The always well-timed Slush conference took place in Helsinki last week and, as always, it was a showcase of the growing strength of the European ecosystem.
The Scandinavians, in particular, are having a moment, led this time by Sweden’s beloved vibe-coder Lovable, often held up as an example of the ecosystem’s growing success. Other standouts, albeit older names, include Klarna and Spotify.
In this week’s Equity, we sat down with Dennis Green-Lieber, the founder of AI Propane, to talk about the booming success of the Nordic ecosystem. Green-Lieber is based in Denmark and has been building the ecosystem for the past 15 years.
He talked about the success of the ecosystem with a few things, including the social security of the area that allows young people to take risks without fear of losing everything.
“The younger founders, the new generations, are much more bullish and take ownership,” he told Equity. “I haven’t seen anything in my 15 years [like] what’s going on right now.”
Becoming a hub for deep technology and artificial intelligence, as one report put it, and is now valued at half a trillion dollars, with Nordic startups receiving just over $8 billion in venture capital by 2024. The government also plays a role in these companies, providing startups like Green-Lieber’s with funding to help founders grow their companies.
In some ways, Green-Lieber agrees with others that the ecosystem is a few years behind — but, at the same time, “we’re moving an awful lot faster,” he said.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
13-15 October 2026
We couldn’t leave the conversation without talking a little about artificial intelligence. When asked if we were in a bubble, Green-Lieber said he didn’t know. “There are too many opportunities that haven’t been explored,” he said, adding that it’s true that some people just put money into bad things, but “that’s just the risk of venture capital.”
