The Single Market: our European home market in an uncertain world

The European Commission has unveiled its 2025 strategy for the Single Market, outlining a bold vision to make it simpler, more seamless, and future-proof. Central to the plan is the introduction of EU-wide business frameworks—often referred to as “28th regime” solutions—that offer startups and SMEs a streamlined, digital-first alternative to complex national systems.

Universal Robots was founded in 2005 as a spinout from the University of Southern Denmark by three researchers who wanted to make robotics accessible for small and medium-sized companies.

The company’s lightweight, flexible collaborative robots (cobots) eventually found product-market fit, secured key investments from Syddansk Innovation, Vækstfonden (now EIFO), and others, and scaled internationally. In 2015, the company was acquired by American firm Teradyne for approx. 1.9 billion DKK. Today, Odense is home to more than 160 robotics companies, many of which trace their roots back to Universal Robots.

We’re lucky to speak with Enrico Krog Iversen, one of the first people involved with the company, to hear more about that journey and what came after.

• How did you first come across Universal Robots, and what made you want to get involved?

It was a coincidence. I had finished another project and was looking for something new to do. I placed an anonymous ad in Børsen (the biggest business paper in DK) asking who could use my skills and experience. Vækstfonden (now EIFO) was one of the companies that responded. Based on my previous experience, I understood the product and its potential instantly, but I did not like the business plan. I spent a couple of months rewriting the strategy and business plan, and then I joined the company

• At the time, there wasn’t really a robotics industry in Odense — what did the landscape look like when you joined?

This is actually not true. Odense has been active in robotics long before UR, but there had been no big commercial successes.

• What were the biggest challenges early on in trying to take the technology from research to market?

Awareness – making people (both end-users and distribution/integration partners) aware of the new technology, the market opportunities, and how it was now possible to feasibly automate a lot of applications that could not be handled by traditional industrial robots. Many discussions around safety and safety certifications with authorities in many countries.

• What role did public funding and early-stage investors play in enabling UR’s growth?

I don’t think there would have been a UR without initial public funding. BAs played an insignificant role for UR. It is also worth remembering that UR required very little funding.

• In your view, what was the turning point that made Universal Robots a commercial success?

It was not one turning point – it was daily development

• UR is often described as the spark that led to Odense’s robotics ecosystem. Did you imagine that kind of impact at the time?

No, I did not. Focus was 100% on growing UR and making the company a success. The rest came later.

• Since then, you’ve gone on to launch and invest in several robotics startups. What drives you to keep building in this space?

There are still good business opportunities in robotics/industrial automation, + I like to support others who like to build companies, and + I think I “owe” something to the community.

• What advice would you give to investors or entrepreneurs looking to back the next generation of robotics companies?

Remember that not everything in robotics turns into gold. Be selective as you are in all other industries and investments.

15 women entrepreneurs from across Europe and Central Asia have been selected through a collaboration between EBAN and the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. As part of this initiative, these entrepreneurs have the opportunity to connect with angel investors, VCs, CVCs, and ecosystem leaders at the EBAN Congress 2025, taking place from June 3-5 in Copenhagen.

Building on the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2023, EBAN and UN Women continue to strengthen their partnership to support women entrepreneurs and investors across Europe. This year, the finalist women entrepreneurs from the region have been offered the chance to pitch their businesses to renowned investors and gain exposure to top international angels.

On June 4, the EBAN Congress will feature a dedicated programme block hosted by UN Women, beginning with opening words at 1:55PM, followed by the UN Women Startup Pitching Showcases (2:10PM–2:30PM and 3:40PM–4:00PM). The event will conclude with UN Women announcements and awards from 3:45PM–4:30PM, recognizing the exceptional achievements of these visionary women entrepreneurs and announcing the pitch competition winner.

Through this initiative, women-led startups can expand their networks, engage with like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders, and exchange valuable insights with international experts.

About EXPO Capital Quest

EXPO Capital Quest is the final phase of the Women’s Entrepreneurship EXPO, a unique partnership platform to promote women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem building in the Europe and Central Asia region, led by UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in partnership with European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Yıldız Holding as part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator supported by Mary Kay Inc.

About EBAN Congress

The EBAN Congress is the flagship annual event of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN), uniting investors, startups, and ecosystem leaders from across Europe. Hosted in a different European city each year, it serves as a key platform for advancing angel investing and showcasing innovation. The 2025 edition takes place in Copenhagen, spotlighting top investment trends and international startup talent.

Czech investors were active again in 2024, willing to commit venture capital to startups. However, nearly two-thirds (62.2%) of them flagged the lack of quality startups as the biggest challenge last year, marking an almost 20% increase compared to 2023. These findings come from a survey conducted by the investment group DEPO Ventures.

The report analyzes investment trends, preferences, key challenges, and more, offering a comprehensive view of the Czech venture capital ecosystem. The main partners of the survey, which involved 156 respondents, are the startup support agency Czechinvest and the law firm Novalia.

As part of our spotlight on angel success stories from the EBAN network, we’re sitting down with Janne Jormalainen—long-time angel investor and President Emeritus of EBAN—to talk about two remarkable exits he was involved in. One is Whiteboard, an edtech startup that skyrocketed from 300K to 8 million users and exited in just 104 days. The other is Loupedeck, a hardware startup journey that spanned seven years and ended with an acquisition by Logitech. Each one tells a very different story about what success can look like—and the role angel investors play in making it happen.

• Let’s begin with Whiteboard—an edtech company that developed a virtual whiteboard tool for schools and grew to millions of users almost overnight. Can you tell us how you got involved, what the situation looked like at the time, and how that investment turned into one of the fastest exits in Finnish startup history?

My fellow angel, Reima Linnanvirta, heard the company pitch in one small pitching event. They were experiencing high growth in user numbers. The project had started a few years earlier as a pro-bono project of a school teacher. He developed this service for his students and other teachers to use. However, during the corona times, the service usage started to take off. The founder could not keep up with the server costs as the service started to take off and was looking for investors. Reima sent the deck to me as I was actively looking for edtech investments. What caught my eye was the growth the service was experiencing. However, the company did not have a monetization plan or many other plans either.

• The company didn’t have a monetisation plan yet when you invested, and the team was struggling to keep up with server costs. What gave you the confidence to jump in at that moment—and how was that handled between investment and exit?

My investment criteria is really simple: team, traction, and realistic plans. Traction was the main reason for investing. The company was experiencing strong growth, meaning that there was strong evidence of demand for the service. The team of two founders was suitable for the business, and the founders were willing to accept strong guidance from us angels. Plans were not really there, but before investing, us investors and the founders created the strategy on how to take the business forward, for example, how to monetize the service. In other words there was close co-operation between the founders and us investors already before the investment, and that obviously built confidence that we can make things work after investment too. After the investment things developed really fast, and we had to do many revisions to the plans. For example, we had to try out three monetization ideas before we got it right. When we got it right, the company revenue jumped from 0€/month to over 100 t€/ month in 30 days, and user growth just accelerated.

• On the other end of the spectrum, there’s Loupedeck —a very high-tech hardware company focused on controllers for video and photo editing. You were involved from the very beginning and became Chairman of the Board. Could you walk us through that journey, from the early days to the eventual exit to Logitech?

I met the founder of Loupedeck, Mikko Kesti, through common friends. The first pitch deck had probably three slides. It was very early days, and I thought that this was way too early for investment. I have a background in the hardware business, so I knew that this was not an easy business to be in, but I did like the idea he was developing. It was solving a real problem. However, there was no traction nor a proper team, or good plans. When I told Mikko that I would need to see those three things to make an investment, he was ready to act. He already had one co-founder in mind as CMO and he started to recruit a CTO. At the same time, he started a product pre-sales campaign at Indiegogo and developed plans for making this a global venture. It was amazing how fast things developed. I was very impressed by how things came together. I was the first investor, and we made the first investment round happen in a quick manner with Mikko. I became chairman of the board, and we raised several finance rounds with VCs from all over the world. Eventually, the company became the global leader in its niche, and sales were pretty equally divided between the US, Europe, and Asia. 

• With Loupedeck, the traction looked very different—no product yet, but a pre-sales campaign that massively exceeded expectations. What did that signal to you as an investor, and how did it shape your early involvement?

I was really impressed by how fast Mikko acted on the things I considered important for making the investment. The Indiegogo pre-sales campaign was a huge success. The target was for 75 t€ of sales, and it ended with more than 300 t€ of sales. There was clear evidence of traction and evidence that this product will solve a real problem in the market. I was also impressed with Mikko’s thinking on finding suitable co-founder team members. He put together a team that was diverse, international, and very knowledgeable in the different aspects of the business. Mikko, as CEO, was willing to learn, ask for help, and surround himself with very talented people. It is an easy decision to invest when you can see the founders acting so fast and professionally.

• You’ve often said you invest in teams first. What stood out about the founders of these two companies—and how did their leadership shape the outcomes?

I put a lot of emphasis on founding teams. Typically, start-up journeys are long and quite full of sharp turns or pivots. If the founding team is quick to act, professional, and has the attitude of never giving up, it will make a company succeed. In Whiteboard and Loupedeck, the founders came from very different backgrounds, and the companies started with totally different ideas; as a pro-bono project and as an idea of creating a global category leader. What was common was the desire to solve a real world problem, which both founders had experienced themselves. Whiteboard founder professionally and Loupedeck founder as a hobbyist. The founders had a desire to act fast, learn, and work closely with angel investors.

• Looking at these exits side-by-side—one lightning-fast and the other long and winding—what do they tell us about the range of successful angel journeys? And how do you personally define a “successful” exit?

In my opinion, a successful angel journey is a story of solving a real world problem as a team of investors and founders. Sometimes it takes a long time to achieve this, and sometimes it is a learning opportunity when things go wrong. Of course financial return is important for everybody as well. From a financial return point of view, it is important that the founders earn good money for their tough work then which usually means angels make good returns as well. Hopefully, it all ends with a nice exit dinner celebrated by investors and founders together. Sometimes, the same people will also continue to work together in a new venture. This is, for example, the case for Loupedeck founder and me. I am now an investor in a software company that he co-founded!

• There’s a lot of focus on returns in angel investing, but you’ve pointed out that we often lose sight of the theory and mechanics behind exits. What would you say is most often misunderstood or overlooked by early-stage investors when it comes to exits?

Angel investing is not a sprint, it is a marathon. The financial returns can be great and will be great if angel investing is done professionally and with a large enough portfolio. However, even if it takes long to exit an angel investment, angels must focus on the end goal, the exit from the beginning. I met the eventual buyer of Loupedeck, one year after the investment and six years before the exit, for the first time. Planning for the exit makes the goal achievable at the end.