Seven pioneering startups honored with grants

On Thursday, the Alexander Foss Industry Foundation awarded grants to entrepreneurs who are technological pioneers with commercial potential.

Treating ADHD and depression, weed control, safe and simpler nerve blocks, extracting CO₂ and calcium from seawater, helping after cardiac arrest, feeding insects to fish and processing sheet metal.

Entrepreneurs' innovative ability ranged widely when seven startups were presented with grants of DKK 100,000 each from Alexander Foss' Industrifond at the annual national final of "EY Entrepreneur Of The Year" on Thursday evening.

 - The Alexander Foss Industry Foundation supports entrepreneurs developing new physical products in the first and very critical phase, where there is still a lot of uncertainty and the technologies need to be validated. It requires a lot of resources, so it is our hope that we can help them a step further so that they also become attractive to other donors and investors, said Bjarne Moltke Hansen, chair of the board the foundation, at the award ceremony.

He also pointed out that it's not just capital that young companies need.

 - They work with complex technologies and important challenges in areas such as health, environment and natural resources, so if established companies can help them on their way with skills and sparring on product development, testing, market insight and so on, it is also of great value, said Bjarne Moltke Hansen.