No longer the need to “know someone who knows someone”

Only a few years ago the common method for finding a good bricklayer, accountant or other service provider was asking your colleagues and neighbours. Today, the internet is intercepting this demand. Largely due to ratings and the time saving possible when using internet search portals.

In that way the days of numerous phone calls to service providers that don’t answer the phone, don’t have time when it suits, lack expertise or don’t cover your neighbourhood are over. New web portals like Colego do all this legwork for the consumer, and return back with three companies that are interested, qualified and available.

“When we founded Colego, it was with the expectation that local search was a growing industry. Actually it’s growing even faster than we had expected. Our job of matching demand is a giant puzzle, and it’s extremely rewarding to see it work out and help people on both sides at the same time” says CEO Martin Lavlund.

Some numbers

It’s not just the small tasks people want assistance with. The average value of a task sent out via Colego is over $ 1400. In particular for the building trades such as building inspection, pavers, roofers like roofing madison wi and demolition the value exceeds the average, here some tasks cross the $ 40 000 mark. When it comes to finding trustworthy roofing contractors for your home, you need to look no further than roof repair Utah.

Colego is already the market leader in the local services search in Denmark. It covers more than 40 professions unlike most local search portals focusing on only one. Recently Colego also entered the German market, with 7 verticals. The startup got a lot of attention when it hired a couple of well known entrepreneurs and experienced startup veterans, although one of them just announced that she will move on.

The post Colego passes $ 30 M mark appeared first on Øresund Startups.

Attracting talent

Less than two months ago Colego announced the accession of Internet entrepreneur Tine Thygesen as Chief Marketing Officer. With the two new profiles joining, Colego has succeeded in reinforcing the management team significantly this year. As part of the same growth plan, the company has furthermore been provided with an additional € 3 million this June.

“I have learned that a strong management team is key when it comes to a company’s success rate. Therefore, I am happy to see that Colego has succeeded in attracting such strong profiles, especially at this crucial time where the company is in extreme growth ” Peter Mægbæk, chairman of Colego

The new CSO Mads Transel brings solid sales experience from positions which include Vice President Business Sales & Marketing at the telecommunications company 3, VP of Oister and his own entrepreneur project Voicebird. Mads joins just as Colego is expanding beyond the Danish border and his main focus will be the international expansion of the business.

Peder Skjalm Lissner comes from almost 5 years as CFO for Saxo.dk – one of Denmark’s earliest Internet successes, which currently holds almost 80% of Denmark’s e-book market. Peder Skjalm Lissner’s former employments also include Finance Director at TDC and Finance Manager for Diageo. Peder enters Colego focusing on data and finance.

The post Colego reinforces management team appeared first on Øresund Startups.

About three months ago, Colego received an investment of € 2 million. The other day, a new investment was announced. This time the capital injection will be of approximately € 3,1 million.

It is again Nortcap Partners that is the main investor. However, the startups own CEO Martin Lavlund also is part of the round, as well as Peter Mægbæk, who originally founded Fullrate and currently Managing Director of Viasat Denmark.

“The market for what is called “local search”, that is the web’s replacement for the future phonebook, have enormous potential. Internet services like Colego saves consumers hours of trouble when they have to find the right help, because it’s done intelligently with technology. There is a great future here.” says Peter Mægbæk

Since the establishment in 2012, Colego has developed fast: after two years, the company had 8 employees and now 65 people are working for the company. On a daily basis, Colego is providing over 1,700 business tasks across Denmark. In this development pace, Colego has an exciting time ahead!

You can read more over at Trendsonline as well.

The post Colego raises further € 3,1 million appeared first on Øresund Startups.

A new adventure

Tine announced that she will be joining the Colego team, as their new CMO. The startup just raised € 2 million, and are heading into a strong expansion period.

Colego is a market place for local services, where people can easily be connected with the best fit for professional assistance, whether it is for a gardener, getting their roof fixed, a new cleaner or many other form of professional assistance. Colego has shown strong growth, and has over 44 verticals for different services.

“My job [as CMO] at Colego is essentially to create a recognized brand and use that to bring in sufficient traffic, convert this to tasks submitted and fuel the business engine. It’s a rare luxury for me to be able to focus on only one side of the business and being able to delve into commercialisation with all its facets.”

Now the next big step for Colego is expansion outside Denmark, with Germany as the first market.

“Going into the German market is a challenging task I never underestimate. The hardest is to cut through the noise on such a big market, especially as a non-German company of small size.”

Everplaces and Founders House

Tine has been a strong spokesperson for the startup community in the region over the years. As the CEO of Everplaces she traveled the world to different startup events. She is also a key player in Founders House, and the subsequent Startup Village that has formed around Njalsgade.

“I will remain involved a shareholder in Everplaces, but am no longer involved with the running of the company. I will also remain on the board of Founders House, which also takes care of the coordination of Startup Village”

We wish Tine the best on her continued journey!

The post Tine Thygesen joins Colego! appeared first on Øresund Startups.

“Our main task is to create contact between two sides, and that is what we have achieved with our service. It’s easy for both the seller and the buyer. We work with professionals from over 40 professions, and the number will increase sharply during 2015. No one else can offer the variety we do, something that makes our service unique.” says Martin Sylvest Lavlund, CEO, to Trendsonline.

And the service has not just achieved growth on the userbase. The office has also grown. The startup was founded in Greve in 2012. In 2014, they had 8 employees. Now the office is in Sydhavn in Copenhagen and has grown to a remarkable 65 employees.

Expanding into Europe

The aim of the investment is to get more talent on board and to expand into the European markets.

“We believe that our business concept is viable in the European market also. We are starting in Germany. We will then continue for the rest of Europe.” says Martin

Rasmus Bjerngaard, Partner in Northcap, was one of the investors who helped to take the decision to put money in Colego. He says about the investment:

“Colego is a good example of the type of startup that we at Northcap like to invest in: they have achieved a unique prove of concept in a rapidly growing market.”

You can read more abou the investment over at Trendsonline.

The post Colego gets € 2 million investment to help connect small businesses appeared first on Øresund Startups.