“We’ve grown quite quickly during the programme”
Over just a few months, Visslan got ready to go to market, hired its first employee, and moved from VentureLab’s incubator to Minc in Malmö.
The figures behind Visslan are 21-year-old students and high school friends Daniel Vaknine, Måns Skogman and Elias Hirschfeld. The company was formed after new EU legislation ruled that all major companies had to have a whistleblower service.
Visslan’s solution lets employees anonymously report irregularities in a safe, flexible and cost-effective way. In autumn 2021, Visslan took part in the Elevate programme.
“At the beginning of the programme, I think we were on track to get our first customer, and right now we have four paying customers with a few more joining soon. So we’ve grown quite quickly during the programme”, says Måns.
The Elevate programme
The programme lasts for an entire semester, covering topics like building a successful team, developing a pitch deck that impresses investors, share distribution, patents, business models and, of course, the wide-ranging sustainability issue – all vital subjects for a company’s survival.
“The reason we chose to attend the Elevate programme was that we wanted to develop our own personal skills and our skills as a team”, explains Elias.
The business continues to move forward, and has received both the 2021 Göran Bredinger stipend and been ranked as one of the country’s top 20 business ideas by Venture Cup. Elevate’s premise is to give start-ups the opportunity to accelerate and become investor-ready.
With the help of experts in start-up growth invited from all over Skåne, the participating businesses gain crucial insights and feedback.
”We have gained a lot of knowledge from the different guests that we have been able to meet during the sessions, which has been really useful. Each and every guest has their own kind of perspective, which has been especially helpful”, says Elias.
About Visslan
Visslan offers an intuitive and user-friendly whistleblower system, a whistleblower policy according to the EU Directive and, if desired, cost-efficient case management by lawyers. Visslan was founded in 2021 and started in VentureLab's incubator for students. Today they are found at Minc in Malmö, and work full time with the company.
The Elevate Programme
For students or researchers with a startup ready to accelerate and get investment-ready, LU Innovation and VentureLab offer the Elevate Programme.
The startups get an office space in the incubator, workshops, training sessions and an extended network. Since the start in 2020, more than 90% of the participating companies have received investment during or after the program.