In its latest report on the Danish venture capital market, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) shows that DKK 8.5 billion was invested in 2024.
New figures prepared by DTU Skylab show that DKK 1.8 billion went to 25 startups founded by DTU employees or students. This corresponds to 21% of the total Danish venture market in 2024.
"This is an impressive result that shows that we at DTU have succeeded in creating an environment where entrepreneurial dreams can come true and that we have managed to bridge the gap between the university and the investment community," says DTU's Senior Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Marianne Thellersen.
"DTU's employees and students not only come up with good, viable ideas but can also attract investors to create a business from them. We can celebrate that around 100 new companies emerge from DTU every year. But what's especially interesting is how those companies move on, how they perform afterwards, and, finally, how they contribute to society."
EIFO's figures do not include investments in companies registered abroad, soft funding, angel investments or investments from traditional holding companies (see fact box). Including these funding categories, DTU's figures show that DTU startups have raised over DKK 2.6 billion in 2024.
Many deep tech companies make the list
There are five clear standouts among the 25 DTU startups that have attracted venture capital - and three of them are research-based startups. For example, Again, which uses bacteria to convert CO2 from industry into valuable chemicals, managed to attract DKK 225 million.
In fourth and fifth place are two startups created by DTU students. For example, Eupry, which digitizes the monitoring and calibration of building temperatures, managed to attract DKK 170 million.
Many companies that have successfully attracted venture capital have been part of DTU's innovation environment, which has DTU Skylab as a central element. It offers coaching, office and workshop space, and various other options to support the process from idea to business.
"EIFO's report confirms that there is a high level of innovation activity at DTU and that many are deep tech startups. They are based on research-based knowledge at a very high level, especially within bio-, nano- and IT technology research. These companies create great value for society in the form of solutions to some of today's biggest challenges, knowledge-intensive jobs and contribute to developing and strengthening Denmark's position as a high-tech nation," says Mikkel Sørensen, Managing Director of DTU Skylab.
