dare to be different. Dare to make things your own way. Dare to think big. And dare to fail.

Metercloud: Enterprise SaaS for Big Data Integrations empowering the Smart Grid,

Smart City and IIoT

Thorsten Heller CEO

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GreenbirdNOK 20.000.000+


Metercloud was deployed for 10 utilities in pro-duction and proofed with that both the technical platform and the subscription model / business model.


“whatever you are thinking, thing bigger!” Quote from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos


1. Following all these startups “expert” tips and recommendations how the perfect pitch deck should look like.

2. Trying to be the “Über for xxx” or “AirBnB for yyy”.

3. Just thinking about conversation rates and not business model at all.


Do your homework: Screen and analyze the VC scene relevant for your business and sector. Join as many as possible meetups or events. Build your network. And then: Reach out with a personalized message show the VC you did your homework.

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There are great resources around on the web, and in Norway there are several startup incubators and contests where you can meet investors.


Think globally when you start. Norway is a small country and market, VC’s typically invest in a po-tential unicorn with a big exit. It is hard to make an unicorn when you are only have Norway as a market.


- Angels: Invest with their heart and money. Im-portant when you raise seed funding, especially smart money, i.e. they can work or connect you with important people for your startup

- VCs: They invest in you because your team, your growth metrics, product and market size. Measure more on KPIs. They have to know it is a possibility to get 100x return on their investment.

- Strategic investors: In the beginning phase, there are several strategic investors you can have, e.g. developer companies, potential partners, advisory members etc. Make sure it is a good fit that bene-fits all parties, and that there are no secret agen-das.


That they understand the risk and reward when investing in a tech startup. And that they can con-tribute somehow, not only with money (advisory board, board member, network, actual working in the company).


There are more focus in the startup scene in Nor-way from the government and private sector. There are more incubators coming on and more startups have raised a Series A. 2017 will be an exciting year for anyone that want to start a company.,


More Norwegian tech-startups expanding to in-

ternational markets, great ideas to the market and more Series A/B investments


Doing a startup is fun and challenging, but mental-ly really hard. Be sure to have good “life” routines, like work out, sleep enough and eat well. To stay in the long run, you have to be passionate about your product and your customers.

Eventum connects organizers with event spaces and event services through an

online platform

Jin Ha CEO

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EventumNOK 7.650.000


Two main milestones:

- Our team has been focused on growth for our KPI’s and we have had great MoM growth

- We decided to expand outside Norway to New York

Those two factors made our business case inter-esting for our investors.


A VC has high requirements in terms of rapid growth, because they are representing a fund. I believe our team are aligned with our investors, we want to grow rapidly to capture the markets be-fore our competitors do. So growing with the best product, that our customers and partners thinks are awesome, I would say the mindset has to be.


Wrong estimates how much time, energy and ef-fort it actually takes. Start fundraising when you still have a good runway, not and the end of it.


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understand between Angels, VCs and Strategic Investors?

First of all, talk to all three - establish a relationship based on advice. When you ask for money, you get advice. When you ask for advice, you may get mon-ey. Regardless of investor type.


Industry knowledge and an understanding of your product or service, especially when it comes to early investments.


More co-working spaces, a larger community and

that fact that startups are slowly attracting the best talent in Norway. Entrepreneurship is becom-ing a career.


Access to capital and perhaps a Slush-sized event hosted by Norway!


Mention your idea to everyone. Then listen and learn.

VIO gives you access to a whole world of quality journalism, through one simple

subscription.

Agnes Dyvik CEO

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VIONOK 4.300.000


Partnerships with some of the largest media orga-nizations in Norway, as well as launching our prod-uct commercially.


Investors want a return on their investment - its that simple. As a founder, this is what you have to achieve through continuous execution and always building for growth.


Not timing your fundraising with milestones. Al-ways show execution.


Fundraising is like dating, you just have to put your-self out there and go with the flow - and never give up!


Lead investments are game changers. Once they are onboard, you see the light at the end of the fundraising tunnel.

What are differences a first-time founder must

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to READ the termsheets twice.


Investors have limited time to find new and good companies to invest in. If you can get into an incu-bator or an accelerator, you’ll find that it is easier to get attention and meetings.


Show them traction. Sign ups, payments etc. If you can’t, show them the traction of similar companies. If you can’t do that, then take a look at your busi-ness model again.


In the early stage, prefer Angels to VCs. The’ve usu-ally got nicer terms and some of them can even help you a great deal. Later on, when you’ve got “proof” for your business model, VCs can often give you much more money. When and if you do this, you enter into a “path” to follow. Expect a little less freedom with VCs on board, but you should also expect them to be able to help you strategi-cally.


If I could choose, I would go with the ones that re-ally understand what you are doing and preferably have backgrounds from your field.


In 2016, the startup scene actually became a “scene”. Much more attention from the press and the public. Dedicated magazines. Many new start-up conferences, incubators and government mon-ey. Maybe a bit too much hype due to the need for Norwegians to find “the new oil”. However, I don’t think we need to find this new oil. Norwegians have always been great inventors (and explorers if you go way back). What we need to be better at, is thinking bigger and to learn how to market and sell our inventions internationally.


I would like too see more of the initiatives that suc-cessful entrepreneurs have started, like Tripod in my home town Bergen and Founders Fund in Oslo.

What was the most helpful advice you’ve ever re-ceived as an entrepreneur?

“Be a learning machine” - advice given by Julie Han-na when we participated at Innovation Norways TINC programme in 2015.

A plug and play database. The fastest way to get a database on the web.

Knut Martin Tornes CTO

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restdb.ioNOK 3.600.000


We launched the service late 2015 and got some good press right away (Product Hunt and first page on Hacker News). This gave us good traction as well as paying customers (traction trumps everything).


Whether you build a company with our without venture funding, a founder must be a learning ma-chine. Venture money often comes with high ex-pectations of growth and you can’t learn how to do that reading a book. Growing the business means

also that you need to expand the organisation. How do you find the right people? Find the “smart doers” out there that you like and connect with.


One of the biggest mistakes is to put a too high valuation of your company when you haven’t prov-en anything and you REALLY need the money to continue with your experiment (it really is an ex-periment). Another mistake is to say no to money at the early stage. If you ask for 1M and get 2M, then take it.

If you can choose between several venture inves-tors, aim for those with experience in your field (if their terms are not too bad). And finally, remember

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humble and expect to crunch numbers.


As a first time founder you probably ned to start with angels before moving up to VCs.


Can they follow you to exit. Do they have a network or value other than the money.


Taking more risk from investors and startups.

A unique social native ad platform for publishers

Daniel Butler CEO

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SociusNOK 3.500.000


Our track record of signing blue chip international customers


A much longer vision for the company, You need to convince others of 5-10 years down the line.


Raising too late can mean that you lose your nego-tiating power with potential investors and end up

giving away more of your company or to the wrong investors


Joining a co-working space can be a great way to network and build relationships with those who ei-ther invest or have relationships with these firms. Also going to relevant conferences and networking there although you should really cherry pick be-cause many of these take a lot of time and effort to get the most out of.


Thinking international, but also you need to be

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scene in 2016?

The competitive landscape for startups in Norway is changing. The number of startups in Norway has grown quickly and this means you need to stand-out to attract both talent and investors.


A significant increase in the engagement between Norway’s corporate entities and startups - this is a huge opportunity that has yet to be realized.


“Life is too short to build something nobody wants”, Ash Maurya

ShareMy3D is the fastest way to share 3D content online.

Kaye Hope COO

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ShareMy3DNOK 2.500.000


We signed our first licencing agreement with an in-ternational company.


You mean he or SHE, right? Because diversity is in-credibly important to business success. Focus on doing one thing well and accept help frequently.


Not enough focus on the team and what makes

your talent unique.


Get networking with an incubator and ask for per-sonal introductions.


Trust and respect are paramount. You need to be able to speak candidly and communicate often. For ShareMy3D, having investors with a strong network to support business growth is also a high priority.

What has evolved in the Norwegian startup

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land, Stein Opsahl and Magne Uppman. For an in-surance start-up getting reassurance on board is difficult.

- We had vast experience in this through NUA, a Lloyd s coverholder in Norway - with a longstand-ing relationship with the reassurance market.

- We had a fantastic set of IT-partners through Mic-rosoft - who granted us a lot of free consulting and software, and local partners Analytika and WIMS, who did the same.

- And we had professional investors on board early on, who made sure we had the VC-thinking in place from day 1 through Harald Troye, Lars Moldestad and Gaute Ulltveit-Moe


Getting too greedy might be one. We could have raised money at a higher valuation, but then we might not have gotten as relevant investors and contributors as we now did. Our funding round was oversubscribed, making it possible for us to pick the right team to complete our ecosystem. The added value of having grateful and contribut-ing early investors on board has meant a lot to our continued success.


There should be plenty of options if your team and idea is good.

- Use your network to get in touch with a few, or find a partner that is relevant to your business and well-connected in the investor community.

- Hold speeches at conferences and try to get me-dia coverage early on.

If you are unexperienced you should consider join-ing an accelerator program, both to get access to funding sources, but also as you will benefit a lot from talking to other entrepreneurs and the men-tors of the program.


There is a lot of early stage risk capital in Norway. Good ideas will be supported if you just reach out

to the right communities and individuals. I think it is important not to focus just on getting the mon-ey, but also that the investors strengthen your like-lihood of success through growing your combined competence and relation base.


There is a vast variation among Angels. Some are experienced and knowledgeable, others are more enthusiastic. There are a lot of Angels out there in Norway. Pick the ones that gives you energy and helps you grow the idea into a profitable business.

Venture Capitalists are more picky, but extreme-ly valuable if you find the right one. They will join your extended team in a competent manner and be loyal to you over several funding rounds as long as you succeed. Experienced business leaders will join your board and help you navigate in the strategic landscape. But make sure your goals are aligned. Talk about exit-strategy before they join your team.

Strategic investors have the potential of being very valuable, but it is also high risk taking them on board. They might have different goals from you and they might reduce your strategic options down the road.


It is really important that you have the mindset that YOU CHOOSE investors. Pick relevant inves-tors, that have the same goals as you and can con-tribute to the success.

...continues on next page

Tribe is creating a Facebook for insur-ance customers. Through grouping with

responsible friends you can earn big discounts

Rune Brunborg Corporate Servant

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We had only two assets when raising the first big round of money; (1) a fantastic team with guts and vast and relevant experience and (2) a great idea, that was verified through user testing.

I guess the milestone was having the guts to risk money on developing the idea before getting ex-ternal money, but also to have a combined track record to bring on board experienced people - who quit well paid jobs in order to take huge risk and join the team in an early phase.

What mindset must a founder have, if (s)he wants to build a company WITH venture fund-

ing?

The most important asset a venture capitalist is looking for is execution ability. You need to show that you and your team are really dedicated, and preferably also that you have a relevant track re-cord.

It is also an advantage if you can show that you have a functioning and relevant eco-system around you; that you have people and resources to help you build something great.

We had this through grouping together a set of founders, employees, investors and partners that were able and willing to help us succeed.

- We had three of the most experienced marketing executives in Norway on board; Trond Erik Birke-

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tors can decide on their investment on the most accurate and correct basis.


Potential investors can be found “anywhere”. Start by using your existing network. You might not know an investor yourself, but most likely you know sev-eral people that know investorst. And it is always better to be introduced by a common friend than starting with a cold call.


A first-time founder should seek the angels or stra-tegic investors in the early rounds. VCs are usually further down the road. Experience and compe-tence is often far more important than cash. It is expensive to do the wrong choices. Even though founders will make mistakes, one can avoid many of them by having experienced people as owners and in the Board.


When choosing our first investor, it was important for us to find an investor that wanted to have an active role in the our company. And of course, the investor should have relevant experience for your startup.


The Norwegian startup scene has grown a lot during 2016, and the focus on entrepreneurs has increased significantly. A consequence of this is that several startup communities has been creat-ed and evolved around the country. Sharing expe-riences with other entrepreneurs is important, as we often are facing the same problems.


I would like to see changes in the tax politics. It should be more beneficial tax-wise to invest in a startup and to reward new employees with shares in the startup. It appears to be on the political agenda for 2017. Fingers crossed!


It was more an observation than an advice: Aas-mund Frøseth (our first investor and chairman of the board) said he believed in Dropracks, because he observed that we wanted to “win together”. En-trepreneurship is a team sport, and one can rarely create a successful business alone. It has been im-portant for us to be aware of this, so that we can continue to “win together”, even when the team grows.

A roof rack for cars that can be lowered down to waist height

Peter Vollen CEO

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DropracksNOK 2.000.000+

What milestone did you achieve with your start-up BEFORE the most recent funding, that really enabled you to raise the money?

Before our recent funding, we exhibited a pilot product on the worlds largest trade fair for car equipment. The feedback from potential partners and distributors were beyond all expectations, and made it the most important milestone this far.


Founders that wants to build a company with fund-ing, should avoid the “baby syndrom”. With inves-tors you are obliged to give the investors a return on their investment. A founder should therefore be open to sell the company, if it proves to be the most beneficial.


I believe one of the biggest mistakes a founder can make in the fundraising process is to not be honest. It is important to be transparent, so that the inves-

...continued from previous page

At an early stage your investors should be contrib-uting to developing your idea further. They can set you up with relevant contacts or add competence that you don t have yourself.

Later on I think it is good if your investors have a long term perspective and can also be part of you next funding round.


The landscape is evolving very positive in my opin-ion. We are seeing more and more arenas for en-trepreneurs to reach out to partners. And more and more incumbents are considering start-ups as a source of innovation. The government is continu-ing to support start-ups through useful resources and support funds.


Within the fintech area it would be really helpful if the government could set up a sandbox-project, like the UK regulator has done.


My co-founder Tore Malme thought me to think big enough. We re taking a big risk in starting some-thing. And there is a lot of ideas to work on. Let s then make sure we are working on something with a potential to become very big.

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ing that you want to keep. If you go after the big venture capital funds, you have to expect that they will take over the control – which you might pre-fer. If you want to build your own company, and have control over which kind of company culture you are establishing, you might prefer to start with angel investors and little money.


One of the mistakes a founder could make is being impatient and go for the first funding possibility without carefully understanding all aspects of a contract or a deal: it is pure law and mathemat-ics, and you need to understand it, otherwise you stand in a poor situation in negotiations.

I have a friend in the same business, where their first interested investor wanted half of the compa-ny for little money plus required the founders to invest significant amounts in the company them-selves. It was an unreasonable proposal for a low-risk company.

Basically, in the early startup phase of your compa-ny: if you haven’t established a baseline and don’t understand all aspects of a proposed investor contract, you risk losing your company.


Join one of the startup pitching programs or demo days to build your network and learn fast.


In our case, we have been extremely fortunate that we have a business idea that attracts many in-terested investors. This has enabled us to careful-ly select a small team of rather young, skilled and enthusiastic investors that want to do more than just delivering the money; the want to take part in a startup and contribute with resources, expertise and network connections to see the company suc-ceed.


First of all, you must understand if your business

idea is low, medium or high risk for the investors. If it is low risk, and you have everything under con-trol, you need different investors and investor con-tracts than if you are in a situation where you have a good idea – but you need someone to help you with everything else. Angel Investors are good for the first – Venture Capital is good for the latter.


This is an aspect that is very important for the company!

You know, I was standing there at my first pitch at the AngelChallenge and the first question that was asked was ”Why are we speaking English? We are in Norway?!”. During my entire career I have worked in English speaking international work places, and I was a bit paralysed by that comment from the audience – and then, when I was standing there on the stage, I reflected upon which type of in-vestors it is that you want and how important it is that they understand all aspects of what you want to achieve with your businees idea. If they don’t, then they will generate too much unnecessary noise that will divert you from the important task of building a company.

That very important learning lead us to a careful selection of investors who fully understand what it is that we want to achieve with the company, and who wants to contribute with their experience and network connections, and work together as a res-source team to reach the ambitious goals that we have set for ExploCrowd.

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ExploCrowd Oil Finders offer an Explora-tion Prospects Database available for

oil companies to optimise their explora-tion portfolios

Sidsel Lindsø Managing Director

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ExploCrowdNOK 2.000.000+


A quite important aspect of ExploCrowd is that we have not previously and are not really part of one of the startup clusters, so we are somehow ’outsiders’ compared to other new startups on the Norwegian StartUp scene.

We got the business idea in June, established the company in July, and in order to validate the concept quite early in the process of starting up the company we decided to join AngelChallenge Stavanger in August. We received significant in-terest from investors and accelerated building the required knowledge and network that enabled our successful selection of resourceful investors. Ex-ploCrowd made it to the finals in AngelChallenge

Stavanger, but for different reasons we decided to pull out of the contest.

The important learnings we made from partici-pating in AngelChallenge enabled us to accelerate the startup phase of ExploCrowd and to make the good decisions for the company with regards to which type of investors and the amount of mon-ey that would be right for this project in the early phase.


What kind of investment you consider the right one for your company is highly depending on how fast you want to grow your company and how much control over the company that you are build-

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ture funding as an Norwegian startup?

Global presence. Go international from day one


Find an investor who understands your business and has interest in it


Find a strategic investor that has passion for your idea, not a passive investor


More legitimate to talk about startup community and investors


Tax incentives as well as better technology clusters e.g. makerspaces


“You are not here to save money, but to spend money to grow”, US ambassador to Norway in Startup Weekend Stavanger

Putting brains into your industrial control systems

Sjur Usken CEO

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Smart PlantsNOK 2.000.000+What milestone did you achieve with your startup BEFORE the most recent funding, that really enabled you to raise the money?

Selling to customers


Scaling


Not telling how you are going to use the funding to scale and grow.


Start pitching your network, they should have con-nections.

What is one “secret of success” for getting ven-

...continued from previous page


Since ExploCrowd, as previously mentioned, hasn’t really joined the Norwegian Startup scene, we are not really qualified to answer that question.


Since startups are taxed upon their value, it is im-portant to delay the valuation of the company as much as possible, which is why the investor con-tracts regarding ’money against an agreement of future equity’ are especially interesting in relation to this. There hasn’t been a long story for Start-Ups in Norway, which is the reason why there is a tendency of borrowing investor contracts from US and Silicon Valley, but those contracts are made for US law and conditions and not necessarily suit-ed for Norwegian standards.

It would be convenient and time-saving for Nor-wegian StartUps with a set of quality assured and trusted Investor Contracts for Low-, Medium- and High Risk StartUps, which could act as starting points for negotiations between founders and in-vestors.

A review of the current tax regimes for startups is recommended, where adjustments could be made in order to facilitate acceleration of growth and not cause the risk of bankruptcy of a company. It took a while to fully understand the current dire conse-quences and find good solutions to avoid this.

Furthermore, there is a significant greyzone area and many cases where people volunteer to work for the cause of the company. There are sever-al examples of people who would work for free against building knowledge and expertise for the CV, mutual benefit, and contribute with their ex-pertise and train the young – but they can’t under current Norwegian law. Norwegian StartUps could benefit from more workplace/employee flexibility and finding a way to give something back to those who wish to help. Right now, there aren’t many possibilities.

What was the most helpful advice you’ve ever

received as an entrepreneur?

The business model for ExploCrowd is a little dif-ferent from the norm, since it is using principles of crowdsourcing and sharing economies combined with a focus to enable highy specialised scientists to work together in a flexible workplace and cul-ture optimised for internal motivation, collabora-tion and innovation to unlock the potential of the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Therefore, it is im-portant with clear communication of vision and strategy, in order to get efficient processes in place both internally and towards delivering high quality products that meets the customer needs.

This is a very good advise, and we are fortunate to have a strong communications team in place to deliver upon the strategy.

30 31


thing we did in Hubro Hubro. Start out by going to meetups and events where you can pitch to and meet investors. You won’t necessarily meet the right ones right away, but guess what: investors know investors. If you’re not a good match to their portfolio they might be able to introduce you to someone who thinks you’re right up their alley.


It’s both finding the right kind of investor, and lis-tening to what the investors want with your com-pany. If you’re not at all aligned with your plans for the company, neither of you are going to do good business.


The most important thing for a first-timer is to know the difference. VC funds can be a great way to go if you’re one of those few companies that can grow explosively to a $100 million+ company in just a few years - most companies will never do that. Angels are great if you find the right ones: they should know your industry, have somewhat deep pockets and be a source of knowledge in the areas where you fall short.


Two things: first, skills and experience that we could benefit from. We have five investors with different experiences and skill sets in everything from corporate finance to sales to online market-ing to managing large development teams - we’re going to need all that stuff at one point or another.

Secondly, their motivation for investing. If they wanted a quick payback they’d go somewhere else - investing in Hubro Education meant investing in a major change in a change in how we educate business leaders. I think our investors saw both a mid-to-long term payback and an opportunity to improve something that’s hugely important to so-ciety


I think the startup ecosystem matured a lot in

2016. Accelerator programs like Angel Challenge and incubators like Oslo House of Innovation have popped up and filled gaps in the landscape.


I’d like to see fewer cash prizes from government to a few politically correct startups, and more poli-cy and incentives that can help the entire commu-nity in stead. Tax incentives for private investors might be on the top of my wishlist, but also a con-tinuation of the “seed-funding loans” that the gov-ernment gave to a few private investors last year. Those things are going to make waves!

What was the most helpful advice you’ve ever re-ceived as an entrepreneur?

It’s simple: “who’s your customer?” or as we say in northern norwegian, “kæm e kunden?” posed by my university professor Roger Sørheim. If you can’t answer that question right then you’ll fail for sure.

We bring practice to the business class-room with online business games for

business education.

Emil Johan Oliver CMO

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Hubro EducationNOK 2.000.000


We got contracts with 40% of the Norwegian uni-versities and colleges, as well as one of the best universities in Sweden. This was proof of our mar-ket to the investors.


I think you need an “all in” mindset. We’ve tried jug-gling other jobs and other time consuming proj-ects with the startup process, but you just don’t have time to do both well. Sure, a job on the side brings in some cash before the project picks up,

but you reach a point where it needs your full at-tention.


I think a very common mistake is that startups search for the wrong kind of capital. Everyone’s heard of venture capital and crowdfunding - none of them are a one-size-fits-all kind of funding. It would be more useful to find the best possible business angels, particularly if you’re a first-time entrepreneur.


Great question! I’d recommend doing the exact

32


First in the world with Silicon Carbide based thermal spray powder - enabling

really resistant coatings

Gisle Østereng CEO

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Seram CoatingsNOK 20.000.000


Won numerous pitching and business plan awards in Norway and internationally


Building the company for an eventual sale, not necessarily for the long term


Choose wrong investor or not having the same in-terest and focus as the investor


Go to the start-up events in your community and meet them in a social setting first - or just get their business card and later ask for a coffee meeting.


Thing big, talk to many investors and keep up mo-mentum - do not wait for the investor


Talk to all of them to understand the difference. Choose the one(s) you think fits your vision.


How can they help me? How deep pockets? How long willing to be investor? Have they been through rainy days and still been successful?


More momentum for angels, founders and eco-system


More VCs and building companies bigger before selling (if selling at all)


Ken Morse: Four things: Sales, Cash Flow, Team and Total Global Domination of your Chosen Mar-ket Niche.

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