Lab08

📣 Financial News Systems secures pre-seed investment! Investment professionals need speed and precision, but traditional news platforms can’t always keep up. Financial News Systems, a Copenhagen-based company, is changing that with a real-time, AI-powered news platform designed to give investors an edge in fast-moving markets. We’re proud that Ugly Duckling Ventures once again trusted Lab08 to assess the tech & product that make Financial News Systems an exciting investment case and thank you to FNS for the collaborative attitude! 👏 During the due diligence process, we were particularly impressed by their high-performance, scalable platform built to leverage AI at its core, enabling real-time analysis and delivery of critical financial news. The architecture stands out at this stage: instead of bolting AI on top, FNS built proprietary ML models that do the actual work. Congratulations and we can’t wait to see FNS reach a new high ground 🚀

Is AI actually reshaping how deals get done - or are we overestimating its impact? 🤔 Deal Agenda returns in full force to deep dive into this topic. In this edition, we’re bringing together investors, advisors, and operators to take a closer look at how AI is entering the deal room - and whether it’s delivering real advantage or just adding noise 🤖 As AI tools enter the deal room, investors and advisors are rethinking how they assess companies, IP, and risk. But where is the real impact today? We’ll explore what’s already changing - and what might come next. What to expect? 🎤 A panel on AI in the Deal Room - Hype or Transformative Edge, including an interactive discussion with the audience. During the event, we’ll exchange perspectives on how AI is beginning to shape the mechanics of transactions - in valuations, IP rights, and AI-related risks to be mindful of in due diligence. As always, discussions will continue with networking and dinner. 📅 Wednesday, 3rd of June, 5:00-9:00 PM 📍 Park Bio, Copenhagen Hosted by Lab08, Kromann Reumert, CLARITY PARTNERS, and Active Owners Denmark. 🎟️ Sign up to secure a spot: https://luma.com/i5rg0x82 (Seats are limited)

Founder’s Cut: AI Demo Night is back with chapter 3 🍿🎤 On May 7th, we’re bringing the AI builder community together again at Park Bio in Copenhagen for another evening of real demos and honest conversations about building with AI. If this is the first time you’re hearing about the series, you should know: Together with an incredible group of founders, builders, and technologists, we turn the cinema screen into a live demo stage - where teams show what they’re actually working on right now. No slides. No pitches. Just tips, clever utilization, and lessons learned while building with AI-assisted tools. The goal is simple: learn from each other and see how teams are shipping with AI today. If you’re: 🧠 training LLMs 🤖 building AI copilots ⚡ experimenting with agents 💻 or using AI tools to build products … you’ll be in the right crowd. 💻 Request to join: https://luma.com/17ir1hci Founder’s Cut is powered by Lab08 & Seed Capital

Big congratulations to Seed Capital and Norlix on the exciting news 👏 Insurance brokerage remains one of the largest industries still heavily reliant on spreadsheets, phone calls, and manual processes. For SMBs, that often translates into opaque pricing, mismatched coverage, and limited ongoing support. Norlix is changing that with an AI-native brokerage platform designed to automate the entire value chain - from policy analysis and placement to continuous monitoring. All while ensuring a better customer experience. We were pleased to once again support Seed Capital with technical & product due diligence on Norlix, and we’re grateful for the trust placed in us throughout the process. Our work highlighted a team with deep domain understanding, a clear product north star, and a disciplined approach to building an AI-native platform closely tied to measurable business impact. Wishing the entire Norlix team and their investors every success on the journey ahead 🚀

The second edition of Deal Agenda brought together the Nordic dealmaking community for an evening focused on how deals actually get done - and where the market is heading next 🚀 During the Fireside Chat, Inside the Evosep Deal, we got a behind-the-scenes look at what it truly takes to execute a landmark exit in today’s environment. A big thank you to Tonni and Thejs for sharing as much as possible about the context of the transaction and what it signals for the deal environment 🔎 In the panel discussion on where VC and PE converge, Andreas, Rune, Caspar, and Peter didn’t hold back 🔥 It’s clear that traditional playbooks are evolving - and being challenged - particularly within VC. Thirty minutes was nowhere near enough for that conversation, and we look forward to continuing it at future events! Excellent moderation by Amalie, who guided a panel that offered plenty of strong perspectives 🎤 A big thank you to our speakers and everyone who contributed to the candid, high-quality discussions 🤝 Deal Agenda continues to grow as a trusted forum for the Nordic private markets ecosystem 🌍 Looking forward to the next one!

In the tech-first era, many growing companies go through the transition from service-heavy businesses to the technology that becomes the real multiplier ⚙️ We’re grateful to CyberPilot for trusting us as they transitioned from a service-focused setup to a true product-led tech company 💻 Together, we shaped a unified platform that enables faster onboarding, stronger self-service, and more efficient customer support - without losing the human touch that matters to their customers 🤝 This collaboration is built on trust, shared ownership, and thoughtful product decisions during a critical phase of change. Thank you to the CyberPilot team with Kristian Kaa and Rasmus Vinge, driving change from within, for the partnership and confidence along the way 🙏 More about our shared journey here: https://lnkd.in/d3gzaxPQ and 👇

Deal Agenda is this week ⚡ The second edition is officially just around the corner, and we have 100 peers joining us from across the dealmaking community 🤝 An evening built around how deals actually get done - and where the market is moving next 📈 We’re bringing together leading voices from venture, private equity, and legal advisory to unpack one of the most notable recent exits and explore where VC and PE playbooks converge in today’s market 🔎 🎤 From the Fireside Chat: Inside the Evosep Deal to our cross-stage panel on value creation and exits, the agenda is set for sharp insights and candid conversations. We’re looking forward to a full house and an evening that continues to build Deal Agenda into a defining forum for the Nordic private markets ecosystem 🌍 If you’re an investor interested in joining future editions of Deal Agenda, Rasmus and Diliana will be happy to hear from you 📩

Lab08's team is excited for the second edition of Deal Agenda – and this time again, we’re full house! 🤩 This is an evening dedicated to unpacking the deals, dynamics, and decision-making shaping today’s market, bringing together leading voices from venture, private equity, and legal advisory for candid conversations on how playbooks overlap. In our previous post, we announced the keynote and speakers for the Fireside Chat: Inside the Evosep Deal – a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most notable recent exits, featuring Tonni Bülow-Nielsen, Partner at EIFO, and Thejs Tofting, Partner at Kromann Reumert. Now, we’re turning the spotlight to the panel 👇 Different Playbooks, Shared Goals: Where VC and PE Converge A cross-stage conversation on how venture capital and private equity approach value creation and exits differently – and where their strategies increasingly meet. Featuring: 🎤 Rune Lillie Gornitzka, Partner at Polaris Private Equity 🎤 Louise Lachmann, General Partner at Ugly Duckling Ventures 🎤 Caspar Hoegh, Partner & Co-founder at NOON Ventures 🎤 Peter Dybdahl Hede, Partner at Fiftyfive Capital 🎤 Moderated by Amalie Paludan, Director at Kromann Reumert From unpacking a landmark exit to exploring where VC and PE playbooks converge, it’s set to be another incredible evening of bridging perspectives 🤝 To everyone joining us, and to our co-hosts, thank you for helping shape Deal Agenda into a trusted gathering point for the investment community.

Things are scaling at rapid speed 🚀 AI is helping companies build faster than ever. But with this new reality soon comes the question: Are you scaling securely? 🔐 At TECHARENA in Stockholm, AI, trust and cybersecurity clearly stood out as one of the most interesting themes of the event 💡 The conversation was brought to life in a sharp and timely panel led by Geeta Schmidt from Seed Capital, together with leaders from Nordea, Lovable, Miro and Oplane. In our Tech DD engagements, we increasingly see the trade-off: leveraging AI to move fast vs. building the right guardrails - especially around personal data 🛡️ Security and data protection is a key area in our framework, where we advise companies on how to strengthen their foundations, so their products don’t just scale quickly, but scale safely for users and customers. As advisors, we see it as our role to help raise the bar and contribute to building a more secure tech future 🌍 Speed is an advantage. But as companies mature, security and governance must scale with them 📈 We’re excited to continue being part of this discussion!

Due diligence is a core part of every investment - but it’s still rarely a streamlined process 📊📈 In growth-stage deals, each stakeholder brings their own view. Analysts dig through documents. Founders answer questions on repeat. Advisors join at different times. And often, no one has the full picture 🧩 It’s not that people aren’t doing the work - it’s that the process is fragmented. Information lives in decks, emails, expert notes, and individual calls. Details get lost. Time gets stretched. And alignment comes too late. We’re talking to funds, founders and advisors about what it takes to get a more transparent due diligence process. One where founders, investors, and specialists build a shared view early. Where red flags are surfaced and talked through together 🚩 not buried in a report. And insights move faster than the paperwork. We don’t have all the answers. But we are seeing signals that a change is coming. The rapid changes in building tech, call for new ways to assess products. Lab08 is driving the conversation across the startup ecosystem and the VC, PE, and M&A investment community. Stay first in the loop on our events - and receive insights on due diligence - sign up for our newsletter, The Brief 👉 https://lnkd.in/dmYdph6N