Fintech in Denmark: An introduction to the local ecosystem

Denmark is one of the 10 richest countries per capita in the world. And, with an advanced service economy and a reputation for excellent public services, it’s proving to be an attractive place for international startups to relocate. 

But what about the fintech sector?

I’m the Chief Operations Officer at the Copenhagen Fintech Lab, one of the institutions at the centre of Denmark’s fintech ecosystem. In this guide, I’ll introduce you to the local fintech scene and show you why it’s such a good place to launch a startup. 

I’ll cover:

• Key statistics about fintech in Denmark
• What’s the history of fintech in Denmark?
• What makes Denmark a good place for fintech?
• 4 well-known Danish fintechs
• How Tenity and the Copenhagen Fintech Lab support Denmark’s fintech ecosystem

Key statistics about fintech in Denmark

As an introduction to this guide, let’s first consider some key numbers about the fintech scene in Denmark.

Denmark is among the top third of leading European countries for fintech companies, according to McKinsey in 2022, sitting alongside the UK, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. In terms of fintech funding per capita specifically, Denmark ranks third, after Sweden and the UK. And for the number of fintechs per capita, it ranks fifth. 

Overall, the fintech industry is growing in Denmark:

• People employed in fintech in Denmark increased from 700 to 4,300 between 2015 and 2022, and they now make up more than the entire insurance industry locally (Nordic Fintech Magazine).
• Fintech funding in Denmark added up to €94 million per capita, a five-fold increase since 2019 (McKinsey).
• For fintechs based in Copenhagen, the median early-stage deal amount increased by 3.7% between 2021 and 2023 (Startup Genome).

While 2023 was a difficult year for fintech globally, Denmark performed relatively well:

• Denmark was the strongest performer in the Nordics, with the most deal activity in 2023 of countries in the region (Fintech Global).
• In 2023, Danish fintechs secured the third-most VC funding per capita among the top 10 European ecosystems (Startup Genome).
• However, in just Q1 2024, Danish fintechs received investment that matched the entire year of 2023 (€214 million) (AMWatch).

More generally, Denmark is an ideal market for fintech, both for its digital infrastructure and audience:

• Denmark is recognised as the most digital economy in the EU by the European Commission.
• 94% of Denmark’s population is online. 
• The country is ranked fourth in the Ease of Doing Business Index by the World Bank, the highest-ranked country in Europe. 

Finally, Denmark has a very healthy startup ecosystem overall:

• There are now 2071 startups in Denmark, employing 26,000 people, according to Danish Startups.
• Fintech is the largest ecosystem, with 350 companies, followed by healthtech (219) and proptech (186). 
• Over the years, major tech companies including Skype, Just Eat, and Zendesk have come out of Denmark. 

What’s the history of fintech in Denmark?

Compared to other countries in Europe, such as the UK or Switzerland, Denmark hasn’t always been recognised as a finance or technology hub, nor as a particularly innovative economy. 

That’s despite being home to Europe’s largest company (Novo Nordisk) and a highly active services sector. 

However, what has benefited the local fintech ecosystem is how committed the government is to digitalisation. Today, it’s seen by the European Commission as the most digitally advanced country in the world and as the leading nation globally in the UN’s e-Government Survey 2022. 

This exceptional digital sophistication has provided the infrastructure on which fintech was able to grow. One important tool in this has been MitID, a unified digital identity allowing people to access both public services and private platforms online. 

This digital approach began as a government strategy back in 2001 and it’s still developing today. For one thing, it has meant that the Danish public is very familiar with accessing services digitally—and may mean they’re more open to fintech solutions. 

In this context, a small fintech community grew in Copenhagen, which fed off the country’s other areas of expertise. For instance, a hub of cryptography developed at Aarhus University, while many developer languages (such as C++) have also come out of Denmark.

However, it wasn’t until 2017, with the founding of the Copenhagen Fintech Lab, that the fintech community became formalised. The Lab was founded as a central support for the fintech community, helping local startups in the financial industry grow and move abroad. Today, we host the largest dedicated fintech event in Europe, the Nordic Fintech Week, attracting 2,000 attendees from some 60 countries. 

What’s the future of Danish fintech?

The local fintech ecosystem is growing strongly, in the number and quantity of funding, the number of people it employs, and the number of startups themselves. That growth looks set to continue. Already, in the first quarter of 2024, Danish fintechs received more investment than the entire of the previous year.

The Danish Government’s 2021 Digitisation Partnership looks to drive digitisation further, which may also help the growth of local fintechs. This Partnership has created a national strategy for digitisation between 2022 and 2026, creating new environmental benefits and initiatives to improve business digitisation too. 

For our part, the Copenhagen Fintech Lab will continue to support the local ecosystem too. Our aim is to grow our local community further, as well as new connections across the world.

What makes Denmark a good place for fintech?

Whether you’re a founder looking to relocate, an international fintech in search of a new market, an investor, or a corporate looking to partner with a startup, Denmark is a promising location for three key reasons. 

1. Denmark is an exceptionally digitised nation with a state committed to improving digital infrastructure

As I explained above, Denmark is a highly digital nation. This can have two major benefits for you if you’re working in fintech:

1. You can access robust digital infrastructure that’s always improving. As Denmark is one of the most digitally advanced countries in the world, you can build products around the existing infrastructure. 

For instance, you can integrate MitID into your own products. Or you can benefit from what’s known as Denmark’s “real-time economy”, namely a system of laws and regulations for an economy based around APIs for data sharing. 

In both cases, the development of these digital technologies is led by the government, providing a robust support for growth. 

2. You have a large, tech-savvy audience with which to test your products. The Danish population is highly educated and highly digitally literate. It means that many of them are already familiar with digital products and processes, and so are much more open to adopting new solutions.

Plus, as Denmark is one of the top 10 countries in the world for GDP per capita, the population has a high level of disposable income. This means more wealth to manage and a greater likelihood of paying for additional products. 

Of course, as in any country, Denmark does have areas where digital adoption could be improved. For instance, businesses tend to still be quite consensus-led and may not be quick to adopt new B2B solutions. 

However, compared to nations such as Germany, Denmark remains miles ahead in terms of new technology. 

2. Denmark is a hub of highly educated talent thanks to local tech hubs

If you’re a startup or entrepreneur looking for exceptional fintech talent, Denmark is a great choice for a number of reasons.

Firstly, Danish people tend to be highly educated. The country is one of the top 10 countries in the world for people with doctorates. And, according to the World University Ranking 2024, it has three of the leading 150 universities in the world. 

What’s more, universities including the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, and the Technical University of Denmark play an active role in the financial sector. 

For instance, the University of Copenhagen is one of the leading partners in our Fintech Symposium. Meanwhile, Aarhus has a world-leading cryptography research group, and the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen recently became the home of a new NATO Center for Quantum Technologies, reflecting Denmark’s strength in quantum. 

All of this means that there are lots of people working on advanced technology across Denmark. For your fintech or financial services corporate, it offers a lot of opportunity to hire exceptional talent.

Of course, not to be underestimated is the benefit of being in the EU and the Schengen area. It means that the continent’s best talent can easily move to Denmark, no matter where it’s currently located. 

3. Denmark has a strong environment for early-stage investment and support

Denmark also benefits from having a supportive fintech community, as well as significant international investment available, particularly if you’re at the early stage. 

The fintech community in Copenhagen is underpinned by what we do at the Copenhagen Fintech Lab. We host events such as the Nordic Fintech Week and enable collaboration between fintechs, investors, and others. We’re part-funded by public money, but also by financial institutions who are interested in partnering with fintechs. 

More generally, the VC environment in Denmark is strong, particularly in the early-stage and angel space. While there are fewer local opportunities for growth capital, many international VCs attend our Fintech Week, where they’re very interested to talk with growing Nordic companies.

What’s more, a lot of support for fintech comes from the government too. Compared to other countries such as Sweden, Denmark’s government is very pro-fintech, meaning you have another source of support.

4 well-known Danish fintechs

To give you an insight into the local ecosystem, here are some fintech success stories that have come out of Denmark and the Copenhagen Fintech Lab:

• Pleo is an expenses management tool for businesses. Founded in 2015, it now serves 30,000 businesses across 16 European countries. It was Denmark’s fastest unicorn, reaching a $1 billion valuation after just six years. It’s currently valued at $2.3 billion. 
• Chainalysis is a blockchain data and intelligence company for security and compliance. Launched in Denmark in 2014, it’s now headquartered in New York. It’s valued at $2.5 billion. 
• Lunar is a Danish neobank and banking app. Founded in 2015, it now has 850,000 users and is valued at $2.2 billion. 
• Doconomy is a platform that helps consumers to measure the carbon footprint of their everyday spending. It recently raised $72.8 million in funding

How Tenity and the Copenhagen Fintech Lab support Denmark’s fintech ecosystem

At the Copenhagen Fintech Lab, we’ve partnered with Tenity to help support Copenhagen’s fintech community and build the Nordic region as a fintech hub.

Tenity is a global innovation ecosystem that supports financial corporates to solve their innovation challenges and that runs accelerator programmes specifically for fintechs. Together, our combined experience and capabilities enable us to bring a lot of value to local fintech startups. 

For us at Copenhagen Fintech, the biggest event of the year is the Nordic Fintech Week. Every September, we host 2,000 people for the largest fintech event in Europe, hosting attendees—including investors, founders, corporates, and more—from over 60 countries. As part of this event, we’re cohosting social networking evenings with Tenity, to allow all attendees to build connections and collaborate better.

Yet, together with Tenity, we’re also working on larger projects together, such as the New Nordic Challengers programme. It’s a programme for founders involved in fintech and insurtech, which we designed to drive innovation across the region. Over four months, we’ll be covering topics including refining value propositions, optimising prototypes, nailing fundraising, structure, and product-market fit, and perfecting your pitch. 

Tenity will invest €50,000 in the startups selected for the programme, in exchange for an equity stake of 2.5% and a programme participation fee of €10,000. They also provide a potential follow-on investment of up to €250,000. 

You can find the 10 startups involved in the programme here, selected from over 200 applications. And in December 2024, you can attend their public demo day. 

"By uniting the strengths of Tenity's global innovation ecosystem and its hub in Tallinn, with Copenhagen Fintech's deep commitment to nurturing fintech excellence in the Nordic region, we are setting the stage for a new era of financial innovation," says Andreas Iten, CEO & Managing Partner of Tenity. 

"The 'New Nordic Challengers' program is more than just an accelerator; it's a launchpad for the fintech pioneers of tomorrow."

Tenity also runs its own accelerator programmes from its hubs across Europe and Asia, and helps corporates run their own accelerators. You can see all of their programmes here. 

Work with Tenity and Copenhagen Fintech

In this guide, I’ve shared some of the reasons why Denmark’s fintech scene is thriving. With exceptional tech talent, support from government and not-for-profits, and an active investment landscape, you should consider joining our ecosystem. 

Learn more about how Tenity and Copenhagen Fintech are collaborating: Tenity and Copenhagen Fintech Launch the New Nordic Challengers Program