One of three 2023 recipients of the UArctic Entrepreneurship Fund was Samson Staindal Vonen, lead of the CapiPro SB – Waste into Profit project and CEO of the company, CapiPro. 2023 marked the beginning of our fund, providing a way forward for innovative Arctic ideas.
“The selected winners have demonstrated exceptional creativity, resilience, and a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities within the Arctic context,” said Michael Carey, Managing Partner, COO of Canard Group, LLC, and supporter of the fund.
CapiPro was awarded with $9250 for their seed-fund. The student company is aiming to produce raw products with polychaete worms to create sustainable feed for the aquaculture industry. They will be able to provide Capitella Teleta, extract protein, amino acids, and Omega 3-acids to feed companies as healthy and locally produced feed materials.
The company began as a student enterprise at Nord University, but since our seed fund, this project has gone from zero to venture capital-backed in under two years.
In 2024, the CapiPro team were the recipients of the High North Young Entrepreneur Award. This award is an international competition of Arctic-related business ideas for young entrepreneurs and start-ups. The goal of the contest is to promote the potential and opportunities of the High North for young people and to encourage them to develop a more sustainable North through business ideas.
The award for 2024 was handed out during the High North Dialogue Conference in Bodø as a part of the Arctic Congress Bodø 2024.
You can read more about the first cohort of the UArctic Entrepreneurship Fund on UArctic’s News.
Interested in applying for the fund? Read more about our annual call for proposals.
