COPENHAGEN
Nordic policymakers and investors gathered at TechBBQ 2026 to address a structural problem: the region produces strong early-stage companies but lacks the growth-stage capital and unified market to scale them at home.
The conference's Policy Stage, a dedicated forum for high-level discussions between founders, investors, and government officials, focused on two concrete proposals: the creation of a Nordic-Inc corporate structure that would allow companies to operate across borders without establishing separate entities in each country, and the design of a multi-billion-euro pan-Nordic fund-of-funds to fill what speakers described as an acute growth-stage funding void.
Karen Ellemann, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, outlined the political and structural frameworks needed to implement the changes. The regional funding gap has driven scaleups to relocate operations and capital elsewhere—a recurring pattern that policymakers said must be reversed through standardized legal infrastructure and coordinated capital deployment.
"The deficiency is not capability or innovation inputs," said Stina Lantz, CEO of Swedish Incubators Science Parks, during a keynote fireside chat. "It's cross-border connectivity."
Panelists including Mikkel Sørensen (CEO of DTU SkyFactory) and Mala Valroy (Founder General Partner at Thursday VC) discussed the mechanics of establishing a unified Nordic market framework. The goal is to replace ad-hoc, person-dependent cooperation between countries with standing institutions and standardized rules that treat the region as a single capital market.
Europe broadly faces a late-stage funding shortage, but the Nordics experience a particularly acute crunch at the growth stage—the inflection point where companies need capital in the €10 million to €50 million range to accelerate hiring, product expansion, and market entry. The absence of dedicated regional capital at that stage has made Nordic scaleups acquisition targets for larger European and U.S. firms rather than independent competitors.
The 2026 conference drew 10,000 attendees and marked the second year of the dedicated Policy Stage format, signaling that Nordic leadership views the capital and market fragmentation as a priority issue requiring sustained institutional focus.
