Mads Emil Dalsgaard
Kopenhagen, Hoofdstad, Denemarken
5K volgers
Meer dan 500 connecties
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I build companies that scale ideas into market-shaping businesses. As Co-Founder of…
Activiteit
5K volgers
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gerepostMads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gerepostOne thing I've learned about carbon removal: The biggest challenge isn't technology. It's demand. That's why I'm excited to share that Nykredit– one of the largest banks in Denmark - has purchased carbon removal credits from Bigadan through Klimate as part of a new four-year agreement. This transaction is more than a sale. It reflects a growing recognition that net zero is not only about reducing emissions, but also about addressing the residual emissions that cannot yet be eliminated. Nykredit has set a target to reduce operational emissions by 85% by 2030. Alongside that, they are investing in durable carbon removal to address their residual emissions. The credits come from one Bigadan's biogas plants, where biogenic CO₂ is captured and thereafter permanently stored. This investment also helps build the Danish carbon removal industry that will be needed at scale in the years ahead. The carbon removal market is still early. Every transaction matters — not just for the tonnes removed, but for the demand signal it sends to developers, financiers, and the broader ecosystem. That's how climate technologies move from promise to infrastructure. A big thank you to the teams at Nykredit and Klimate for making this collaboration possible. #CarbonRemoval #CDR #BECCS #NetZero #ClimateAction #CarbonCapture #Sustainability
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gerepostMads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gerepostThe Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has released the next draft of their new net zero standard. ⏭️ (+ an EU climate target and the clock ticking to COP30, the carbon markets standards and regulations fairy has been busy 🐝) As always, there’s a lot to unpack. Here’s what it could mean for carbon removal: 1️⃣ Internal carbon pricing to create real progress SBTi introduces internal carbon fees: $20/tonne at minimum to $80+/tonne for leadership. This pricing should push companies toward high-integrity climate solutions, especially NbS and hybrid. 2️⃣ New framing for ongoing emissions "Beyond value chain mitigation" is replaced with "taking responsibility for ongoing emissions," also giving companies recognition for climate investment alongside internal reductions, voluntary until 2035. 3️⃣ Durable removals required at net zero The framework confirms that durable carbon removals will be necessary to neutralise residual emissions by the net-zero target year. While the SBTi has put in ‘a good faith effort’ to provide actionable guidance, lower thresholds to entry, and maximise corporate action, a few questions remain and a few doubts: ❓ Whether this standard goes far enough to meet the organisation’s own net-zero goals–specifically with regards to scaling durable, early-stage carbon removal in time for net zero goals. ⌛ No interim targets is a missed opportunity. If all companies wait to invest in CDR, let a long durable CDR, until 2035, it will be too late to build the supply needed for meaningful neutralisation. 🏔️ Are durable solutions set up for success as an essential technology for net zero? Interested to hear your pressing questions in the comments. What are you curious about in this new standard? 🔍 #sbti #netzero #climatechange
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gedeeldSuper excited for this one! Building the digital infrastructure for scaling CDR has always been our vision. Now, the market is evolving to a stage where buyer activity, credit standardisation and regulatory requirements really accelerate the need. This week, I had a call with one of the largest CDR buyers in the Nordics, and they were basically pitching the need for this solution to us! Can't wait to see where this goes. Huge credit to Tobias Baunbæk for coming into Klimate just under a year ago and really stepping up the velocity in our product development. And of course to the whole product, impact and growth teams who all contributed to building this. Lauren Brown, Simon Bager, PhD, Nichita Cebotari, Juan Manuel Hébert, Gareth Davies, Shiel Parsani, Erik Wihlborg and everyone else. It takes a team!
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gerepostMads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gerepost🚆 💼 Have you registered for our upcoming strategy session on managing the carbon emissions of business travel? 🚆 💼 This webinar features expert insights from ecollective and Klimate.co, offering complementary perspectives on tackling emissions from business travel, including innovative tools, strategies, and real-world examples. Our discussion will cover what hurdles even the most conscious companies may encounter, building a business travel carbon budget, and what defines a ‘good’ business travel sustainability strategy. We welcome all sustainability professionals, corporate travel managers, and decision-makers looking to mitigate travel-related emissions while maintaining operational efficiency. Don't miss this opportunity to gain actionable insights and learn how your organisation can lead the way in more sustainable business travel! 💚 🗓️ Feb. 26th 🗓️ ⏰ 4:00PM CET/3:00 PM GMT – approx. 30 minutes ⏰ 👩💻 🖇️ Register here 👩💻 🖇️ : https://lnkd.in/d5tgsggV #businesstravel #carbonbudget #sustainabilitystrategy #netzero #carbonmanagement
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gedeeld10gt seems impossibly far away looking at how long it currently takes to deploy carbon capture infrastructure, but exponential scale is possible. Do you think it’s possible to scale CDR like solar? And do you think people thought it was possible for solar in 2001?
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gedeeld🥇Nr. 1 fastest growing climate startup in Europe!🥇 Very hard to believe 🤯 That calls for a standup selfie and will definitely be celebrated in full at the Winter Party tonight. Thanks so much team for working so hard over the last 5 years to put us in this position. Carbon removal seems increasingly obvious and inevitable, but this definitely wasn’t the case in 2020 when we started this journey. Can’t wait to see what you all achieve in 2025! 🚀📈💚 And a big thanks to Freya and Sifted for the recognition! Article in comment! ⬇️
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gedeeldWhat’s more important to you? - Contributing to fight climate change - Sparring with dedicated and smart people - Working in one of Europe’s most promising startups If you can’t choose, we have a job for you! ⬇️ (We also have amazing coffee, veggie lunch and an office in the middle of Copenhagen)
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gedeeldOkay, have to do one more post: the full video with Adam Ondra and me climbing CopenHill is out! 🧗♂️🧗♂️🧗♂️ They say you shouldn’t meet your idols, but if meeting means having fun 80 meeters above Copenhagen, and your idol is a chill dude like Adam, then you definitely should. I think it’s also super exciting to use my hobby since age 8 to spread awareness about the absolute need for carbon removal. There is a lot of noise around this industry, and carbon removal is not the solution to climate change. It is, however a small part of the solution, or maybe just an intermediate hold, as Adam brilliantly put it. Thanks once again to Mammut Sports Group AG for making all this possible, and to the team at Klimate. Just to mention a few: Simon Bager, PhD for making the initial project happen with ARC – Amager Ressourcecenter Erik Wihlborg for leading the work with Mammut Ditte Cramer for diving headfirst into the middle of this crazy project and bringing it to the finish line. https://lnkd.in/ddJWnt8UClimbing One of the World's Highest Artificial Walls | Adam Ondra in CopenHillClimbing One of the World's Highest Artificial Walls | Adam Ondra in CopenHill
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard heeft dit gedeeldWhat an amazing news to share on the last day of Slush. 🥈Second fastest growing company in the Nordics and Benelux, that’s something to be proud of for the whole Klimate.co team who made it happen!
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantBohrs er åbnet! Bohrs er resultatet af mange timers arbejde, fra de første idéer og udviklingen af konceptet til menuen og udvælgelsen af råvarer. Og jeg må sige, at vi virkelig er stolte af, hvor vi er landet. Sammen med Mikkel Karstad har vi skabt et sted med sæsonbaseret hverdagsmad. lavet fra bunden på gode råvarer. Vi tilbyder også frokostordninger til virksomheder i området. Så hvis jeres frokost gerne må være lidt mere end bare frokost, så skriv gerne til mig. Vi håber, vi ses på Bohrsgade 44 i Carlsberg Byen.
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMassive congratulations to Reel! Being named the #4 fastest-growing company on the Sifted 100: Nordics Leaderboard is no small feat 🎉🚀 We've had the privilege of following Jon Sigvert, Anders Engtoft Meldgaard, Christian Randløv Schmidt, and the team since the very beginning, from when Jon was still at DTU 🧑🎓 to becoming their first institutional investor in 2022, and everything that's followed💚 Since then, we've seen Reel close a €15M Series A, build a growing pipeline of solar and battery projects across Denmark and Germany, and open green PPAs to mid-sized businesses that were previously locked out of them 🌱📈 Watching Reel grow from an early conviction into one of the fastest-growing climate companies in the Nordics has been genuinely special for us. The best part is that this feels like just the start! ⚡ Huge congratulations to Jon, Anders, Christian, and the entire Reel team 👏 Very well earned💚 Full leaderboard linked in comments 👇
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessant𝗖𝗢₂-𝗳𝗷𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝘆𝗸𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝘁æ𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮̊ 𝗶 𝗦𝗕𝗧𝗶'𝘀 𝗻𝘆𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘁 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 🌍 I den seneste version af CNZS, som SBTi udgav i juni, spiller CO₂-fjernelse en langt større rolle end tidligere og virksomheder, der fravælger OER (ongoing emissions responsibility), skal nu forklare hvorfor. De nye tiltag træder i kraft i 2027 for virksomheder, der sætter mål for første gang. Har I allerede sat mål, kan I vente til udgangen af jeres 5-årige cyklus. Man kan dog med fordel starte tidligere og sikre sig adgang til løsninger af høj kvalitet og dermed undgå, at der intet udbud er, når engang CO₂-fjernelse bliver obligatorisk. Er du i tvivl om, hvor OER passer ind i jeres rejse mod netto-nul? Download vores opdaterede guide, udgivet i samarbejde med Klimaskovfonden 👇 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eQ5yxtVY
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantAfter 7.5 years, I have decided to leave Bang & Olufsen. The decision did not come easily, as this is the company where I professionally grew up. Back in 2019, I interviewed for a Paid Media Specialist role while still in Estonia and was offered the job. Since then, it has been a rollercoaster of a journey: mapping paid media as a principle in the organisation, executing 50+ campaigns from start to finish, and evolving from a paid search specialist to leading the company's global paid media strategies over the last 2 years. I say I grew up because I’ve had some amazing mentors along the way. I will only call out one, and that is Charlotte M. - she was the head of the media team for many years and showed us all the female leadership at its best. She showed how one can take on the tasks that need to be done (and get them done), while keeping the team's culture, and at the same time raising 2 young kids and setting a good example of work-life balance. I also cherish all my colleagues, the ones I worked closer together and the ones we mainly caught up with via Teams - you know who you are and thank you! While my expertise in paid media gradually evolved and matured, I like to joke that after all these years, one of my strongest skills is handling corporate bull***t (read: stakeholder management and navigating a corporate set-up) - it is not for the weak! I love where Bang & Olufsen has come to, brand- and product-wise, and I will forever consider it as one of my favourite Danish brands. I leave with a heavy ❤️, but I’m excited for the next challenge. I hope this post brings a lead or ten, so if you know of anything that could be of interest, do reach out and let’s grab a call or a coffee. The video below is of our recent hike in the French Alps, where my courage, resilience (and my new hiking shoes) were really tested. Perfect way to prepare for a job hunt, no?
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantWe love to cheerlead our team members, but it’s great to see their talent recognised and celebrated elsewhere. A huge congratulations to Endeit’s Emmelie Meurs, who has been chosen as the industry’s Rising Star for 2026, by unlock VC 🎉 ⭐ 👏 Emmelie's passion for Climate Tech and focus on solutions that enable Europe’s energy transition sees her digging deep across the ecosystem, where she works closely with Partner Sara Resvik to identify and back the most innovative and impactful growth-stage companies in the space. The Rising Star accolade celebrates the next generation of investors shaping the future of venture capital, and it’s a fitting recognition of the curiosity, rigour and conviction Emmelie brings to every founder conversation and investment opportunity. We’re incredibly proud to see the wider VC community appreciate her as much as we do. Congrats again, Emmelie, this is thoroughly deserved 🏆 . . #VC #ai #venturecapital #climatetech
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantFive years ago, we set out to advance chemistry in a way that could bring a new and superior form of thermal energy storage to industry and help decarbonise process heat. We founded Hyme Energy and were quickly trailblazing a path for large-scale industrial thermal energy storage. Today, I want to share that after spending the last months winding down Hyme Energy, we have closed the company. Despite immense progress in R&D, significant engineering advances, and strong relationships with customers and partners, we were unable to secure the capital needed to take the company where we believed it could go. We took a leap five years ago … and now we’ve landed. Not where we dreamed of. Not where we hoped for. But in a place where we can take pride in what we built and how we built it. We built a company that delivered world-class engineering and R&D and pushed storage-based decarbonisation of process heat into the realm of realism. We nourished a 40+ person workplace with strong human connections that our employees cherished. We collaborated with partners “constructively and with trust”, “in good spirit”, and with an “infectious belief in shared opportunities” (their words). There are plenty more highlights – and certainly also numerous regrets - to reflect on as I start looking to the future. I’ll look forward to walks and coffees in the coming months, as I explore opportunities to join, help or create a company that is taking responsibility for making our society more sustainable. If you are curious about what I’m taking with me from Hyme or how I could contribute in your organisation, I’d love to hear from you. In rounding off, I want to extend a warm thanks to our investors, customers, partners, board and employees. We’ve been privileged to have you join our journey. During these last months, you’ve been exceptional. I hope we’ve been able to treat you all well enough in difficult times. Lastly, a huge thank you and a big virtual hug to Ask, my co-founder and friend, who is beside me in the picture. We’ve had each other’s backs throughout the full five years, and – as the picture shows - also found ourselves side by side towards the end: on the workshop floor, assisting our dedicated colleagues in cleaning out facilities, sweeping the floors and leaving everything in good order.
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantThank you London Climate Action Week! Great to hang out with Simon Bager, PhD and Kathryn Flynn from the Klimate team for the week. Shout out to both for their help in organising and for representing Klimate and CDR so brilliantly. We co-hosted a breakfast event with Rainbow Standard, and I joined a panel alongside Matteo Deidda, Richard Davis, and Charlie Cornish to bring the buyer's perspective - reflecting on what's changed over the last few years and what it actually takes to build a credible carbon strategy. I also spent two days at Reset Connect, where we had a stand and I had more conversations and CDR than I can count. My takeaways: 𝟭. 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 "𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀". Rarely was I asked "what is CDR?". There's a better level of understanding: where it sits within the VCM, why quality commands a premium, and even some of the real trade-offs and constraints within the UK's CDR project landscape. 𝟮. 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 . I met so many sustainability professionals who can articulate their passion with real clarity. I'm hopeful that this kind of conviction will ultimately drive change inside organisations. 𝟯. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆, 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗵𝗼𝘁. Enough said. If we spoke during the week, I'm looking forward to following up. And if you're curious to learn more about Klimate or carbon removal more broadly, feel free to reach out.
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Mads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantMads Emil Dalsgaard vond dit interessantJune is a busy month for conferences and events, and last week I was lucky enough to attend the Industry Connect: Danish Biochar Network Event, hosted by Rockstart at BaneGaarden in sunny Copenhagen ☀️ Some key takeaways included... ➡️ Expert insights from Stiesdal, EIFO, and SEGES Innovation on scaling biochar in Denmark ➡️ A roundtable exploring the potential bottlenecks and benefits of Københavns Kommune utilising garden waste for biochar production It's clear that legislation and longer-term commitments are needed to truly scale the sector in Denmark, but the passion and depth of knowledge in the room gave real cause for optimism. I also joined ☕ Climate Coffee Copenhagen in celebrating their 1-year anniversary, hosted by FLEXECHARGE. It was a good reminder of how strong Copenhagen's climate community is, and that sometimes the best conversations have no agenda at all.
Ervaring
Opleiding
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Copenhagen Business School
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Activiteiten en verenigingen:Rusvejleder, festudvalg,
- Intro tutor for two years
- Head of the Party planning committee
- Graduating student of the year
- Valedictorian -
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- heden
Licenties en certificaten
Ervaring als vrijwilliger
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Digital and Social Media Group Member
Roskilde Festival
- 1 jaar 11 maanden
Kunst en cultuur
Working with digital and social media channels at Roskilde Festival. (Not just during the festival)
Working with Roskilde Festival has been a great pleasure both personally and professionally, gaining experience with with strategy and execution on very large social media channels (300k Facebook fans, 100k twitter followers), and at the same time meeting extremely fun an interesting people.
At the same time, Roskilde Festival is much more than just the biggest music festival in…Working with digital and social media channels at Roskilde Festival. (Not just during the festival)
Working with Roskilde Festival has been a great pleasure both personally and professionally, gaining experience with with strategy and execution on very large social media channels (300k Facebook fans, 100k twitter followers), and at the same time meeting extremely fun an interesting people.
At the same time, Roskilde Festival is much more than just the biggest music festival in Northern Europe. Roskilde Festival is a massive non-profit, doing amazing things for people all over the world. By 30.000 volunteers working together in 2014, Roskilde Festival managed to donate 3.6 million Euros to charity. -
Mentor
Superheroes
- 1 jaar 5 maanden
Opleiding
Superheroes is a growth mindset driven entrepreneurship & leadership program for 13-17-year-old girls to unlock their potential and build true grit for a superhero life. During 4 months of program girls get to test their superpowers, boost their life skills, grow their sisterhood and be inspired by diverse role models.
It was an amazing experience to follow these amazing girls on the beginning of their entrepreneurial paths!
Cursussen
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Advertisement Management
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Communicating across Cultures
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Corporate communication og branding
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Digital Innovation in Society
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Digital Technology and New Business Models
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Erhvervsøkonomi 1
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Erhvervsøkonomi 2
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Foundations in IT Development
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International handelsret
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Internationale markedsføringstekster
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Introduction to Macroeconomics
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Introduction to Microeconomics
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Introduction to US Government and Politics
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Kommunikation i organisationer
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Kultur- og kommunikationsteori
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Marketing Audit
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Marketing Strategy
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Media Strategy in Digital Communication
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Mundtlig kommunikation og interaktion
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Navigating Complexity - Mapping, Visualization and Decision-Making
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Open Innovation
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Skriv Kreativt
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Tekster i organisationen
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Onderscheidingen
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Student of the year
Copenhagen Business School, IMK
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Valedictorian
Copenhagen Business School, IMK
Testscores
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TOEFL Language test
Score: 667
Talen
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Danish
Moedertaal of tweetalig
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English
Volledige professionele vaardigheid
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French
Basisvaardigheid
Ontvangen aanbevelingen
5 personen hebben Mads Emil aanbevolen
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Lydia Chen
Somehow, without me quite noticing, August is already half gone. Which means it’s less than a month until The Drop in Malmö. In 2024, we started Bite-Size Climate Tech Season 3 there with a little experiment: an OpenMIC where climate-tech builders had to explain what they were building as simply as they could. Two seasons later, we’re bringing it back for Season 5. BSCT has always been a short-form podcast. No lengthy bios. No hiding behind fancy terminology. Just a very simple, and surprisingly difficult, question: How would you explain what you are building to an eight-year-old? Not gonna lie, it is much harder than most people think. Cookies and M&Ms. Soda bread. Seaweed pellets. Bird wings. Fairy dust. More than 60 scientists, founders and engineers have now taken on some version of the challenge. Along the way we’ve had a lot of laughs, a shared sense of urgency and, most importantly, a lot of hope. And somewhere along the way, something else happened that I hadn’t really stopped to notice: Across companies represented by BSCT guests, more than £275m in publicly disclosed equity and grants has now been raised. Of course, that wasn’t because they came on a podcast. But I think it is a nice reminder that simple does not mean small. Serious science still has to travel beyond the lab. People need to understand what is being built, why it matters, what it needs, and who needs to be in the room. That’s when investors can participate. Customers can participate. And the rest of us can participate too. Climate is so often narrated through doom and gloom. But the people I meet through BSCT keep showing me another version of the future: people are building, experimenting, failing, funding, scaling and trying again. It’s a tough battle. But we’re all here. And sometimes change really does start with a simple explanation. So on 15 September, we’re bringing the 8-year-old challenge back to Malmö. 🎙️ 🌊 BSCT OpenMIC: What are you building, and what do you need? 🗓 Tuesday, 15 September ⏰ 11:45–13:15 📍 Ribersborgs / Brygga 1, Malmö Link in first comment If you’re building something in climate or hardtech and think you can explain it without hiding behind the jargon, come take the mic. And a big thank-you to Zhenni Liang, Saga Gardevärn and Ashley Schilling for helping make another Malmö chapter possible. 💛 Let’s make climate cool again. #climatetech #TheDrop2026
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Karthik Sreedharan
Two Nordic seed rounds, five days apart. Different sizes, identical Monday morning. 20 August: Velatir, an Odense AI infrastructure company, announced €5 million. Co-led by Spintop Ventures and Ugly Duckling Ventures, with Norrsken Evolve and a matching loan from EIFO, Denmark's export and investment fund. The round closed in two weeks. Yesterday: Stockholm's eComID announced $17 million (€14.58m), led by Systemiq Capital, with Regeneration.VC, Stadium and returning CapitalT. H&M Group Ventures has backed them since the pre-seed. 17 people, 60+ brands, 20 million shoppers a month. Both labelled seed. One is nearly three times the other. Hungary's BOOKR Kids closed a €6.1m Series A the same morning — smaller than eComID's seed. The label tells you little. If either were starting with us on Monday, here is the actual first 90 days. Week 1 — close the books through the raise date and reconcile the new cash. For Velatir that means separating equity from the EIFO matching loan. It is debt, it carries drawdown and reporting conditions, and it does not belong on the same line as the round. For eComID it means settling the functional-currency question once, in writing — SEK books, a round quoted in dollars and euros — before the first consolidated month. Weeks 2-4 — build the board reporting cadence while the cap table is still fresh. Both now have strategic investors at the table: H&M Group Ventures at eComID, and Stadium, which is an investor and an existing customer. Related-party revenue needs a stated policy on day one, not at first audit. Month 2 — install the rolling forecast. Both said the money funds European expansion and hiring. Cross-border hiring is where plan and cash stop agreeing: employer registrations, payroll timing and entity setup run a quarter behind the offer letters. Month 3 — the first board pack independently reviewed before it reaches the board. That last one is the point: close quality, not close speed. eComID already holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2. They pay an independent auditor to test those controls over time, because customers asked. Almost nobody applies that standard to their own numbers at seed. Books closed fast that nobody has challenged are not books you can defend. Finance Kernel™ is built for that gap. The mechanism we name for it is the independent CFO narrative — numbers explained by someone accountable for them and independent of whoever produced them, before the board reads them. And the part that matters more than any report: finance in the room while the decision is still open. Which entity, which currency, which month, which hire. Not a variance explained six weeks later. Just closed, first board meeting already in the diary? Fit Check. 45 minutes, no deck. https://lnkd.in/gBCnSqkQ #SeedFunding #SeriesA #StartupFinance #FounderJourney #FractionalCFO #BoardReporting #FinanceKernel #VentureCapital #NordicTech #ScaleUp #FinancialControls #AIStartups
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Njål Tengs-Hagir
When the support system becomes part of the challenge. Norway has no shortage of ambition, funding schemes or innovation programmes. Yet many small technology companies still struggle to scale. We should ask ourselves: are our support structures designed for growth or primarily for control and stability? The intention behind Norway’s innovation ecosystem is strong: reduce risk, stimulate innovation and help companies grow. But many founders and smaller technology companies describe a different experience; a system that feels fragmented, complex and difficult to navigate. Multiple actors, overlapping schemes and long timelines can unintentionally favour organisations that already have scale and capacity. Many of the people working inside these systems are highly committed, which makes the question less about intent, and more about how the system is structured to deliver outcomes. In several countries, early state contracts are used not only to buy solutions, but to help emerging companies demonstrate capability. Those first contracts often unlock private investment because they signal credibility and reduce risk. In Norway, the path often feels reversed. Companies are expected to demonstrate maturity before access to contracts or larger programmes becomes realistic. The result can be a paradox: we want innovation and agility, yet the system tends to reward scale and institutional strength. This is not about choosing between large established actors and smaller companies. Strong industrial players are essential. The real question is how we design a system where both can contribute. Where emerging companies are given earlier opportunities to test, prove and grow. Perhaps the discussion we need is not only about more funding, but about how public instruments, procurement and infrastructure can work together to accelerate learning and capability-building across the ecosystem. For small nations, competitive advantage rarely comes from scale alone. It comes from how effectively we organise collective capacity and how quickly new capability can enter the system.
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