Startup Lab – Leading Tech incubator in Oslo

The incubator Startup Lab is housing more than 60 fledgling companies – Norway’s most ambitious technology startups.

A few month ago I wrote an article about the Startup Scene in Oslo, where I mentioned how gladly surprised I got discovering an amazing eco-system of organizations facilitating for innovation.

I remember, while I was diving into the big ocean of possibilities, discovering this quote: “Meet Norway’s best early-stage tech entrepreneurs”.
Ok… where did it come from? Of course, I began to surf again and I found it out: Startup Lab.

What is Startup Lab about?
Based at Oslo Science Park (Forskningsparken), Startup Lab is an incubator housing more than 60 fledgling companies – Norway’s most ambitious technology startups.

Some of them have private offices but many sit together in a giant open plan workspace, aka The Lab, complete with moveable desks.

Despite the first idea of a co working space, Startup Lab feels more like the “next step” for those ideas that were conceived in co working spaces. Just one in five applicants is accepted, so there’s a feel that the startups you meet here are genuinely “best of breed”. And you will definitely find key persons from key companies as well as first-time entrepreneurs.

They thoroughly screen all applicants, and only the best entrepreneurs are accepted. If you have been accepted, you will be provided by an affordable and flexible office, meeting rooms of different sizes and social areas, even a cinema. And the café, the pub and various social events.

“We have a very flexible setup. It’s low cost, easy to terminate the agreement with just one months notice, and everything is on wheels. You can add or remove desks easily so there’s no need to commit to a certain size of office months in advance. On top of that is our value-add services, such as the Founders Fund, weekly workshops and free sessions with external experts” says Kjetil Holmefjord, Incubator Manager

Startup Weekend Oslo

And this quote took me to one of the main global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs held every year at Startup Lab: Startup Weekend Oslo.

According to Erik Paalsrud, one of the person in charge of the event:

“Startup Weekend is a intimate arena where participants get out of their comfort zones by pitching, create teams and build concepts with other participants whom they have never met before. The networking is intense, development is aggressive and the goal is clear – discover the ambitions, build a concept and present the results from a 54 hour long workshop infront of a jury, aiming for the grand prize”

The slogan for this year was: “No Talk, All Action” (The professional and personal challenges, the high and lows, the failures and the success).

There was over 150 000 attendees across the globe who’s been a part of the Startup Weekend movement, and it is increasing every year. Anyone was welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically formed around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it was a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminated with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

So, coming back to Startup Lab, it is a great chance to read more about this incubator, and get further information if this quote from their website matches you:

“We at the Startup Lab team are always interested in meeting ambitious entrepreneurs and people wanting to help them.”