Report on State of Nordic Impact Startups 2021 Sheds Light on the Nordic and Broader Impact Ecosystems

+impact by Danske Bank has, in partnership with Dealroom and Green Innovation Group, published the 2021 edition of the State of Nordic Impact Startups report. The report is based on data from 1.230 startups and 1.365 funding rounds and aims to provide data and facts about the Nordic Impact startups, with an added focus on ‘Green Growth’ startups. The data is supplemented by qualitative insights from experts and industry players.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• Investments in Nordic impact startups has grown significantly over the last decade, skyrocketing from €65 million in 2010 to €1.6 billion in2020.
• Venture capital in the Nordics is significantly more impact focused than in other regions, and has become a major portion of all VC activity.
• Venture capital’s focus on impact investing has been growing in every Nordic country, with the highest growth in Sweden. However, the UK alone receives more impact investment than all the Nordic countries combined.
• At least 39 percent of seed-stage Nordic impact startups have gone on to raise a Series A. Compared to 19 percent of European benchmark.
• Nordic impact startups receive 25 percent more job applications per vacancy than non impact startups.
• Compared to the other Nordic countries, Sweden has the highest number of startups and the most EUR invested into Green Growth startups. The country is much larger in population and GDP. However, after adjusting for country size, Sweden is still doing significantly better.
• Denmark is often perceived as a green energy giant with companies like Ørsted and Vestas, but the rest of the Nordics are significantly stronger in financing the ecosystem for energy startups.

You’ll find the full report here.