Six of the competition’s finalists were Accelerace alumni, and it ended up being ISH Spirits who won the title as the company with Denmark’s greatest growth potential.
Scale-Up Denmark’s big finale event was held yesterday, September 11, at Musikhuset in Esbjerg. Approximately a hundred people from the Danish business community was gathered to find a winner to be voted the most scalable company in Scale-Up Denmark 2019. The 11 finalists were selected from 100 small and medium-sized companies that have all undergone Scale-Up Denmark’s elite training program for scalable companies. They all came to pitch their business ideas in hopes of winning the acclaimed title as well as the prize money of DKK 100,000.
The winning title went to ISH Spirits which completed its training program in the Scale-Up Denmark center for Food Tech, at Accelerace. ISH has created award-winning non-alcoholic spirits with the familiar flavors of gin and rum. ISH is an alternative for people who enjoy the taste of delicious drinks, but who for some reason cannot or will not have alcoholic drinks. This could be the pregnant woman who is out with her friends or the serious athlete who does not want to neglect his form. By offering a delicious and non-alcoholic alternative, ISH includes those who do not wish to drink alcohol or who simply wish to limit their intake during social gatherings where alcohol often is the focal point.
Praising words for the winner
Before handing over the winning check, Lisbeth Valther, CEO of Scale-Up Denmark had some praising words to say about the winner:
“This year’s scale-up business shows courage and great ambitions. (…) The team has shown a strong execution of its strategy, especially through strong partnerships. They have achieved global escalation in less than a year, and the company takes responsibility for community culture and the UN’s Global Goal #3; good health and well-being.”
Happy to be acknowledged
It was a happy and proud Morten Sørensen we met after the show. He founded ISH Spirits in 2018 and has since then had enough to look after:
“We are such a young company, but we have had a really interesting growth rate, and we are hitting the timing right in terms of the global trend,” Morten Sørensen said.
But despite already being on a roll, Morten was very happy to have won the title of Scale-Up of the Year:
“Standing here today with a check for DKK 100,000 is one thing, but I would say the acknowledgment from the panel and that we also live up to the UN goal, is just fantastic and I could not be happier”, he said.
Big plans for the next 12 months
Being asked what the plan for the next 12 months was, Morten revealed a comprehensive plan, making sure there is no risk of dull moments for quite some time:
“We have a bunch going on. We are going to build a team, we are going to expand globally, we already have our markets – just in the next four months, we are probably going to be in five more countries, and we are going to be product developing.”
Half of the finalists were Accelerace alumni
The remaining five Accelerace alumni each represented a vertical and all presented interesting and innovative ideas for the jury and audience. In CleanTech, the software company Vertikal AI was the participant, while Obital and The Apple Girl were the leading figures in Health/Welfare and Life Science/Biotech respectively. In Information & Communication Tech, Likvido was the finalist, while AVAtronics was the finalist for Smart Industry & Sound Tech. All well-deserving of their spot in the finale and worthy opponents of ISH spirits.]]>
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