In this episode of the Connector Podcast, host Koen Vanderhoydonk interviews David Grundy, COO of Copenhagen Fintech and co‑organiser of Nordic Fintech Week (NFW). The conversation establishes NFW as Europe’s largest dedicated fintech festival, now in its eighth year, and outlines its distinctive human‑centred theme – “Can we keep technology human?”. David explains that the theme is meant to translate deep‑tech topics such as AI and quantum computing into concrete value for banks, corporates and consumers. He describes the meticulous programme curation process, emphasizing the selection of speakers whose messages align with the human‑focused narrative. The interview highlights unique networking formats, notably a morning 5K run that brings together CEOs, developers and investors in a low‑pressure, trust‑based setting, as well as social events designed to foster collaboration. The awards ceremony is detailed: each year a set of 6‑7 themes is chosen, startups must demonstrate traction and alignment with those themes, and a neutral panel of judges from partner networks evaluates the pitches without sponsorship bias. David also shares logistical insights – the event is held at the Tap One venue near Copenhagen Airport, built overnight, and features deep‑tech showcases such as a “Quantum Space”. He recounts memorable moments, including a surprise speaker from Amazon’s quantum team. The episode concludes with a call‑to‑action, providing dates (24‑26 May in Copenhagen) and a discount code for listeners, urging fintech innovators to attend for unique collaboration and deal‑making opportunities.
Chapters
Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks, and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Koen Vanderhoydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
Welcome to another Connector Podcast. And today I've got with me David Grundy all the way from Copenhagen. And David is super busy. And David, you have to explain to us why you're so busy.
Yeah, well, first of all, thanks for having me on. I think, yeah, the sort of the main reason is Nordic Fintech Week, right? Which is our—
The obvious reason, right?
Yeah, largest dedicated fintech festival, I would argue, in— or fintech event, I would argue, in Europe, where we're solely focused on, you know, financial technology, right? That is our main remit. It's been going near on 8 years now, and it's just grown year on year. So yeah.
And because it's quite a strong statement that you make, but what are some evidence pieces that you can put on the table to say, well, you're the biggest fintech event of Europe?
I think if you asked my team, I think they would give you that there is only 2 places in Copenhagen that could actually take this event now. But yeah, I think there's other events that, you know, they're great events, right? But they have a variety of topics. In them, you know, like Barbecue in Denmark, but it's not focused on purely fintech. It has wider, you know, if you look at other events across Europe, you know, it's not dedicated of bringing startups and, you know, financial institutions for that one purpose, you know, that fintech meeting the corporate, right? So yes, there are other events. We attend them. They're all, you know, there's all got their pros and cons, but we are, we have for a number of years since the start focused exclusively on fintechs, right? That's what we do.
So no, no, and I can confirm, I've been there several times. It's an amazing place where there's a lot of collaboration happening between, well, the buyers and the sellers, the banks, the financial institutions, and the fintechs. And I think that makes it very unique.
Yeah.
This year, the theme, if I understand well, is can we keep technology human?
Yes.
Can you provide us some insights around this? Why did you come up with this theme and what does it actually comprise of?
I think it's, again, it's trying to make it real for people, right? So there's a lot of, you know, we're not a deep tech conference, right? We have technical concepts at our conference, you know, AI, we have quantum, you know, especially quantum. It's a really hard topic to take from the, you know, the sort of grassroots to what does that actually mean? Right? Okay, you're telling me about quantum, you're telling me about AI. So this humanized element was really trying to bring it up to, okay, it's almost like solution level. Well, you're telling me all this stuff is great, but show me what that actually really means for me as a customer. What does it mean for me as a bank? What does it mean for me as an individual? So this year, that's where the idea of the humanized element comes in, is that at the end of the day, innovation is about delivering value. to either the individual or the corporate entity. So that's really what the human side of it is. I mean, it's probably the best way I can describe it is taking some what we see as some easier but more complex topics and making them real in terms of what does it do for you, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And does that also reflect then in the top sort of keynote speakers that you have invited to the event?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we spend, I mean, funny, actually, I've just come from a program-related meeting. We spend a lot of time, like probably the most time actually, putting the program together, right? Sort of making sure we have the right speakers, the right message. So yeah, I think, you know, we're very careful about who talks at the event. I think you've probably realized this yourself. When your event is successful, there's lots of people who want to talk at your event. Right? But it's about making sure it's the right person, the right message is coming across, and it's in line with what you sold, right? I mean, if you're talking about an AI track, you want to make sure you're focusing on AI, but you want to bring it to a level that people understand and actually they can see how this could be delivered, right? So there's a lot of focus on that. We make sure we bring the right speakers in to do that, you know, sort of setup.
So no AI voice speakers this time around?
Well, we have some, you may have seen it, we have some, we have our CEO doing a few sort of viral videos on AI and things where he's sort of interacting with the AI. And yeah, it's kind of interesting, but you know, this is where the humanized stuff comes in, right? It's kind of like making it real. So there may be a few surprises. There is always a few surprises that we throw in. So you never know.
Well, talking a bit about the human again and I don't come from the Nordic part of Europe. I'm from Belgium, the Benelux.
Okay.
So we see you guys as being putting very high on the value ladder human contact and sort of collaboration and trust. How is that actually then translated into the event? Is there time for literally coming together as people rather than business?
Yeah. So I think I'm from the UK, right? So when I came to the Nordics, this concept just at the root level was quite different for me. But if I just take a minute to explain the Nordic culture, then that lends itself into the event, right? Because my kids are at school, Danish school, they're going through the whole system. And the big focus in the Nordic school system is on collaboration, trust, respect for each other. All of that is drilled into the kids from a very young age. And also to ask questions, like to ask questions, to be inquisitive, right? Which I think is very different from the UK system, what we left, right? Where it's do what I say now, don't question, that sort of thing. So if you take that concept of collaborative trust and then move it to an event, it's in the DNA of the Nordic culture, right? So that's how we build the Nordic fintech space. And a big part, if you've been there, a big part of the Nordic Fintech Week will be about not just about booths and big names and, you know, it's about spaces where people can connect, right? It's about where people can network. We have social events in there where people can sort of relax a little bit, but still network, right? We try and bring that human element to the event itself. And we spend a lot of time doing that. You know, people probably look at us and say, well, you know, that space you could have sold, or that space you could have done this. And, but yeah, but the networking is super important for us, right? It's making sure we can get the fintechs, the companies, the investors to actually come together and talk and have meaningful conversations. So I guess that's the best way I can describe it, right?
I believe you also have a morning run, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, um, it's the 2nd or 3rd year of doing the morning run and, um, I personally never succeeded. No, no, no. It's really, it's got to the point now where that takes a bit of effort to organize, right? Because you have people of different standards now running. And it's like, so it's become an event in itself, but it's really good because you get all types of different characters from, you know, CEOs of companies through to developers like joining in, right? And it's a great way for, like I say, informally, you know, if you're doing the slower 5K run where you can have a chat with someone, right? I mean, obviously, if you want to do the super competitive stuff, you're probably running pretty fast and that might be a challenge, but there's still times afterwards with the breakfast and joint where you can, you know, you've come together in sort of one exercise and now you can network in a more, it's not calm, but it's more of a trust-based environment, right? It's not a sales pitch. It's more, oh, tell me what you do. Tell me what you do. You know, that's the type of conversation where, you know, real things happen, right? So. Mm-hmm.
And I believe you're also running the awards ceremony.
Yeah.
Could you explain a little bit about that? And maybe too late for this time around, but what are the criteria and how can fintechs across the globe actually get involved with it?
So the awards has been running for a number of years, right? The main, I mean, there's different focus points we've had over the years, but the main criteria is that we're looking for startups that are doing interesting stuff but have traction. Right. So obviously we have the different themes every year. We could have best— we've had things like best European startup, you know, we've had more Danish focus, we've had AI specific, we've had digital asset specific. So every year we choose like 6 or 7 themes where we go, okay, what do we really want to focus on this year? Right. And they're not always the same. Right. And then we look for companies or we— for companies who have traction in that area. So we open it up. Because of the history of the event now, we get a lot of applications, right? We get a lot of natural inbound now. People know about the event. We market it quite well. We expose, you know, the winners in the classic classifications pretty well. So people know this is a good place to come and pitch if you can get through the prerequisites, right?
Mm-hmm.
So the best way to apply, I mean, you asked that, it's on the Nordic FinTech Week website, right? So you can go there if you want to apply, but What we're really looking for is companies who align to the tracks that we have in place and have good traction in there and have interesting offerings, right? So we don't, we don't try and pick too many companies who have similar offerings. We try and get, you know, differing offerings in there. And then we bring a panel of judges in from our partner network. And then you get to pitch effectively to the Nordic Fintech Week main stage audience, right? And then there's no bias in the event. So you can't buy your way in. You can't say, can I sponsor? And, you know, so there's none of that. The judges are chosen by us completely independently as well. So, you know, we try and make it neutral. We try and make this place where you really can pitch what you're doing. Main criteria, you align to the theme and you have good traction, right? And you have a good roadmap about what you want to achieve because that's what investors wanna see, right? They wanna see where are you gonna take this? How should I get involved? So.
So super curious who's going to be the best Superhuman of the Year then.
Oh, you know, we don't— we have to see, right? It's, uh, it's, uh, I, I actually, I was looking at the, the— so the team have got the shortlist together now, um, and I, I've got a follow-on meeting later on, but it— there's some really, really interesting stuff coming out, right? So, uh, I don't want to spoil too much, but you, you could— you can check it all out. on the website, but it's some really— it always amazes me the ideas that people come up with, right? It's really— and not, you know, some that you can really see actually being delivered, right? So it's really cool.
Yeah, I'm glad you're bringing up amazing moments because I like to take you back to any of the previous sort of editions and maybe explain us or tell us about a moment that really stayed with you forever.
So I think that actually it's funny because I attended Nordic Fintech Week before I was even involved in Copenhagen Fintech, right? Before I took up the COO role in Copenhagen Fintech, I actually went to Nordic Fintech Week. I think I went to 3 events. So when I say that I've seen it grow, I literally have seen it grow, right? I've been in Denmark, what, 8 years now? I think I'd been to 3 or 4 Nordic Fintech Weeks before I joined. Right? So, so I saw it from that side of just turning up and, oh, isn't this amazing? And, oh, look, it's bigger this year. And look, we're doing this, or they're doing this this year. The most amazing thing for me when I came into the organization is understanding what's involved in putting an event like that together, right? It sounds very simple, right? But when you speak to the teams, it's very important to the teams about the quality. It's very important to the teams about the what we've talked about before, the ability to network, you know, the social side, making sure that brings in. But the one thing that really stood out for me, which sounds really strange, is we have it at Tap One now, right, which is a big venue near Athens.
Nice one.
And actually seeing the venue empty the day before and then the entire circus starting, right, literally this gets built Overnight. It's completely insane. You walk away one day, you come in the next day, and the stages are there, the decoration's there, everything is set up. And it literally, if you played it in slow motion, it would be an amazing clip to watch for 5 minutes. So besides the— I'm quite into the deep tech areas. So there was an amazing Quantum Space last year. The guy who focused on that for Amazon flew over actually on his holiday. He was on his holiday and asked to come to our event and do a talk. It was completely insane. I was like, and so that was some of those things. But the event, like literally the creation of the event for me being on the inside is it's just mind blowing. It's crazy. So yeah.
So I guess everyone now listening would like to join. It's yeah twenty fourth until the twenty sixth in Copenhagen.
Yes.
Yeah. I mean, down below in the comments, I will add a reduction code from The Connector, which is still valid for a couple of days. So by all means, hope to see you all there.
Yeah.
David, any last thing that you want to tell to this audience? One, like, war message to say, come over to our event. What would it be?
I would say that it is a truly unique experience that you need to experience at least once. Right. It sounds very corny, but I mean, If you are into innovation and delivering value through innovation and you have curiosity, you should come to Nordic Fintech Week. There is a lot of really, really good collaborations and deals that have come out of Nordic Fintech Week. It's really great to see.
Well, excellent. David, thank you for having you in our podcast.
No worries. Thank you for having me.
I'm looking forward to meet you in Copenhagen soon.
That'd be great.
obviously to meet people from the audience too. So please stay tuned for more fintech news on this podcast. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. See you. Bye-bye.
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Connector Podcast. To connect and keep up to date with all the latest, head over to www.jointheconnector.com or hit subscribe via your podcast streaming platform.
