🇮🇸 Fund managers collect and manage indicator funds
Press release from KLAK
Klak – Icelandic startups is part of Nordic co-operation in the so-called VC Challenge that was launched in Copenhagen last week. The VC Challenge is a course for future fund managers of indicator funds in the Nordic countries and has Klak for several months worked with VC Challenge representatives to develop and promote the course and find interested representatives from Iceland to participate in it as well as Icelandic mentors from the fund environment to guide participants. The aim is to put Iceland into Nordic co-operation, which aims to enable future fund managers to raise and manage index funds, give them access to experts in the field and access to important networks.
The VC Challenge is led by a number of stakeholders from the Nordic innovation support environment, including Startup Norway, Helsinki Partners, Klak – Icelandic Startups, Canute and Nordic Node, which run the VC Challenge course with support from sponsors such as Nordic Innovation, Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund, Icelandic the KrÃa Fund and other strong partners from the Nordic countries. This is the third time that the VC Challenge has been held and this year 20 teams are participating in the program, including 5 teams from Iceland who are exploring the possibilities of raising funds.
KrÃa, Start-up and Innovation Fund is a sponsor of the VC Challenge, while Sæmundur K. Finnbogason, Fund Manager of KrÃa, says, “It is extremely gratifying that KrÃa – Start-up and Innovation Fund is one of the sponsors of the VC Challenge for 2023. We are particularly pleased with the joint goals of KrÃa and the VC Challenge, which is to support and encourage the further development of indicator funds [AIFs] and create an even stronger financing environment for start-ups and innovative companies.
The VC Challenge is an outstanding course where experienced international teachers play a key role in supporting and guiding new fund managers in their journey to establishing new AIFs in the market. The collaboration between KrÃa and the VC Challenge is improving and strengthening Iceland’s innovation environment, and as this is a joint Nordic course, connections and co-operation between new fund managers in the Nordic countries are also being strengthened.”
Indicator funds typically invest in 20 start-ups over a 4-year period and devote a lot of time and capital to support the growth and development of these start-ups so that they can thrive. In this way, VC Challenge indirectly supports 400 promising start-ups in the Nordic countries, which returns many times and greatly strengthens the market, accelerates innovation and helps create more success stories.
Kristján Ingi Mikaelsson, one of the founders of MGMT Ventures, is quoted.
“Through the joint Nordic co-operation under the auspices of the VC Challenge, we will be given a range of tools and tools to strengthen our work and move forward with our companies abroad. It is time to strengthen the foundations of investment in the early stages in Iceland with greater professionalism and predictability. Great work has been done in the second stage of investment in recent years, but the first ledge has been a bit forgotten.”
“It’s obvious when you get to an international venue like the VC Challenge how much we Icelanders have to offer and are noticed. There has been a glimpse of the innovation framework in Iceland approaching what happens best abroad, yet we lack better flow and continuity in the financing phase of innovative companies. The VC Challenge is therefore a great step to support parties like us to come up with a form of fund that is not known in this country.” Kristoff concludes.
Originally published on 20 March.
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