KLAK — Icelandic Startups

KLAK - Icelandic Startups traces to two separate initiatives: KLAK, a for-profit innovation centre established in 2000 within the IT company Nyherji (now Origo), and Innovit, a non-profit venture launched in 2007 by University of Iceland engineering students and backed by Icelandic institutions. In 2012 the two joined forces to launch Startup Reykjavik, Iceland's first business accelerator, and formally merged in 2013 as KLAK Innovit - later rebranded Icelandic Startups (2016-2022) before returning to the KLAK name.

What it does: KLAK runs 3-4 business accelerators a year with different sector focuses - including Startup Reykjavik, Startup Energy Reykjavik, Startup Tourism and the climate/circular-economy programme Hringida - alongside the long-running Gulleggid idea competition. It operates as a non-profit owned by the University of Iceland, Reykjavik University, Origo (formerly Nyherji), the Kria Innovation Fund and the Federation of Icelandic Industries.

Results: more than 3,000 ideas have been submitted to the Gulleggid competition since 2008; over 100 startups graduated its Business Workshop entrepreneurship course between 2009 and 2013; more than 500 people took part across 12 Startup Weekend events from 2010-2015; and companies that went through KLAK's 2022 programmes went on to raise over ISK 1 billion from grants and professional investors. Early-stage participants have included CCP Games (creator of EVE Online) and Orf Biotechnology, alongside later graduates Controlant, Meniga and Atmonia.

Why it is a good practice: a two-decade university-industry-government coalition has run Iceland's main national accelerator infrastructure continuously, surviving two rebrandings while keeping the same core university and industry ownership, and has a track record including one of Iceland's best-known international tech successes (CCP Games).

Caveat: the ISK 1 billion figure covers post-programme fundraising by an unspecified number of 2022 participants rather than a per-company or audited total, and CCP Games' link to KLAK's specific programmes (as opposed to the wider Icelandic innovation-competition scene of the mid-2000s) is asserted in secondary sources rather than detailed step-by-step in KLAK's own materials.

Read the full analysis: https://klak.is/en/about/