Yet behind every breakthrough founder, there is a backbone of early believers – angels who provide not only capital, but experience, networks, and confidence at the most fragile stage of company building. For too long, this backbone has been fragmented. Individual angels operate in isolation, limiting their influence.
Nordic Angels aims to change that and create an environment where startups can scale within the region rather than seeking capital and support elsewhere. Today, it has grown into the largest high-trust investor network in the Nordics and a strong force shaping the future of entrepreneurship across the region. Founded in 2020 by Ash Pournouri and Andreas Grape, Nordic Angels was born in a moment when connection mattered more than ever. While the Nordic startup ecosystem was expanding rapidly, angel investors themselves were underserved. There was no organized, curated environment for angel investors to collaborate efficiently, share high-quality deal flow, or build meaningful relationships.
The Nordic region is too small to benefit from a fragmented business and investor community, especially when capital and resources exist here but lack coordination. By bringing the community together, Nordic Angels enables the region to leverage its combined capital, competence, and experience, creating powerful network effects that strengthen the Nordics’ position in a competitive global context. Today, Nordic Angels is an independent initiative and a full-service powerhouse built around trust, data, collaboration, and community, spanning across digital solutions, physical events, media, and research. The network spans more than 2,000 members – including investors, venture capitalists, family offices, board members, and business leaders from pre-seed to pre-IPO stages – all contributing to the startup ecosystem. At the core of Nordic Angels lies its invite-only platform: a vertical high-trust social network designed specifically for angels. Unlike traditional investment or networking platforms, the Nordic Angels environment is built around trust, efficiency, transparency, and high-quality interaction. Members use it to discover curated deal flow, evaluate opportunities alongside trusted peers, and collaborate directly with each other. In essence, it provides the tools they have long needed but never had available online.
Through its signature events – from monthly investor luncheons to Angel Prize Gala and Angel Prize Summit – Nordic Angels creates spaces where investors and business leaders can connect and be honored and recognized both politically and in the media. These gatherings are where partnerships form, ideas spark, and collective impact takes place. Nordic Angels is the closest equivalent to an industry organization for private investors, and a strong voice for the private capital markets.
Nordic Angels also play a central role in shaping thought leadership and making the private market more accessible. Its media ecosystem spans podcasts, newsletters, social channels, and Angel Prize Magazine. A landmark research initiative, The State of European Angels – initiated by Nordic Angels in collaboration with BCG – is an annual report that maps active angel investors across Europe through extensive exploration and in-depth data analysis of the European startup and private market ecosystem.
Ultimately, Nordic Angels stands on three foundational pillars: Find & Unite, Unlock Business, and Facilitate Collaboration. In just a few years, Nordic Angels has grown to be the largest investor network and leading ecosystem builder in the Nordics – one that has the solutions to mobilize private capital, connect the Nordic innovation landscape, and strengthen the foundation on which the entrepreneurs depend.
