As a scale-up, you’re no longer selling a vision – you’re selling performance, traction, and a clear path to profitability. But here’s the catch:
Raising funding at this stage can sometimes feel harder than at the startup phase.
Why?
✅ Expectations are higher.
✅ Investors want proof, not promises.
✅ You’re no longer “disruptive” – you need to be able to prove sustainable growth.
Unlike early-stage funding, where storytelling and potential can open doors, scale-up funding requires rigorous metrics, a repeatable business model, and confident execution under pressure. The paradox? You need capital to reach the next milestone, but reaching that milestone often becomes the precondition for getting capital.
At PlanetDairy, we’re bang in the middle of this stage. Our founders balance their day jobs developing and selling pathbreaking new products with ensuring we secure sufficient funding to keep us going. Over the years, we’ve discovered that there are multiple sources of public funding that start-ups and scale-ups can apply for, in addition to the private angel investors and venture capital funds.
Being based in Denmark and in the European Union offers multiple sources of different types of public funding – including non-equity grants, loans and loan guarantees, and equity funds. Since we set up in 2022, we’ve been awarded funding from multiple local, national and European sources including Beyond Beta, European Regional Development Fund, Innovation Fund Denmark, City of Aarhus, Food & Bio Cluster Denmark, Fonden for Plantebaserede Fødevarer, Biosolutions Zealand, Norlys Vækstpulje, Danmark’s Erhvervsfremmebestyrelse.
We currently have applications in the review process with EU Horizon programme, GUDP in Denmark, and Innovationsfonden among others. This requires significant time and effort and is mandatory if one is to secure sufficient funding to grow. Indeed, “money is tight and success rates are low” in general!
