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Company, Idea & Service

The startup is a web-based whistleblowing solution. It offers a “one-click-to-become-compliant” whistleblower solution to any organization, initially targeting SMEs in the EU due to new regulation.

Whistleblowing is new in the era of software, however, the majority of existing solutions are enterprise focused, which does not support the needs for SMEs, who soon will be covered by regulations from the EU.

Solution

The startup is developing the new whistleblowing standard for SMEs, which is simple, affordable and digital. This means we're revolutionizing the "mailbox in the bathroom" and "encrypted email-services" by creating a software solution to replace these old standards in a simple manner.

Business Model

The startup is running a tiered SaaS pricing model that is determined by the organizational headcount. The startup has already done the initial pricing research and established five tiers as seen below, which are billed annually.

[1-49: 4200 DKK] [50-149: 5400 DKK] [150-249: 6600 DKK] [250-500: 9000 DKK] [+500: Enterprise]

Customers

The startup is currently servicing 5 customers, 4 pilots and 1 paying customer.

Market

The initial focus is Denmark. Rapid adoption in Denmark would allow Walor to expand internationally. According to Statistics Denmark there are around 5.000 companies with +50 employees in Denmark. Looking at the EU there is estimated to be approximately 241.000 companies, which amounts to a Total Addressable Market of 1,3 mia DKK in annual recurring revenue.

Competitors

The majority of the startup’s existing competitors is purely SaaS businesses, which means they will only provide the whistleblowing software. However, the startup has decided to take another perspective, as they target SMEs where most have never dealt with a whistleblowing case before. This is why the startup offers an affordable and user-friendly full-service whistleblower solution. It includes the required legal documents (policies and guidelines), the startup’s whistleblowing software/platform, and more importantly the initial screening of the whistleblower reports.

Team

CEO: 25 years old, background from DTU Lyngby and other startups like MXNEY.

CTO: 26 years old, background from KEA and holds +7 years of full-stack development experience.

CMO: 27 years old, self-taught designer and marketeer.

Economy/funding

The startup has received a Microgrant of 50.000 DKK in November of 2021. They are looking to raise funds sometime in Q2-Q3 from an angel investor or a syndicate.

Status

The startup has launched their platform primo January 2022. They are currently servicing 5 customers and have entered a partnership with LegalHero. Additionally, they have begun to approach partnerships with law firms, auditing houses, and interest organizations. They are currently in dialogue with several interest organizations in Denmark e.g., TEKNIQ Arbejdsgiverne (+4100 members) and DRC (+1500 members), as they aim to become their members-preferred whistleblower partner.

Questions for the panel

Go-to-market and Sales Strategy

The startup expects to approach the Danish and northern European whistleblowing market, primarily focusing on business in the range from 50-250 employees, as these will be covered by legislation by the end of 2023. In this respect, the following issues should be discussed:

- What customers segments would fit the service the best? What attributes are the common denominators?

- How can the startup be attractive to prospects before the deadline?

- What sales channels should the startup focus on?

- How can the startup create mass exposure?

Internationalization

This is a tremendously large market with a deadline on it, 17th of December 2023. Only 8 / 27 EU member states have adopted the EU Directive into local law, which provides a window for new international players like the startup.

- When should the startup start to look beyond the danish boarders?

- How should the startup approach internationalization?