Where we work
Four markets, four different first conversations.
We work in India and in three Nordic markets. They are not variations on one another: the way each state funds an early company differs structurally, and that difference decides what a founder should do in their first year. This page is the comparison; each market then has a page of its own.
Why these markets and not others.
We follow the funding architecture, not the market size.
A seed company’s first year is shaped more by how the state funds early work than by how large the home market is. Where those rules force a real decision — scope the project up or down, find the customer first or the money first — there is work for us.
One market at a time, read at source.
Each page here was built by reading the agency rules and, where it mattered, the statute itself. Not by summarising what other advisers say about them. That is slow, and it is the reason there are four pages rather than ten.
We say plainly what we are not.
We work remotely from Hyderabad, in English. There is no office and no local entity in any of these markets, and every page says so rather than leaving it to be assumed.
The same question, answered four ways.
What the state offers an early company, what it tests before giving it, and what shape the money takes. Each figure is sourced to the agency or the statute, and sits on that market’s own page in full.
India
- The main early instrument
- Fund of Funds 2.0, ₹10,000 crore, invested through SEBI-registered funds rather than into companies directly. PIB, 13 Apr 2026
- What it tests
- DPIIT recognition. Since February 2026 a Deep Tech Startup keeps it for 20 years, against a ₹300 crore turnover cap. G.S.R. 108(E), Feb 2026
- The shape of it
- Recognition first, then capital through intermediaries. The RDI scheme lends and invests; it does not grant. PIB, 29 Jul 2026
Finland
- The main early instrument
- Sprint, a continuous call since 1 September 2026: a grant of €75–100k covering 75% of the project. Sprint call
- What it tests
- At least €50k of equity already in, and a committed team of at least two people in Finland. Sprint call
- The shape of it
- One R&D grant. Tempo, Young Innovative Company and Market Explorer all closed in 2025. Business Finland, Sep 2025
Norway
- The main early instrument
- Innovasjonskontrakter, whose minimum grant is NOK 1 million. That is a floor on the grant, not on the project. Innovasjon Norge, innovasjonskontrakter
- What it tests
- A committed pilot customer contributing 20% of total project costs, whose own costs the scheme will not cover. Innovasjon Norge, innovasjonskontrakter
- The shape of it
- A grant alongside a 19% statutory credit that does not add to it — state-aid cumulation caps the two together. GBER, Reg. (EU) 651/2014, consolidated
Sweden
- The main early instrument
- A 20% research deduction taken off employer social contributions, capped at SEK 3 million a month across a group. Lag (2023:747), Riksdagen
- What it tests
- Each person, every calendar month: at least half their actual working time, and at least 15 hours of it, on R&D. Lag (2023:747), Riksdagen
- The shape of it
- A monthly test rather than an application, beside grants of up to SEK 500,000 through Vinnova. Vinnova, Innovativa Startups 2026
These are summaries with their sources attached, and the rules change. Your accountant and your lawyer advise on them; we plan around what they confirm.
What carries between India and the Nordics, and what does not.
The commercial question is the same in all four markets: who buys, at what price, through a channel that collects on time. That work transfers intact. The funding architecture transfers not at all — a plan built around Indian recognition thresholds does not survive contact with a Norwegian grant floor, and a Nordic plan dropped into India finds instruments that lend rather than grant.
- It runs in both directions. Indian companies whose first serious buyers are in Europe, and Nordic companies whose first large market is not at home.
- The public route exists before the commercial one. Business Finland maintains a presence in India, so a Finnish company testing the market has an institutional way in as well as a commercial one. Business Finland in India
- One advisor sees both ends. The same person works on the Indian side and the Nordic side, which is why the comparison above exists at all.
Four markets, four pages.
India
The 2026 recognition rules, the state schemes, and how programmes here actually report.
Europe
Three Nordic markets, worked remotely from Hyderabad in English. Each funds early companies on its own terms, and they are not interchangeable.
Finland
The rebuilt Business Finland ladder, and what a small home market does to a plan.
Norway
The grant floor, the pilot-customer condition, and how the tax credit interacts with it.
Sweden
The monthly payroll test, the Vinnova route, and lending against a personal guarantee.