TheFactory

Early-stage Venture Capital firm bridging the gap between money and smart entrepreneurs.

We invest in early-stage tech startups in the Nordic, typically pre-seed and seed.

We are a founder-friendly Venture Capital investor with a primary focus on early-stage tech companies.

It all started in 2015…

TheFactory was founded in 2015 as an accelerator and incubator, with the first accelerator program in 2016. The mission was at the time to accelerate and invest in Nordic early-stage fintech and insurtech startups. Even though fintech accounted for over 11% of total capital invested in the Nordics in 2016, there was not a fintech oriented accelerator programs in Norway.

TheFactory Accelerator positioned itself as the first Norwegian fintech accelerator that ran a 3-months program where startups received pre-seed funding, thorough startup methodology training, help from a pool of experienced mentors and a unique opportunity to meet key corporate players from the financial industry.

In 2017 TheFactory Accelerator was awarded “The Best Accelerator Program in Norway” by Nordic Startup Awards. In 2019, TheFactory received the same award - not only for Norway - but was awarded Best Accelerator / Incubator Program in Nordics” by Nordic Startup Awards, and will in 2020 compete against similar programs from other parts of the world in Global Startup Awards.

In addition to that, TheFactory’s CEO Ingar S. Bentsen was awarded “Ecosystem Hero of 2019” for his contribution and efforts to the Norwegian entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Who are TheFactory Angels? TheFactory Angels, formerly known as FintechAngels, is a group of private investors with an appetite for fintech and proptech startups. By joining forces with an investment company to invest in the best fintech and proptech companies that come through TheFactory's accelerator programs.

For each accelerator program, a new investment company (ie TheFactory Angels I - VII) will be set up in which external investors are invited to participate. The investment companies are managed by TheFactory AS - the company behind TheFactory Accelerator & Incubator. TheFactory AS has a 22.5% ownership interest in the respective investment companies.

Investors in TheFactory Angels are angel and early-stage investors who share a common goal of helping entrepreneurs and startups accelerate forward while making good, value-adding investments. So far, 60+ investors have invested in TheFactory Angels companies!

In later years we have established AIF-registered funds TheFactory Norway Fund and TheFactory Sportstech Fund.