Nosco raises $600,000 in Series-A funding for their planned expansion in the US market.

Venture company joins angel investors to fund expansion of Nosco, a Danish social idea platform, in the US market.
Nosco, a software and consulting company that helps organizations become more innovative, today announced that they have raised $600,000 in Series-A funding for their planned expansion in the US market.

Nosco, creator of the social idea platform of the same name, already has major European customers including Maersk, Danfoss, Volvo, VW and Allianz. In 2014, Nosco established a strategic partnership with US-based InnoCentive and the customer portfolio now includes companies such as Reebok and Dolby.

With the investment, Nosco plans to build its own sales team in New York and increase its focus on the US market. Nosco’s US operation will be hosted by Lemonsqueeze, which helps European companies enter the US market and provides office space, recruitment services, sales assistance, and more.

Alongside the focus on the US market, Nosco has already started to expand in Europe, with a special focus on the German market.

Oliver Bernhard, CEO of Nosco, states: “This is really exciting. We have a really strong product and a great team. Over the past year we’ve got a small taste of the US market and have high expectations for it. So we are really happy with the trust that our investors have shown in our plan.”

In addition to Niord Venture, the investor group includes angel investors Jesper Hart-Hansen (former Manager of Innovation and New Ventures at eBay), Thomas Reenberg (former Partner at PwC Consulting and Nordic Head of IBM Business Consulting), and Rasmus Aaen Madsen (former co-founder and CEO of YouCalc, which was acquired bySuccessFactors, now part of SAP).

Thomas Reenberg says about the investment in Nosco: “Following the financial crisis, many of the world’s leading companies have become significantly more profitable. The cash piles are growing and dividends and share repurchases are historically high. At the same time, executives are searching high and low for attractive investment areas and new business lines to ensure future growth.” He continues: “Nosco has created a unique product for just this ‒ strengthening innovation, be it for new businesses and growth, efficiency improvements and product development, or development of new business models. They have a clear vision and a competent and dynamic leadership team.”

Jesper Hart-Hansen notes: “Nosco has proved they are a vendor to be reckoned with. Over the next 10 years, more and more companies will invest in software for innovation management – the same way they did for HR management, manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, and finance and accounting. I think the timing of Nosco's acceleration is good.”

Rasmus Aaen Madsen adds: "It's amazing that they have already been nominated as one of the leading vendors in innovation management by both Forrester and Gartner Group. I believe in the team, and I believe in the market.”

About Nosco
Nosco is a software and consulting firm that helps companies become more innovative.

Nosco is the maker of the Nosco platform, a social platform for ideas. Using the Nosco platform, leaders can post business and innovation challenges, and invite colleagues, customers or partners to share ideas, options or solutions to the challenge. People can post ideas, comment on others' ideas, and vote for ideas that they like.

Both Forrester and Gartner Group have nominated Nosco as one the leading vendors of innovation management solutions.

Nosco was established by Oliver Bernhard and Jesper Müller-Krogstrup in 2006. Since then Sebastian Cadell joined the group of owners. The company currently has 17 employees divided among consulting, development and sales.

About the investors
Niord Venture is owned by, among others, Peter Kisbye. Peter has many years of experience with start-ups. He was previously COO of Kuoni Scandinavia, a travel group, and is currently founder and CEO of Loyalty Solutions, a company that provides customer loyalty solutions to a number of large Danish and international companies.

Jesper Hart-Hansen is a Partner at Wasabi-link.dk and a member of the Executive Capital network. Jesper has co-founded a number of software companies and was most recently Manager of Innovation and New Ventures at eBay Europe.

Thomas Reenberg was previously a Partner at PwC Consulting and the Nordic Head of IBM Business Consulting. His current roles include executive advisor, professional board member and angel investor.

Rasmus Aaen Madsen is co-founder and CEO of Deskwolf, and investor and board member at a number of start-ups. Rasmus was previously co-founder and CEO of YouCalc, which was acquired by SuccessFactors (now part of SAP). Rasmus was also one of the early investors in Zendesk.