Week in the ecosystem: AI's social side, Corti's pivot and a Nordic growth exchange
This is a weekly roundup column from the Danish startup outlet Bootstrapping, structured as an eleven-course "autumn menu" of the week's stories in the Danish and Nordic ecosystem. The author argues that AI is above all a democratic opportunity: it gives ordinary citizens cheap access to expert knowledge to challenge authorities, understand illness and write to municipalities. He cites Andrea Heilskov's book "Andrea og Claude" and says AI risks to democracy, climate and sovereignty are real but the potential is large.
On the business side, Corti CEO Andreas Cleve has moved down the AI stack. Corti now offers clinical AI infrastructure that EHR vendors, healthtech firms and hospitals build on, giving them task-specific models and control over their data, and Cleve is going "all-in on beating OpenAI and Anthropic." The column also covers the rise of B2A2C, where a customer's own AI agent gathers information and buys, producing bot-to-bot negotiations. Agent Engine Optimization is replacing SEO, and Gartner says legacy systems and technical debt give startups an advantage.
A debate over a joint Nordic growth exchange pits Trifork's Frederik Svanholm, who says it would revive Danish small caps, against Morten W. Langer, who fears a Stockholm exchange would doom them. On policy, the draft budget raises EIFO's lending framework to DKK 1.6bn in 2027 and DKK 2.1bn from 2028, and gives it a DKK 25.7m loss framework to match investments by Danish foundations in startup-linked companies. The minister is expected to propose a Danish "Tibi model" to channel pension capital into scaleups before year-end.
Other items: Angella Invest, which has over 100 women members, is broadening its strategy to members' wider needs as a great wealth transfer approaches. Two Ukrainians were arrested for photographing MyDefence products, and the CPR leak put cybersecurity on the agenda. Dinero data shows 11.5% more new companies in the spring, and AGC Partners counts 39,100 new AI startups. A Rockwool Foundation analysis finds 304 Danish entrepreneurs have moved abroad since 1999, employing about 22,000 people in companies sold for roughly DKK 280bn. The column closes with Nicolaj Højer's candid angel-investing book "The Burden of Being Right."