Malmö-based Yazen, a company that offers advice to people on weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, has topped the newly launched Sifted 100: Nordics and Benelux — a ranking of the 100 startups with the strongest revenue growth in the two regions over the past three financial years.
The combined leaderboard — which covers nine countries — calculates growth using a two-year revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Founded in 2021, Yazen provides access to a team of doctors, dieticians and psychologists for anyone taking obesity medications. The app, which recorded a 791.63% two-year revenue CAGR between 2022 and 2024, has 35k users and is available in seven European countries.
“The popularity of Ozempic was definitely one inspiration for us,” says cofounder and CEO Fredrik Meurling. “But medication by itself won’t do the whole thing. You shouldn’t just eat less, you should eat the right things.”
Meurling sees a bright future for telehealth, though he wouldn’t go as far as tech billionaire Bill Gates in predicting that AI will replace doctors within 10 years. “We don’t envisage an AI doctor coming along any time soon. The margin of error in health is extremely low,” he says.
Silver and bronze medals
Second spot in the ranking goes to another Nordic company, Helsinki-based Narvi Payments (570.82% CAGR), which specialises in business banking.
Third is Stockholm-based and Northzone-backed Flower (528.31%), which lays claim to having Sweden’s largest portfolio of battery systems for electricity storage.
Other recognisable names on the ranking include Amsterdam hotel software unicorn Mews (ranked 91st) and Europe’s best-funded quantum company IQM (16th).
Countries, sectors and investors
Swedish startups, which are having a strong fundraising year, dominate with 51 spots on the leaderboard and five of the top 10. Denmark is the next most represented country with 13 companies.
More than a quarter (27%) of ranking spots are filled by business-focused software startups; fintech and climate tech are the next most dominant categories with 23 startups apiece. Only 14 of the 100 companies are profitable.
Investors EIT, the European Innovation Council, Luminar Ventures and Findec are the most active backers of the top 100.
The 10 fastest-growing startups in the Nordics and Benelux (CAGR)
1/ Yazen — 791.63%
2/ Narvi Payments — 570.82%
3/ Flower — 528.31%
4/ Napper — 465.54%
5/ Earthbanc — 463.79%
6/ Anyday — 444.23%
7/ Opti — 443.61%
8/ Indó — 431.28%
9/ BubblyDoo — 426.23%
10/ Lizy — 422.31%
A report featuring interviews with the top startups can be found here.
How the 100 were selected
To be eligible, companies had to meet the following criteria:
- Private and independent
- Headquartered in Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway or Sweden
- Majority of revenue must be generated by proprietary technology
- No older than 15 years old (founded in or after 2010)
- At least three years of revenue data, either between 2021-2023, 2022-2024 or 2023-25 depending on filing dates, across comparable accounting periods of at least 26 weeks
- Revenue (annualised if necessary) of at least €50k in the base year (predominantly 2021 or 2022) and at least €500k in the latest financial year (2023 or 2024).
Full criteria for selecting the 100 can be found here.
