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Fresh blood from start-ups to inject new life into customer solutions

Danske Bank has joined forces with Nykredit, Accelerace and Copenhagen FinTech to create a new and ambitious accelerator dedicated to fintechs. The initiative has already secured funding from the Danish Industry Foundation and aims to attract international talent to Denmark. Through our participation, we aim to provide value for our customers by drawing upon the best fintech solutions.

Denmark will soon become home to Copenhagen Fintech Accelerator – a unique fintech accelerator designed specifically to attract global talent to the Nordic fintech ecosystem.

Copenhagen FinTech and the Danish Industry Foundation have joined forces with Accelerace to create a new inclusive incubation and acceleration environment. With the backing of Danske Bank and Nykredit, the initiative aims to attract international talent to Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia. The project has secured more than DKK 1 million in funding from the Danish Industry Foundation for the next two-and-a-half years.


Input from agile partners
In order for us as a bank to develop high-quality solutions, we need agile partners who are capable of injecting new input. At the same time, we want to reciprocate by adding value to the fintech environment: 

“We want to help promote Copenhagen and Denmark as an area with high levels of fintech activity. The better the ecosystem, the better the banks will become. We see this as an opportunity to support and invest in this development with a view to integrating the best solutions into our business and to delivering improved services to our customers,” says Jon Schäffer, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Danske Bank.

Copenhagen FinTech – incubation environment and extensive network
Copenhagen FinTech, which developed the concept and is fronting the project today, was created with the goal of strengthening the Danish fintech environment. The organisation established the Copenhagen Fintech Lab incubation programme, but has long harboured an ambition to create an application-based programme targeting both Danish and international start-ups with the aim of attracting more international talent and companies, explains says Simon Schou, Chief Innovation Officer at Copenhagen FinTech.

Accelerace – mentor model and model for corporate start-up collaborations 
Whereas Copenhagen FinTech has an incubation programme and a large network, Accelerace has a mentor model and a model for creating corporate start-up collaborations. 

Banks have insight into working with start-ups

Accelerace has learned that within the realm of tech, fintech is the sector that’s moving the fastest. We recognise a need from end-users for there to be a re-think of the infrastructure and the services that the banks provide. The banks are aware of this – and have been for years. This means that they possess more knowledge about what it takes to collaborate with start-ups than companies operating in other fields. And that sets the bar high for both the future partnerships and for the work in Copenhagen Fintech Accelerator. The combination of complimentary offers makes this a unique accelerator. For companies, we offer a location to work from, a network, a corps of mentors, a solid accelerator programme, and the opportunity to get a pre-seed investment or to collaborate with one of our strong partners.

Anders Handlos Grauslund

Business Accelerator and Investment Manager, Accelerace

Six start-ups selected for first batch

The new accelerator is based on the sprint model and will run from November 2018 until June 2019. Six start-ups have been selected for inclusion in the first batch. Danske Bank is part of the consultancy process that the start-ups will join, and should the mutual wish be expressed, one or more of the start-ups could end up sitting alongside us and developing here at our premises.   

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