NAST was created to make an impact
NAST was initiated by startups, ecosystems and founders feeling like their interests were not represented in the public debate.
The organization was officially launched in May 2025, with three political goals:
NAST is made up by engaged members that want to stay in Norway and scale globally from here. They meet at the yearly general assembly to discuss and decide on political principles, actions and priorities, and elect the NAST board.
Meet the CEO and board
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Anna Holm Heide
CEO
Co-founder of No Isolation, former board member of Oslotech AS and TEK Norge, came from AutoStore to NAST in 2025.
+47 48219802
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Anders Mjåset
Chairman of the board
Founder and CEO of Mesh Community, empowering the Nordic startup scene with space, network and talent services
+47 407 60 306
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Vegard Aakre Vik
Board member
Co-founder and former CFO of Oda, co-founder of Hjemmelegene
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Karen Dolva
Board member
Co-founder and CPO at Padeia, former co-founder and CEO of No Isolation
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Jørn Lyseggen
Board member
Serial founder and Executive Chairman of Meltwater. Stationed in San Fransisco.
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Marit Rødevand
Board member
Founder and CEO of Strise, co-founder of Rendra AS. Stationed in London.
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Fredrik Harestad
Board member
Founder and CEO of Unlisted. Stationed in Stavanger.
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Anne Lise Waal
Board member
Former CTO & CTO of Attensi, founder of TechTiger and EVP at Cappelen Damm
Meet the Election Committee
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Alexander Woxen
Election committee
Co-founder of StartupLab and chairman of the board at Kongsberg Innovation
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Ingrid Sofie Øvrum Sem
Election Committee
Co-founder and CEO at Shapemaker
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Erik Bakstad
Election Committee
Co-founder and CEO of Ardoq
A brief Norwegian history
The Norwegian start-up scene was pioneered by the likes of Opera, Fast, Visma, Meltwater and AutoStore. They paved the way through the 90s and early 2000s. The financial crisis then sparked a new generation of startups, like Kahoot!, Oda, Gelato, Xeneta and reMarkable. These formed the core of the modern Norwegian startup scene as the international startup scene exploded. In 2015, the oil industry had a rough year, which further accelerated the establishment of a modern startup ecosystem in Norway. In the following years, we saw the rise of rising stars like 1X, Dune, Enode, Portal One and many many others.
The venture capital marked followed a similar path with the early success of Northzone and Creandum (90s and 00s). Then Alliance (est 2001) and StartupLab (est 2012) took the venture model to the seed and pre-seed stages, whilst Katapult (est 2013) pioneered impact investing and Mesh (est 2012) provided their meeting places. Shifter (est 2015) created the first dedicated news site for startups, and Antler (est 2018) built a global venture capital company.
These and hundreds of other startups, investors, ecosystem initiatives and individuals have built the modern startup scene to what it is. Together with the established business scene, the capital markets, the public sector and politicians we should view this as a good start and seek to make Norway a leading startup in the world.
