The Danish Startup Ecosystem Guide - Magasin - Side 35
Get funded without
giving up equity
It is almost impossible to build a business without money. Usually, it takes time to
develop and prove both the technology and strategy before paying customers start
to generate revenue for the company. This makes initial funding crucial.
plex, high-risk innovation, social and
environmental impact or projects aiming
to bring more diversity and inclusion to
the startup ecosystem. In other scenarios
soft funding is a great way to leverage
your early stage investors money.
Benefiting society at large in some
way is often a part of soft funding.
However, soft funding is not altruism:
startups are expected to build a viable
business and most soft funding programs also require co-financing from
your company in the form of cash or inkind contributions. In addition, many
soft funding programs offer mentorship,
training, and other types of support to
help startups grow and succeed.
I
f you have not got your own fortune to
spend, investors are often the weapon
of choice. But innovative early-stage
startups should also consider their
soft funding opportunities.
Soft funding is a form of non-equity
funding that provides financial support
to startups without requiring ownership
or equity in the company. It is typically provided by government agencies,
non-profit organizations, and other institutions that support entrepreneurship
and innovation - often with lofty goals
of supporting the development of new
products and services, growth and job
creation in certain fields.
There are a lot of soft funding programs
with different focuses but some of the
Powered by TechSavvy & Heyfunding
activities that you can receive soft funding for are e.g., research, development,
pilot tests, acquiring new equipment, and
hiring external consultants.
Boost the bold
Soft funding provides startups with
access to funding that they may not be
able to obtain from traditional sources such as business angels or venture
capital. This can be particularly true for
early-stage startups, which may not
have a proven business model or revenue
stream yet, which makes investors value
their company very low.
Soft funding is often aimed at areas
which might be too risky for traditional
investors in their early stages - e.g. com-
Get help
There are a lot of soft funding opportunities; at a regional, national, Nordic and
European level. In addition, there are
several Danish commercial foundations
and private companies that support
entrepreneurship in the form of grants
of various sizes.
This means it can be both difficult and
resource-intensive to find the relevant
grants and programmes before preparing an application which might not be
successful.
Fortunately, there are several ways to
get help. For example, there are highly
specialised consultancy firms like Nordic
Innovators that can help identify and
subsequently prepare applications for
Danish (e.g. Innobooster), Nordic, and
European funding programmes.
35
