The Danish Startup Ecosystem Guide 2024 - Magazine - Page 59
SEED & VENTURE CAPITAL
Accelerace invests in startups before anyone else believes in them:
”We develop the next generation”
The Danish ecosystem has come a
long way, but still has a lot of untapped
potential, according to Accelerace,
which has invested in more than 200
startups and accelerated more than
1000 from pre-traction to exit.
Penneo. Trustpilot. Templafy. Graduateland.
These are just a few in the impressive
track record of over 1000 startups the VC
accelerator, Accelerace, has accelerated
from the fragile pre-seed stage to today,
where many have become unicorns and
industry-leading players.
“Unlike others, we invest in pre-traction and 昀椀rst-time founders - companies
that don’t yet have any evidence that
they will succeed. We do this because it
is on the journey from very early funding
up to the seed round that about half of
all startups die. Therefore, this is where
we can have the biggest impact on the
Danish ecosystem,” Peter Torstensen,
Managing Partner and CEO of Accelerace.
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This mindset 昀氀ows throughout
the organization. Under the AllStar
Mentors initiative, Accelerace’s most
successful alumni return ‘home’ to the
VC-accelerator to reinvest their time,
skills and capital in the next generation of startups.
Standing on the shoulders of those who
have already done it is one of the keys to
success, Peter Torstensen explains.
“A thriving ecosystem is driven by successful founders. And the more of those
we can create, who then reinvest their
time and money, the greater a positive
spiral we create. We want to take responsibility for investing in and developing
the next generation of startup founders
and ensuring the connection from them
to the big unicorns.”
To develop the Danish ecosystem, Accelerace has started collecting data on all
their startups. The ambition is to qualify
how more startups can succeed.
“The Danish ecosystem has developed
signi昀椀cantly over the last 15 years. But
we still see a lot of great startups that,
for one reason or another, don’t take the
next step. That’s why we need to 昀椀nd the
common denominators in the successful
cases. Benchmarks you can lean on. Denmark still has a lot of untapped potential
- and we want to be at the forefront of
unleashing it,” says Peter Torstensen.
Facts
•
Accelerace has invested in more than
200 companies and accelerated over
1000 since its establishment in 2008.
•
In 2023, they launched Tools, their free
online platform with courses and tools
to help startups get product-market 昀椀t
and raise money.
Scan the QR code
to 昀椀nd out more
www.accelerace.io
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