Arne Tonning is Partner at Alliance Venture, a leading Nordic venture capital firm investing in exceptional early-stage tech companies and purpose-driven founders with global ambitions. Arne is responsible for Alliance’s investments in Supersite, Aquabyte, Medal.tv, Northern.tech, IndyKite, and more. He spent five years as an Investor in Residence at Nordic Innovation House in Silicon Valley and is now based in Oslo. Arne has a particular interest in growth thru market expansion after working with Nordic startups in London and California. He is co-hosting the Valley Nordic podcast.

Chantal Noble Haldorsen is the VC Lead at Certares, an investment platform focused on travel, hospitality, and mobility with over $7B AUM. She leads the firm’s venture strategy, investing primarily in Series A through Series C startups with the potential to partner with the broader Certares portfolio, comprised of over 30 travel brands, including Tripadvisor, Amex Global Business Travel, and Hertz. Prior to joining Certares, Chantal worked at Torch Capital (early stage consumer VC firm in New York). She also spent six years at EMC with roles across M&A integration and sales strategy. Chantal has an MBA from Harvard Business School and is also an active angel investor with over 30 personal investments to date.

Finn Persson is a Partner and co-founder of Spintop Ventures. Spintop is the leading pan-Nordic early-stage venture firm, which started in 2010. Notable portfolio companies include database company MariaDB, recently announced NYSE listing, Small Giant Games, a unicorn exit, and Oneflow; as well as more recent stars like IndyRIOT, Worldfavor and Nomono. Spintop is a strong believer in sustainability and diversity, proud to have a portfolio where currently 1/3 of the active companies are run by female CEOs. Spintop is managed by a senior team including two highly successful international tech founders/CEOs with three large exits and more than one billion (!) software licenses sold. Prior to founding Spintop, Finn was a Partner with McKinsey & Co heading the TIME sector in the Nordics. Further back in time he worked as a ski guide in the Alps and have kept a passion for skiing, trail running and any other outdoor adventures. So, he is very excited about his first time visit to Hemsedal and look forward to enjoy the mountains with fellow participants at Startup Extreme!

I have 10 years of experience in building, scaling, and investing in digital startups for Schibsted. Now I am heading up investments for Schibsted Ventures in Norway. Schibsted Growth is Schibsted's venture investment arm and one of Norway's top VCs. Past experience includes heading up business development for VG (Norway´s largest newspaper) and working with FINN digital products. My educational background is in business (at Luigi Bocconi) and entrepreneurship (at Boston University). I am an open-minded and people-oriented person. I value results and take joy in seeing others succeed. I am also pragmatic that like to get things done.

Kremena Tosheva is an investor with SNÖ Ventures, a pan-Nordic early stage venture firm, build by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Prior to joining SNÖ Kremena spent two years working on the investment team at Agera Venture and has served on the board of several startups as well as Alliance Venture Spring. Kremena has a solid track record in building digital and physical communities and has been an active force in the Norwegian tech eco-system through her previous roles at Oslotech, the Oslo Science Park managing company. She is the entrepreneur behind one of Norway's largest science and tech business jams - "The Cutting Edge festival". Kremena holds an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and a BSc in Business Administration and Economics. She attended the exclusive award-winning Norwegian Entrepreneurship Program (Gründerskolen) at Rice University, TX, USA in 2014.

Jon Kåre is Co-founder of Norwegian Unicorn Oda and Partner & Co-founder of Skyfall Ventures, an Oslo-based VC fund that invests in Nordic early-stage companies built around a strong software component. Skyfall's core areas of expertise are within blockchain & Web3, gaming & the metaverse, green technology enabling software, next-generation e-commerce, and B2B SaaS. Jon Kåre was COO and part of the founding team of Oda, Norway´s largest e-com grocery company.

Reetta currently leads the platform and marketing function at Maki.vc, a European seed-stage fund investing in brand-driven and deep-tech companies. Reetta is a Slush alumna, launched programming and robotics courses to Nordic high schools with Mehackit, and scaled Brella in the U.S while living in New York. With a background in journalism and as a startup executive she has experience in navigating interesting cases and building new brands and businesses from the ground up.

Trond Riiber Knudsen is Founder and CEO of TRK Group AS, an Oslo-based investment and advisory firm focused on active ownership and advisory within disruptive technologies, digital service transformation and new African growth markets. Prior to this, Trond Riiber Knudsen was a Senior Partner and member of the Leadership group in McKinsey & Company, with responsibility for McKinsey’s Marketing & Sales practice. In addition, Trond has led the development of McKinsey’s training and leadership programs, and led McKinsey’s committee for evaluation of external partner candidates. Trond has focused his client work around long-term partnerships with a number of globally leading companies within consumer goods, retail, media, telecom and technology, most with headquarters in the Nordics. Trond has been an active driving force for McKinsey’s growth in Africa, including his country of birth, Ethiopia. Trond has a passionate commitment for helping people from different backgrounds, to reach their full potential. Based on this, Trond has for a number of years advised Kronprinsparets fond, focusing on mastery and methods to avoid social exclusion among young individuals. Recently, he has led a committee in McKinsey to develop more diverse consultant profiles – including promoting consultants with expert profiles and different cultural backgrounds as well as overseeing programs to accelerate the development of more women in leadership positions in McKinsey. Together with McKinsey and Telenor, he has created WLP, Women Leadership Program to support and promote future women leaders in Norway among female university and college students. Trond is a MSC/sivilingeniør from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

Isabelle Ringnes is the co-founder of Equalitycheck. it, a technology product that measures diversity and inclusion in organizations through transparency and data collection and supports them with short/medium, and long-term evidence-based solutions for gaps identified. In 2015 she founded TENK: a Technology Network for Women aiming to inspire women and girls to lean in and contribute to shaping our world’s future with technology. She has established two-yearly tech-camps for young girls and spoken to thousands of girls around Norway to inspire them to choose technology. Together with SOS Child Villages, she has initiated the project Digital Villages which aims to give children access to technology. In 2014 she co-founded #Hunspanderer, a social movement addressing unconscious bias and gender stereotypes reaching millions of people. In 2016 she won a national competition granting her a scholarship to attend Singularity University at NASA Research Center where she is currently faculty on diversity. Isabelle has been named one of six Norwegians in “100 most influential people in Nordic Tech”, one of the 50 leading women in Tech in Norway, and Inspiring Fifty women in tech in 2016 & 2019. Isabelle has produced a podcast called Future Forecast, discussing technology, leadership, and sustainability with leaders and experts around the world, including guests like Randi Zuckerberg, Richard Quest, and Simon Sinek. In 2019 she co-authored a book called Hvem Spanderer about unconscious bias. Isabelle is a sought-after public speaker and a known profile on technology in the Norwegian news and TV Media. She is an active board member in Dermanor and the Norwegian Cancer Association.

Calin is the Head of Nordics at Peak. He has made his way around the Dutch and Nordic ecosystem: first as a founder, then leading expansion for a venture-backed scale-up, and finally as a fundraising adviser for start-ups and mature companies. He is passionate about the verticalization of Saas, marketplaces, fintech, and the evolution of the web to web3. A tech history geek he still has wired magazines in his library dating back to 1998. He is also the host of the popular podcast Venture Europe where he discusses different relevant topics with some of the best investors and entrepreneurs like Paul Murphy - Partner at Lightspeed, Matt Miller - Partner at Sequoia, Johan Brand - Founder of Kahoot, and Karl-Munthe Kass - founder of Oda among others.

Eilin Schjetne is the general manager for Lunar in Norway, and one of the most inspirational leaders within the Norwegian financial industry. Before joining Lunar she was the European partnership lead for real-time payments and open banking in Visa. Eilin is frequently mentioned in the media and a popular guest in both national and international podcasts. What sets Eilin apart from the regular bank manager is her true passion for how to bank, pay, spend and invest in new ways, to a level that moves banking from low to high interest. Having introduced Lunar to the Norwegian consumer market, she is now taking on the challenge to introduce Lunar Business, tailored banking services for startups and micro-businesses within 2022.

Espen Malmo is co-founder and Managing Partner at Skyfall Ventures, an Oslo-based VC fund that invests in Nordic early-stage companies built around a strong software component. Skyfall's core areas of expertise are within blockchain & web3, gaming & the metaverse, green technology enabling software, next-generation e-commerce, and B2B SaaS. Espen wrote his master's thesis on Bitcoin back in 2012/2013 and has a strong investment track record in the space with investments in blockchain companies like Firi, Nansen, and Presail.

Pål is Co-founder and SVP Growth Projects at Gelato, Pål is a member of the Board of Directors of Startup Norway. Between 2013 and 2019, Pål worked for Innovation Norway in roles such as Norway’s Trade Commissioner in Canada and 3 years as Director of Entrepreneurs and Startups, thus responsible for the Norwegian Governments tools to promote and finance Entrepreneurship and Startups. ‍

Kjartan is a partner in McKinsey's Nordic office, out of Oslo. He is part of our Nordic leadership team, currently leads Leap by McKinsey in the Nordics, and is passionate about helping clients solve people and organization challenges in the context of building new businesses. With 15+ years of experience across industries, Kjartan brings deep expertise in how to create organizational change, build and scale organizations and talent, and create digital, scalable businesses in corporate or startup environments. Kjartan also coleads our work with startups, venture capital, and accelerators in the Nordics, as well as Leap Academy globally.‍

Anita Krohn Traaseth is the Chairman of the Board of Startup Norway and Board member of the European Innovation Council (EU/EIC). She is Chair and Non-Executive director for several Norwegian growth companies. Anita is the former CEO of Innovation Norway (2014-2019) and first female Managing director of Hewlett-Packard Norway. She is a high performer profile with more than 20 years of experience from Private and Public sector, a mother of three daughters, writer and author of two #1 bestseller books on leadership.

Mats Staugaard is a tech-guy turned investor. He’s now an Investment Manager at Schibsted Ventures, but he was also among the first founders Schibsted Ventures invested with in Norway. Mats founded KickBack which grew from 0 to 1.5 bNOK in GMV before Schibsted bought the company. Prior to that, Mats spent 6 years in Tradedoubler - the company that the Spotify-founders did before Spotify. He’s passionate about tech, privacy and pizza.

CFO at Schibsted Vekst AS

Erling has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Oslo and The Business School for the World, INSEAD IEP. He has 25+ years of experience in Venture Capital (VC) and founding experience from Oslonett, New Media Science, Alliance Venture, and many more. Currently, he is an independent investor/consultant focusing on media technologies at New Media Science.

Guri Melby is the leader of the Norwegian Liberal Party and a parliamentary representative for Oslo. She has been a lecturer at Oslo and Akershus University College since the autumn of 2012. Prior to this, she was a teacher at Sør-Trøndelag University College between 2008 and 2011. Guri was an advisor at the National Center for Writing Education and Research and advisor at the Ministry of Education from 2010 to 2011. In 2020, Melby became the new Minister of Education and Integration in Erna Solberg's government. She drives electric cars of the older version and rides bikes when she can. Furthermore, Guri is very fond of outdoor trips.

Leif Erik Kleivene is Lunar’s Commercial Lead for Consumer Banking in Norway, and part of a 25+ person team (and counting) responsible for growing Lunar in Norway. He comes from a background of business development and strategy consulting in the financial technology space. Prior to joining Lunar, he held positions in Mastercard's New Payment Platforms business unit, Vipps' international business development team, and the Berlin-based payments consultancy Lipis Advisors. He has an affinity for financial technology and tries to keep up with the latest developments in digital banking, fintech, and digital commerce. On the personal side, he’s on a quest to compound knowledge, relationships, and wealth.

Andrew Kvålseth, Chief Investment Officer of Schibsted, responsible for Venture, M&A, and other investment activities. Andrew has over 20 years of leadership experience across a range of investment, digital, and commercial leadership roles. This includes extensive experience from leading VC investments, internal corporate ventures and corporate M&A teams. In addition to this he has significant commercial leadership experience from founding and growing an e-commerce company as CEO, leading an online payments company, to his prior role as Group Chief Commercial Officer in Ooredoo, a $ 8bn Telecom and Media company.

Mathilde is Investment Director in Arkwright X. Arkwright X is an early-stage VC company focused on B2B tech. They combine venture experience with their network and competencies from management consulting to support outstanding founders that build great companies.

Daniel Eisenberg is the Head of Expansion for Northern, Central & Eastern Europe at Deel. Having worked for many start-ups and scale-ups in the past, Daniel has experienced firsthand, how hard it can be to get employed, but also to employ when scaling internationally. And that is what Deel is all about. Currently, being the fastest-growing company on the planet, Deel is leading the space around remote hire and payroll, with a large focus on compliance, speed, and employment experience.

Danae Ringelmann is an American tech entrepreneur, board member, advisor, small-business owner, and emerging regenerative farmer now living in Norway. She co-owns Huso Lodge & Farm - a wellness-minded lodge and farm nestled in the mountains of Hemsedal. Danae recently spent a year as an Exec-in-Residence with StartupLab in Oslo. Before moving to Norway Danae co-founded Indiegogo, the first global crowdfunding platform where she remains an active board member. Prior to Indiegogo, Danae was a Securities Analyst on Wall Street and a CFA charterholder. Danae holds an MBA from UC Berkeley, and a BA with Honors from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead Scholar and varsity rower. Honors include 2016 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40, Inc. Magazine’s April 2016 Cover, and Fast Company’s Top 50 Women Innovators in Tech. Danae has spoken extensively around the world including talks at SXSW, Web Summit, The Next Web, TEDx, SLUSH, and a testimony to the U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee. Current interests include regenerative farming, functional medicine, and tech “in-service-of” nature.

Rannveig Fadum is Investment Director within pre-seed investments and the fund Investinor Nord-Norge AS. Before Rannveig started at Investinor she was Investment Director for the pre-seed funds at Innovation Norway and has also been head of Funding for Entrepreneurs. She led the development of the pre-seed funds and the startup loan. She has worked closely with the ecosystem within early-stage funding and has a broad nationwide network. Prior to this, she worked in development and industrial design, and she has a solid experience as a team and project manager. She is educated in business and administration from BI Norwegian Business School and entrepreneurship at Babson College.

Kathrine Myhre has a broad background and competence in innovation, business and export strategy, and creation and scaling of companies. She has an interest in innovation and development of the public sector, among others stimulating private-public partnerships, and is passionate about bringing new knowledge and technology to products and solutions that can help and assist in developing a more sustainable society and world.

Arve co-founded Momentum and has been with the company since its inception in 2013. Prior to Momentum, he worked for Arkwright and PwC as a management consultant and held several positions in Norsk Hydro and Equinor, the latter within Technology and New Energy. Before establishing Momentum, Arve was part of the executive management team of Rieber and Son ASA, responsible for strategy and business development. Arve has extensive experience from business development and transactions in startups, SMEs and large companies in a wide range of industries. He has been an active early-tage and venture investor since 2015 and serves as board member in several companies, both in Norway and abroad. Arve holds a Master of Science in Finance from NHH, Norwegian School of Economics.

Tor is a techie turned investor. He co-founded StartupLab in 2012, and as its head of investments raised 4 tech funds and invested in 110 startups. Prior to StartupLab he was the CEO of Hugin, Norway's first SaaS company, which he developed into a European leader and later sold it twice to NYSE and Thomson Reuters respectively. Tor has worked with large International companies and projects across the globe. Most recently he co-founded RunwayFBU, an early-stage VC Fund, and Tech Hub, together with Kjell Inge Røkke, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Norway and the largest shareholder of Aker Group. They are now building multiple funds under Aker Asset Management.

Lise Fulland is an Investment Partner at Startuplab - one of Norway's most active early-stage technology investors. Prior to joining Startuplab Lise has experience from Treasury & Cash Management from Schibsted and BNP Paribas. Lise holds a MSc in Economics and an MBA in Finance, and spends most of her time assessing investment opportunities and working with portfolio companies on their funding strategy. Lise loves music and in 2014 she was part of the founding team of Norway's biggest rock festival - Tons of Rock!

Georgina is a scientist by training, and venture capital investor. She is an Investment Associate at Hadean Ventures, a specialist life science VC. Hadean Ventures is headquartered in Oslo and invests across all life science verticals including therapeutics, medical devices, digital health, and diagnostics. In her role at Hadean, Georgina is involved with all aspects of the investment lifecycles from deal sourcing and due diligence, to contract negotiations and portfolio support. She holds board observer roles in several Hadean portfolio companies. Georgina's academic background is from the University College London (UCL) and the University of Oslo and holds a Ph.D. focused on Huntington's disease and an MBA. During her Ph.D., she discovered a possible blood biomarker for patients. Georgina has worked in several business areas related to life sciences including scientific publishing and start-up consulting.

Jon Soberg is Managing Partner at MS&AD Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the future of finance, risk assessment, and building a sustainable society. Jon has made over 120 investments across 5 continents and has held more than 40 board positions. Prior to becoming an investor, Jon was a serial entrepreneur and operator, with an IPO exit at Adforce. Jon has a Master's degree in Engineering, a CFA, and is an MBA and Palmer scholar at Wharton. Jon is ranked #13 on Business Insider's Seed 100 list of top seed investors.

Sabino is Credimi’s Strategy & Funding Officer and is one of the co-founders of the company. Before focusing on this role he acted as Lending Officer designing the v1 of Credimi risk models and processes and setting up the team. Before Credimi, Sabino has been working as a Strategy consultant in Oliver Wyman and Boston Consulting Group, focusing on Italian and International Financial Institutions. Sabino graduated in International Management from Bocconi University and obtained CEMS-MIM. Sabino is an Endeavor Entrepreneur and a mentor for Bocconi4Innovation. He is passionate of innovation, entrepreneurship, history, cultures, and traveling.

Rikke Eckhoff Høvding joined Nordea in 2020 having worked nearly five years as the CEO of the Norwegian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Prior to NVCA, Rikke was Head of Corporate Affairs at Argentum Asset Management and has also worked as an editor and reporter with the private equity and venture capital news site unquote.com in London, covering the Nordic markets, and a consultant at a Norwegian PR and communications firm. At Nordea she works with financial regulation, with a particular focus on topics related to digital and data.

Claudia is an investment banking professional with financial advisory and M&A experience primarily in cannabis, with additional experience in oil & gas, mining, gaming & lodging, consumer products, and tech, with transactions ranging in size from $10 million to $6 billion. She is the Co-Founder of BLC, a financial advisory and consulting firm based in Los Angeles, where she successfully invested, structured, and collaborated with over 30 cannabis companies across every vertical for business development, capital introductions, and M&A transactions around the globe. Throughout her career, she has developed a network of over 10,000 private equity and investment funds and trained 15 classes of analysts to be successful in their financial services careers. She also served as a partner at OFS Capital Group in Hong Kong, was employed in the Gaming & Lodging Group at Bank of America Securities LLC/ Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles, and worked as an Investment Banker in the Consumer Products Group at Partnership Capital Growth Advisors in San Francisco and at Hadley Partners Inc. in Los Angeles.

Thuc is the Chief Executive Officer and one of the founders of Firi, the Nordic region's largest cryptocurrency exchange. His passion for technology and making the impossible possible has played a central role in both creating and maintaining a Nordic space for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Thuc, with his background in software development, is dedicated to making crypto available for everyone. His goal is to empower people to join the economy of the future.

Liv is relentlessly dedicated to giving new digital industries conditions in which they thrive. She has more than 15 years of experience in helping IT companies and tech start-ups with regulatory issues, market access, internationalisation, access to capital, and advising the government on digital policy.

Gelem Lluberes is responsible for the execution of Service Agreements for Power Generation & the Operation and Maintenance of Gas Power Plants overseeing the EMEA region for Siemens Energy. In addition, she served as Board Member of Future Energy Leaders at World Energy Council and is a Sponsor of Siemens Energy Diversity Ambassadors focused on development and inclusion based in Berlin, Germany. She began her career in energy after graduating from INTEC with a Degree in Industrial Engineering. Her roles with Eaton Electrical expanded across Production, Engineering and Lean Manufacturing; she later joined Nestle and Siemens Energy, holding leadership positions in Sales, Strategy, Operations, Portfolio Management and Business Development. Her experiences in Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy, China and Germany in combination with her Master‘s in Business and Change Management have strengthen her cognitive diversity and enabled her contribute to Siemens‘ Digital Transformation and business turnaround. Passionate about helping people and organizations envision different futures and coaching their way into a better tomorrow. These days focused in making energy greener and fostering diversity of thought within the Energy Industry.

John's entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 15 when he started a private education business for children with dyslexia, which he ran for over 7 years. He has a dual degree in Psychology and Economics, and is the co-founder and CEO of Alex Therapeutics - a company developing smart standalone digital therapies for addiction and mental health

Susanne is actively working with the SEB Greentech VC through her presence in Norway, supporting them with deal flow, a network of investors, and sustainability expertise, in addition to her role as Deputy Head of Sustainable Banking. She has a decade worth of experience in sustainability and the financial ecosystem (since 2010) and is one of the leading voices within the field. She is also active in the venture ecosystem, sitting on several boards (Hayk, ClevAir, and ClimatePoint), acting as a mentor in different accelerators, investment boards, and is also a jury member of the Nordic CleanTechOpen Challenge. Besides SEB she has worked in Nordea, Formuesforvaltning, Carnegie, and her own sustainability consultancy, pushing the agenda ahead on sustainability. Currently, she is passionate about bringing forward the focus on regenerative business, the importance of system thinking, and the emerging scene of nature and biodiversity-based solutions. SEB Greentech VC is investing in start-ups with innovative technologies and stellar teams that are obsessed with preventing transgression of the planetary boundaries. The focus is on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon removal with a preference for hardware, starting from a Nordic presence scouting in Europe. The VC invests EUR 1-4m as entry tickets in late seed to series A rounds with a clear understanding of being a long-term investor with the ability to continue with follow-on investments. Current investments include CorPower Ocean, ClimateView, C-Green Technology, and Enginzyme.

Ivan Draganov is a Senior Innovation Analyst at Dealroom, a startup database, and intelligence company. Ivan leads custom deep-dive research projects on startups, VC investment, and tech hubs for top-tier VC funds such as Atomico, LocalGlobe, and Speedinvest, among others. Additionally, Ivan supports tech journalists from leading media outlets like The Financial Times, Business Insider, and Bloomberg to derive insights from data. Previously Ivan worked on the development of data-driven investment tools and equity research of internet stocks at ABN AMRO Bank. Ivan has a background in econometrics and financial economics.

Co-founder & CEO at Strise

Yrja is a content producer and host working within the field of innovation, technology, sustainability, and self-improvement. She has been present in the startup ecosystem in Norway since the very beginning. Her podcast "Power Ladies" has inspired many women to start their own companies, or just chase their ambitions in general.

Ragini Campion serves as a Business Development Manager for HubSpot for Startups focused on the Nordics. Her background is in Marketing, Education, and Technology and she has previous experience working for a social impact startup and managing partnerships for a global enterprise technology company. She is deeply passionate about supporting women founders, driving collective impact, and helping startups get the best deals!

Katherine is an Investment Professional with Hadean Ventures, responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence and management of active investments. She brings deep commercial insight and international experience with prior roles in strategy consulting, corporate development and investment banking. Most recently, Katherine worked as an Associate with Goldman Sachs’ Healthcare Investment Banking team in London. She focused on the pharmaceutical, biotech and life science sectors and helped deliver over $13bn worth of announced transactions encompassing strategic M&A, private financings and IPOs. Previously Katherine worked as a strategy consultant at ZS Associates in San Francisco, where she worked with pharmaceutical companies on portfolio and indication optimization, market insights, and new product launches. Katherine holds an MBA from London Business School with a Finance Concentration. She is originally from San Francisco and graduated with a degree in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. During her studies, she conducted research at UCSF on personalized radiotherapy approaches and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed scientific articles. In her free time, Katherine enjoys gravel biking, horseback riding and backcountry skiing.

Olav is an artist from Norway, focusing on photography. The IT-boy from Rykkinn is one of Norways biggest trendsetters and have been a central voice in the NFT space the last year with his project «basic. by Olav». With over 10 years in the field, his portfolio includes the biggest names and publications in the world. Justin Bieber, G-eazy, Kygo, Halsey, Martin Garrix and Vin Diesel is some of the names that has personally been Requesting his services. His work consist in combining the digital and the physical. byolav.com Multiartist, PRETTY

Øyvind is currently works with strategy & sustainability (which is one and the same at Vestre). A background studying economics took him from strategy consulting to outdoor furniture in an unexpected turn of events. Currently working actively with startups to position Vestre as the world’s most sustainable furniture company with actions in the spheres of circularity, nature-based solutions, and social.‍

Torsten is a Bioinformatics Engineer by training and a Co-Founder at YouNoodle in San Francisco, a technology platform to source, select, and engage the most promising startups in the world. He was a judge for startup programs at Stanford University and MIT and also has written opinion pieces for both Wall Street and Entrepreneur Magazine. Torsten is an advisor to a number of startups and an investor in two venture funds. He is a frequent speaker on corporate innovation, and on how governments can spur ecosystem growth through global startup engagement.

Mayor of Hemsedal municipality. County politicians in Viken. Deputy Chairman of the Regional Council of Hallingdal. Trained 3D data graphic designer and animator. Interests: Motorcycle, Japanese martial arts, snowboarding, hunting, fixing, archery ++ From Oslo. Moved to Hemsedal in the year 2000.

Ieva Sibilla Strupule is a serial startup entrepreneur, advisor, and speaker recognized as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum. Currently, Ieva is the CEO and co-founder of Material Mapper, an Oslo/Norway-based startup that facilitates material reuse in construction. Ieva’s background is in Big Data Structuring, IT, Finance, and Tourism. She is a Latvian-born global citizen, having lived in 6 countries, and her greatest passions are the future of education, circular economy, and sustainability.

Arild Spandow is the founder and CEO of Amesto Group (2002). He is part owner of Spabogruppen, a Norwegian family owned company. Arild is an experienced leader with an entrepreneurial spirit, who is always looking for opportunities. He is passionate about exponential technology and value-based leadership. Arild is born in Norway, but has a global mind set. He is an experienced board member and the driving force of Amesto’s intrapreneur program, which has given birth to a number of new businesses under the Amesto umbrella. Arild is also highly invested in Amesto-related startups, most recently through Amesto Aces, co-founding the FinTech bank Aprila Bank and as an early investor in the Semine Accounting Robot. He is married to Live and has two kids, Philip and Sophie.

Mari is working on place branding of the Oslo Region, working to promote opportunities in the region for international talent, student, visitors and investors. Have in the last year run campaigns to promote Oslo for potential international talent and investors. The Oslo Region Alliance is a political organization of 64 municipalities working together to competitive and sustainable region.

LJ is the Co-founder and CEO of ScaleupXQ, an initiative to support businesses by accelerating sales on a global scale. Prior to ScaleupXQ he has held leading positions in several international growth companies within media, tech, and sales, and has through this accumulated valuable know-how from battling the challenges connected to global expansion. As an ecosystem player LJ has also been connected to leading accelerators and boards over the years, supporting aspiring and experienced founders in successfully steering their companies toward global expansion and growth.

Yvonne Fosser gives lectures on work culture, job commitment, and HR management. She has 20 years of experience as HR director from DHL, Felleskjøpet, Hewlett-Packard Norway, and Innovation Norway among others. With the latter two, Yvonne Fosser worked for top manager Anita Krohn Traaseth, and together with the organization, they increased both the knowledge and the attractiveness of these two companies. Yvonne has sat in several top management groups and developed strategic HR with a focus on culture and change projects, the establishment of management programs, and talent development. Yvonne started 2020 the HR company Amesto People & Culture. Yvonne's vision is to help as many people as possible to get the best out of their working lives, through increased job commitment. She believes that there is too much focus on poor management and believes that much can be solved through increased focus on better employees. Culture and climate are everyone's responsibilities, is her mantra. Get in touch for a useful and inspiring lecture with Yvonne Fosser.

Thomas has been CEO of Zirq Solutions since 2021, an innovative growth company scaling circular solutions in Northern Europe, owned by Norsk Gjenvinning. Prior to that, he held the position of SVP Innovation & Sustainability at Norsk Gjenvinning, since 2013. He has previous experience in leadership roles within banking and real estate investments, respectively Nordea and Clarksons Shipping.

Matthew is the Head of Strategy at Sifted - Europe's go-to source of startup news and analysis. He has experience working at Deloitte in the UK, France, and Spain - before acting as a consultant to some of the world's largest media businesses. With a background in Human Rights Law, he is passionate about using tech for good.

Ole-Petter works as Business Developer in Telia Next, developing new services and business models on 5G in Norway. He has wide experience in Telecom from vendor, operator, and startup spaces, always working across technology and commercial boundaries. Current main focus is on Enterprise Mobile Networks for all verticals and the transformations that support the 5G revolution. This work also covers use cases/concepts like Industry 4.0, IoT, Mission Critical communication, OT/IT migration, and Security.

Marius Ebbesen is a business developer in Telia Next, the business development unit in Telia Enterprise. Prior to joining Telia, Marius worked at TOMRA and Creuna and holds an MSc in Business and Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics with a minor in entrepreneurship from the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship and UC Berkeley. Through this and his own experience on the startup scene, he has a genuine passion for innovation and entrepreneurship, which he’s now putting into practice as one of the driving forces behind the Telia Startup mentor program.

Alfred Bjørlo er stortingsrepresentant for Sogn og Fjordane. Alfred er gift og har to born, bur på Bjørlo i Stad kommune (3 km frå Nordfjordeid). Han er fødd og oppvaksen på Eid, studerte og tok hovudfag i biologi på Universitetet i Bergen på 1990-talet. I 1999 gjekk turen over fjellet til Oslo, der Alfred var rådgjevar for Venstre i Næringsdepartement, Samferdsledepartementet, på Stortinget og i næringslivet til 2007. I 2007 flytta han heim til Eid med to små born. Frå 2007 til 2011 var han dagleg leiar i Måløy Vekst og arbeidde med å få fart på næringsutviklinga på kysten. I 2011 vart han vald til ordførar i Eid og har vore ordførar i Eid/Stad frem til han i september 2021 ble vald inn på Stortinget. Samtidig har han site på Fylkestinget i Sogn og Fjordane/ Vestland. Alfred likar også godt å vere ute og nyte naturen, trene og halde meg i form. Har spelt kornett i Eid Musikklag sidan han flytta heim. Likar å lese og høyre musikk (helst rock), og slappe av med gode tv-seriar eller podcast på øyret. Alfreds viktigaste motivasjon for å stille til val til Stortinget for Venstre i 2021, var at han er 100% distriktsoptimist. No trengs meir enn nokon gong tydelege, tøffe politikarar som «brøytar veg» for ein ny og moderne distriktspolitikk nasjonalt. Alfred brenn for at langt fleire enn i dag skal oppdage kor gode kvardagsliv det går an å leve utanfor dei største byane. “Vi som bur på Vestlandet er plassert midt i smørauget for det nye, grøne næringslivet som vil vekse i åra framover. Då må staten og sentralmakta i Oslo vere med på laget: Statlege arbeidsplassar og utdanning må desentraliserast, vi må gjere livet enklare for dei som startar og driv små bedrifter – og vi må gje folk meir fridom og større armslag i kvardagen”, seier Alfred.

Lars-Martin Berglund is the CEO and founder of GRIN a Norwegian tech startup that since 2018 has been turning linear products circular through its cutting-edge smart collection system. In a day and age where both digital and physical infrastructure that help shape a sustainable and circular consumption is on a novel level, GRIN is filling the void with cost-efficient deep tech to motivate and facilitate the return of products after use so that they can be reused, repurposed, and recycled. Currently working with large international companies on developing and deploying their smart collection systems across verticals in several European countries. Lars-Martin has years of international experience from when he was a consultant within technology development in Oil and Gas and as a researcher in Life Sciences at DNV. His educational background in psychology and social sciences; is an untypical route into tech in Norway but a great perspective to have when solving challenges caused by humans.

Erik Holling is the CEO of CEND LLC – CEND provides trusted certification, transparency and global logistics for buyers, sellers and governments across a fragmented and constrained legitimate global cannabis market via physical global presence and automated blockchain technology. The company’s focus is on raising global industry principles using a standard, vetted and transparent ecosystem. Specifically, with CEND’s Certification, CEND-IT blockchain backbone and hyper focus on global regulations and laws, the company brings buyers and sellers together on a trusted CEND Ecosystem. Prior to the formation of CEND, Mr. Holling was one of the youngest Associate Professors at Harvard Medical School and graduate of Babson Corporate Entrepreneurship , then led the evolution of a family business into a global information-technology company with a staff of 3,500 people in more than 190 countries. Specific to the cannabis industry, Mr. Holling was the President of Valley Agriceuticals which successfully sought, won and built one of New York State’s ten vertical medical cannabis licenses. Valley Agriceuticals was purchased by a multi-state operator for the largest single license sale in cannabis history, at that time.

Sigfried Legey is the CFO of Canxchange - a B2B cannabis trading infrastructure designed for industrial and medical cannabis transactions. The company is the first B2B Market infrastructure and electronic platform to connect industry professionals and help them transact in a transparent, fast, and secure way. Sigfried has 15 years of experience in financial markets. Prior to entering the cannabis industry and co-founding Canxchange, he worked as a trader (EQF/FX) at the top tier European bank, BNP Paribas. He has also held other trading positions at proprietary trading boutiques in London. Sigfried and his co-founders are committed to making a lasting impact in the cannabis industry with the first B2B market infrastructure of its kind, enabled by technology.

Serial Entrepreneur and inventor. Master in Marketing, specializing in the Internet. Raised more than $11,5 mil in funding. Founded several companies (Norway, US, China), 3 exits, received over a million in grants, over 10 patents, and love the challenges of building companies. Currently building Hedgehog Dryer, which is growing at record speed, just awarded reddot for product design, passed its first million euro in sales and available in over 300 stores in the Nordics, only 6 months after launch. A shoe dryer that actually works! Also, function as an advisor to the Norwegian government and designed the growth loans (vekstgarantiordningen) for Norwegian startups for NFD. Allows banks to issue loans where EIF takes the risk. Other passions are all types of sports, with the main focus on kite surfing. I believe in being good! - if you hang out with good people, you have a good life :)

Per Arne Friestad (Director and CEO) joined the tourism industry in 2016. He has previously worked with technology companies in the Nordic countries and Asia. Per Arne has a background in retail and technology and established a common trading platform for the sports industry in the Nordics. Today he is the CEO of Nordic Traveltech Lab AS.

Martin Jørgensen’s entrepreneurial track record includes investing in and managing many successful start-ups and established businesses in the hospitality and travel industries. Currently investor and CEO in fast-growing digital diner feedback start-up Foodback.

Torleif Markussen Lunde is the director of the newly established Eitri, a 2400m2 innovation house for health in Bergen for startups, industry, investors, researchers, and health professionals. He comes from a position as Chief Product Officer at StormGeo, being part of a team-building global organization through organic growth, scaling, and acquisitions. Holds a PhD from the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research and Centre for International Health, UiB, on malaria, nutrition, economics, and climate in Africa, and an MBA from NHH. 20+ years experience in various industries, married to high school sweetheart, and father of three.

Yngve is the Chief Executive Officer and one of the founders of XperiTech, which powers the brands Campio and Elveguiden, tailored marketplaces for camping and fishing in the Nordics. He has a genuine passion for technology and outdoor activities, and believes in the power of technology to connect tourists to providers of experiences and accommodation, and thus contribute to increased local value creation on nature's premises. Through this passion he successfully raised 1.5M Euro in funding last year. Yngve holds a MSc in business administration from the Norwegian School of Economics, and has previously worked as a management consultant in EY.

Ingrid is the co-founder and CEO of Norwegian Mycelium (NoMy), a bioscience company innovating the next generation of circular and scalable products. She is passionate about how science and technology can help solve big challenges, and with NoMy she is working on creating solutions toward a low-carbon society that is systemic and regenerative.

Alfredo Seidemann is the Founder and CEO of Swiss-based travel startup Viatu, a platform that enables travelers to design and book sustainable trips with ease. He developed his passion for sustainable travel while living in Cape Town, where he served as the CMO of Rhino Africa, Africa’s largest tech-enabled tour operator. Through his experience in venture building in Argentina for Rocket Internet and his digital expertise gained from Google in Ireland, he combines tech and travel with the goal of making sustainable travel accessible to all.

Martin is Head of Investorlab and CFO at Impact StartUp, an accelerator and ecosystem cultivator working exclusively with startups solving societal and environmental challenges. Prior to Impact StartUp Martin have a long track record within finance and sales from Telenor, Telia, and Orkla Group, latest as Commercial Director at Lilleborg.