when exchange Writing about the startup scene in Sweden at the end of last month, we said we’d be revisiting the Nordic countries this week. Well, a promise is a promise.
But after spending hours watching YC’s Winter 2023 Demo Day shows this week, we also couldn’t help but try to connect the dots: Are Scandinavian startups making waves at Y Combinator? Turns out, not really. This is actually interesting.
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Second: This is the number of startups in YC’s latest batch with offices in Denmark, Norway or Sweden, according to data from the accelerator itself. However, these three countries create more than their fair share of startups compared to their larger European counterparts.
If you add the fact that competing accelerators 500 Startups and Techstars have abandoned their Stockholm programs, a pattern starts to emerge. Can Scandinavian startups not only need international accelerators, thank you very much?
disconnect number
It may be that there are very few Scandinavian startups in YC’s latest batch. YC often insists that they invest in it Founders, not ideas; Presumably, that also means he doesn’t think much of office locations. As a result, the number of startups from a given country can vary slightly from batch to batch.