Where we work · Norway
In Norway the grant arrives after the customer, not before.
Norway asks founders for the opposite of what its neighbours ask. The main development grant will not pay out without a committed pilot customer, and the rung below it was removed in 2026. We work with Norwegian founders remotely from Hyderabad, in English. We have no office in Norway, and we say so plainly.
A ladder with the bottom rung taken out.
NOK 1 million
The minimum grant from Innovasjonskontrakter, the main development scheme. Not a minimum project size — a floor on the grant itself. Innovasjon Norge, innovasjonskontrakter
20%
The share of total project costs a pilot customer must contribute. The scheme does not cover that customer's own costs. Innovasjon Norge, innovasjonskontrakter
45%
Maximum support rate for a small business. Medium and large businesses receive less. Innovasjon Norge, innovasjonskontrakter
19%
SkatteFUNN, the statutory R&D tax credit, on a cost base capped at NOK 25 million per company per income year. Skatteloven § 16-40 (Lovdata)
60%
The cut to the Oppstartstilskudd 2 frame in the 2026 state budget. Innovasjon Norge, oppstartstilskudd 2
17,052
New enterprises registered in Q2 2026, up 20.8% year on year. About 43% were aksjeselskap — the only form the startup grants accept. Statistics Norway, Føretak, 19 Aug 2026
More companies are being formed, into a public funding ladder with fewer rungs than it had a year ago. The scarce thing in Norway is not formation. It is the step between a first idea and a project large enough to qualify for the schemes that are left.
The 2026 budget removed the entry rungs.
- No pre-studies or pre-projects are funded in 2026 at all. Forstudier and forprosjekter are listed under exclusions — the exact instrument a founder used to get from a first grant to a project large enough for the next one. Innovasjon Norge, innovasjonskontrakter
- The Oppstartstilskudd 2 frame was cut by 60%. The scheme still exists, at up to NOK 1,000,000 and 50% of approved costs, for an aksjeselskap incorporated less than five years ago. Innovasjon Norge, oppstartstilskudd 2
- Oppstartsfinansiering 3 closed and Grønt investeringstilskudd was discontinued. Reported by the trade press and a grants consultancy rather than announced on the agency pages we could check, so treat the detail as secondary. IGAIDI, 19 Jan 2026
- Whether any of it is permanent is not stated. The same reporting notes it is unclear whether the 2026 changes are permanent or temporary. A plan written this year should not assume either. IGAIDI, 19 Jan 2026
A milestone costing NOK 400,000–900,000 is not merely uncompetitive in Norway this year. Oppstartstilskudd 1 stops at NOK 150,000 and the main grant starts at NOK 1,000,000, so work sized between the two has no scheme to apply to. The practical answer is counterintuitive: scope the project up to clear the floor, rather than down to what feels affordable.
The grant and the tax credit share one limit.
This is the part founders get wrong, and the reason two credible Norwegian sources appear to disagree about the support rate.
- 45% is not a Norwegian decision. Norway is in the EEA, so EU state-aid law applies. The block exemption sets experimental development at 25% of eligible costs and allows an increase of 20 percentage points for a small enterprise, which is 45%. Ten points for a medium enterprise gives 35%, and a large enterprise gets the 25% base. GBER, Reg. (EU) 651/2014, consolidated
- That explains the apparent contradiction. Secondary sources reporting "25%" and the agency reporting "45%" are describing the same rule at different company sizes. Our reading, not a statement by either body: the scheme is treated as experimental development, which is what makes 25% and 45% the two ends of one calculation.
- The two instruments do not add up. Aid for the same eligible costs may be combined "only if such cumulation does not result in exceeding the highest aid intensity" applicable. So SkatteFUNN claimed against costs already inside the grant consumes the grant's headroom rather than adding to it. GBER, Reg. (EU) 651/2014, consolidated
- The planning question is therefore which one to claim first. Not how much is available. A founder who models the grant and the credit as additive, then discovers the trim after the offer, has a cash-flow hole in a project already running.
- SkatteFUNN pays out even with no tax to offset. Where the deduction exceeds assessed tax, the statute requires the excess to be paid at settlement — which is why it matters to a pre-revenue company at all. The project must be approved by the Research Council of Norway. Skatteloven § 16-40 (Lovdata)
We are not tax advisers and do not file anything. The point of this section is that the two instruments interact, so the sequence is a commercial decision your accountant then prices.
Where Norwegian seed companies get stuck.
| Problem | What it looks like | What we work on |
|---|---|---|
| The gap between NOK 150k and NOK 1m | Work sized between the first grant and the main one has no scheme in 2026, and the instrument that used to bridge it is not funded. | Sizing the roadmap to the rungs that exist, which usually means scoping a project up to clear the floor rather than down. |
| A grant that needs a customer who signs slowly | The main scheme needs a pilot customer committing 20% of project costs. In energy, subsea and maritime the plausible buyers are large operators with long procurement cycles and their own engineering teams. | Starting the pilot-customer conversation before the application exists, and structuring the 20% so a large industrial can actually approve it. |
| A climate gate on the state investor | Nysnø's mandate is emissions reduction. A company whose value is sensing, instrumentation or security-adjacent cannot use it, however deep the technology. | Being honest early about which capital a company is eligible for, and planning the round around the investors who can actually participate. |
| Public money mistaken for a plan | A grant pays for building. It does not pay for finding out who buys, at what price, through which channel. | A buyer-shaped plan alongside the funded R&D plan, with the commercial work costed separately from the start. |
Sources: Innovasjon Norge, innovasjonskontrakter · Nysnø
Hours, invoices and the EEA position.
- Hours
- India is 3.5 hours ahead of Norway in summer and 4.5 hours ahead in winter. A 09:00 Oslo start is early afternoon in Hyderabad, so we share a working afternoon.
- Language
- English. Norwegian startups work in English and we do not pretend to write Norwegian.
- VAT
- Norway is in the EEA but not in the EU VAT area, so the EU reverse charge does not apply. Norway reaches the same outcome by its own route: for remotely deliverable services bought from abroad, the Norwegian recipient calculates and pays the VAT. The standard rate is 25%, and no duty arises until such purchases exceed NOK 2,000 excluding VAT in a period. We do not advise on tax; your accountant confirms the treatment. Skatteetaten
- Data
- Norway is in the EEA, so GDPR applies as it does in the EU. We act as a data processor under a written agreement, and founders' work in Founder OS is stored in the EU.
- Invoices
- In EUR or NOK, from our Indian company.
Grants, customers and the things we do not do.
Can you help us win Innovasjonskontrakter or SkatteFUNN?
We help build the commercial case underneath an application — the buyer, the pilot design, the revenue plan. We do not write or submit applications, and funding decisions belong to the funders. We make no promises about them.
Do you advise on the tax treatment of SkatteFUNN?
No. We are not tax advisers and we are not registered to give tax advice in Norway or anywhere else. We flag that the grant and the credit share a state-aid ceiling because it changes commercial sequencing; your accountant prices it.
We have no pilot customer yet. Is that fatal?
For that specific scheme it is a hard requirement, not a preference. It is usually the longest lead item in the plan, which is why it should start before the application does rather than after.
Do you have an office in Norway?
No. We work with Norwegian founders remotely from Hyderabad, in English, and we would rather say that than imply a local presence we do not have.
Why is a firm in Hyderabad writing about Norwegian grant schemes?
Because the commercial questions underneath them are the ones we work on anywhere: who buys, at what price, and what a pilot has to prove to become a purchase. The scheme rules are the local constraint; the buyer problem is not local.
Figures on this page were last checked on .
Start with the customer the grant will ask you for.
A 45-minute call with Dineshwara, scheduled in Oslo time.