NEW ACCELERATOR ESTABLISHED - EXAMINATION EXAM IN HAMN

Stefan Skoglund, Lina Svensberg and David Holm are ready to attract startups from the Nordics and the Baltics to DigitalWell Ventures.

The Swedish-Norwegian accelerator construction that took place during the autumn now has the most important pieces of the puzzle in place. A company responsible for operations, DigitalWell Ventures AB, has been formed by Compare and two pilot companies are already connected to the accelerator.

- We are fine-tuning and developing the modules in the accelerator together with a number of hand-picked companies, says David Holm, from Compare's Norwegian partner Xplorico and Investment Manager in DigitalWell Ventures.

The focus is on attracting high-quality startups that develop digital health and welfare services throughout the Nordics and Baltics. Right now, collaborations are being established with tech and startup environments in the catchment area and an advisory board, with representation from the entire Baltic region, is also in place.

Seeking partnership with Norwegian university

The strongest argument for attracting startups to Värmland is the availability of test environments in both Sweden and Norway, as well as an established knowledge base in digital technology linked to health in both Karlstad and the Oslo region.

- The accelerator is based on Värmland's smart specialization strategies. It is about creating a national and international leader in this area. We are convinced that it will have many positive effects for both regional entrepreneurship and the startup environment, says Stefan Skoglund, digital business developer at Compare and head of innovation at DigitalWell Ventures.

The connection to Norway is also central. A partnership is being discussed with the university OsloMet, to give the accelerator a home on the Norwegian side. Other important functions and a strong network of investors are already in place in Norway, where Värmland can act as a gateway to the EU market.

- It's about matching the companies in the accelerator with the right investors. And we want to create the best possible conditions for investors when the companies exit the accelerator, says David Holm,

Attacks important societal challenge

The growth in the health tech sector is expected to be enormous, but an important point is also the own need for digital health services. The health and welfare of the future will otherwise be difficult to solve, as the proportion of the elderly is growing faster than the working population.

This makes the accelerator a natural extension of the work already underway in the DigitalWell Arena.

- The intention is to discover and develop ideas and companies with the potential to offer valuable and long-term solutions for the health challenges of the future. DigitalWell Ventures is an answer to that, says Lina Svensberg, responsible for entrepreneurship in DigitalWell Arena and program manager for DigitalWell Ventures.

She has been responsible for building up the Innovation Support in DigitalWell Arena, which has so far supported over 50 companies and entrepreneurs. The accelerator will now be able to offer the companies that show the greatest potential a high-quality program to successfully scale up their services and achieve commercial success. Thus, the new, digital health services also benefit the users.

In order to take part in the knowledge, coaching and investor networks the accelerator offers, the startup companies give up a small share of ownership. In the long term, this provides opportunities for DigitalWell Ventures to reinvest in new startups.

Founded in Silicon Valley

The foundation of the accelerator is, in a sense, in Silicon Valley. Since last summer, Lina Svensberg, David Holm and Stefan Skoglund have participated in Founder Institutes program VC Lab. In competition with over 1,000 participants from around the world, their idea was one of the few accepted.

16 weeks later, they have passed the exam by continuously solving all the tasks required to convince the management of the Founder Institute that the DigitalWell Ventures concept works. Only 48 out of 197 participants made it all the way to graduation.

The same week that they finished the VC Lab program, DigitalWell Ventures was registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office!

- It is about knowledge, inspiration, networking and working methods of the highest international quality. Without VC Lab, the whole thing would have taken much longer to create. It has given us an incredible overview of the latest in the accelerator and startup world, which has been almost priceless, says Stefan Skoglund.

- It has also given us an incredible amount that we ourselves can pass on to our startups, and we have basically acted like a startup, says Lina Svensberg.

On digitalwellarena.se you can follow the development forward