The new capital will be used to expand to London, fuel product development, and accelerate the mission to change the way companies run their offices. We have also been using a brilliant platform for employee benefits recently and been seeing some great results from doing that.

Founded in May 2018 by Mik Strøyberg, Good Monday has built a Workspace Management Platform with an integrated marketplace of office services. This includes everything from cleaning, coffee, and lunch to employee benefits such as gifts, flowers, birthday cakes, and yoga. The platform gives companies full flexibility and provides a complete economic overview of how the office is run. In other words, Good Monday has taken the infrastructure from co-working, made it digital, and injected it into private offices.

During COVID-19 the platform has only become more relevant according to Mik:

“The current situation has been a huge challenge but most importantly it has validated exactly why our customers have chosen us. We started Good Monday in 2018 with the promise of full control, overview, and no long terminations periods. More than ever, we now see the true power of our easy-to-use platform, which really shows to free up resources for our customers to focus on other tasks than the workspace-related ones,” says Mik

Next up: London

So far, Good Monday has been operating in Copenhagen and with more than 150 companies on the client list – ranging from tech startups to embassies and law firms – it’s now time to take on a new market: London.

The vision for the Danish startup is to become the world’s leading Workspace Management Platform. At the first stop on that international journey, the London office is set up with five employees and multiple clients are already on board.

Making the international expansion financially possible is primarily the UK early-stage VC Firstminute Capital, led by Brent Hoberman. According to Hoberman, who’s also the founder of Lastminute.com, Good Monday is a unique player when it comes to changing the way an office is run.

“COVID-19 has changed the office space as we know it. As lockdown eases, it will be more important than ever for office environments to offer something compelling enough to compete with the benefits of working from home. Such services – that help build a strong office culture and a more productive work environment – are the types of services that Good Monday’s marketplace unlocks,” says Brent

“Good Monday taps into the same zeitgeist as co-working spaces, offering companies a headache-free office environment, but with a radically more sustainable and capital-efficient business model. We’re proud to back team Good Monday as they expand internationally to make office operations smoother, more transparent, and fun,” he continues.

In 2019, Good Monday reports it has seen a 230% growth in revenue and a 430% growth in the number of customers. With this latest capital injection, Good Monday has now received close to $ 7 million (€ 6 million) in less than 2 years, and at the start of next year, the startup says it is looking to raise a Series A.

Read the entire post here: Good Monday raises €3.5M to change the way offices are run

The event quickly became a success and has now become a global phenomenon. Today, the Nordic Startup Awards are a part of the Global Startup Awards (also founded in Denmark) and its winners compete with representatives from other regions of the world (over 60 countries).

“There aren’t really any connections between those who are dealing with tech. And this is true all over the world. There are a number of regions where it really makes sense to do some cross-country collaboration”, Kim continues.

The winners of this year’s Nordic Startup Awards have been announced in early December out of the total 3 000+ nominations, and will now compete on a global scale.

The winners from the Öresund region include:

• Best Newcomer: Good Monday – an easily scalable workplace management platform;
• Best Fintech Startup: Brickshare – a revolutionary online investment platform;
• Best Hardware Startup: SOUNDBOKS – innovative battery-driven speakers;
• Startup of the Year: Pleo – a payment card solution with features such as automated expense reports and company budgeting;
• Investor of the Year: byFounders – a collective of founders that support other founders in the Nordic and Baltic regions;
• Best Coworking Space: Mindpark – a creative coworking space that is available in Helsingborg, Lund and Malmö Hyllie.

Other winners are from Sweden are:

• Best Health Tech Startup: Nuvoair – an integrated platform that improves the lives of those suffering from respiratory problems and helps make faster medical decisions;
• Ecosystem Hero of the Year: Malin Frithiofsson – Head of Community Management at Chalmers Ventures.

From Norway:

• Best AI/Machine Learning Startup: Spacemaker AI – using AI to optimise the maximum potential of construction sites;
• Best Accelerator or Incubator Program: TheFactory – helps early stage entrepreneurs who have a business idea, early product or scalable concept.

From Finland:

• Best Creative Industry Startup: Grib3D – a user-friendly app that brings 3D designs into real life using augumented reality;
• Best Social Impact Startup: Intellectural Farms (iFarm) – an innovative technology for growing natural salads, berries and vegetables year-round in fully controlled automated environment.

From Iceland:

• Founder of the Year: Kari Thor Runarsson – one of Europe’s top tech innovators.

Congratulations to the winners and good luck in the next stage!

Source: Bootstrapping.

Read the entire post here: Quick look into 2019 Nordic Startup Award winners

All of these are now competing in the big Nordic finale, more info can be found on: nordicstartupawards.com

Danish startup awards

In the Danish regional competition Copenhagen has taken home the most winners by far. Almost all of the Danish awards have been claimed by a startup or initiative based in Copenhagen.

The following are winners from Copenhagen or surrounding region.

• Pleo – Startup of the Year
• byFounders – Investor of the Year
• Pia Ella Elmegaard – Ecosystem Hero of the Year
• Tiimo – Best Social Impact Startup
• Good Monday – Best Newcomer
• Soundboks – Best Hardware Startup
• Brickshare – Best Fintech Startup
• Artland – Best Creative Industry Startup
• Talent Garden Rainmaking – Best Coworking Space
• Radiobotics – Best AI/Machine Learning Startup
• Accelerace – Best Accelerator or Incubator Program

Swedish Startup Awards

On the Swedish side the Skåne region has not been as strong winner as Copenhagen in Denmark. Unsurprisingly most awards in Sweden went to Stockholm based startups and initiatives. The only winner from Skåne that was amongst this years awards was.

• Mindpark – Best Coworking Space

Mindpark has recently expanded in the region, and has now three coworking and event spaces, in Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg.

Read the entire post here: The winners from the Nordic Startup Awards 2019 in Denmark and Sweden