Aarhus startup already spread to seven countries

This post is also available in: Danish

Jonas Gøttler, COO and Co-Founder, Robert Wolf, CTO and Co-Founder and Peter Bæch, CEO and Co-Founder are three young entrepreneurs with big visions. Their journey started in 2019, it was here while they were in high school that the idea was taking shape. However, the journey towards creating a tech startup continued even after high school. They would change the way we think and use canteens that serve food. In addition to the three founders, Jeppe Uhd, Partner and Head of Sales, is also part of the ownership group.

In 2020, Jonas graduated from high school, took the plunge and went full-time. The following year in 2021, Peter followed suit. Their dedication and determination proved crucial as they bootstrapped (ran the business with their own capital) and worked towards their first investment.

A year later, Kanpla closed a significant deal with a Dutch Venture FundA venture fund is professional investors who scout start-ups to invest and mentor, aiming for innovation, growth, and returns. It is high risk, high reward. More. It was a turning point that gave them the resources to begin their international scaling, which started in 2023.

Despite the scaling, there is still a strong focus and commitment to product optimization.

“The next step is to implement artificial intelligence on our platform. We want to be able to warn our users about potential allergens, because I believe that we can actually make a difference and help many people avoid unfortunate situations,” – Jonas Gøttler, COO and co-founder tells Techsavvy.media

The leap into international waters

They started off cautiously with a sharp focus on the Norwegian market, as they had found that the market was a good fit for their platform and somewhat similar to something they had already been successful with. There was a lot of upfront research associated with the leap, but that approach was quickly reassessed and then it just went full throttle on Norway, the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden.

The experiments didn’t stop there. What was initially an overlooked email turned out, by chance, to be an opportunity to test their new onboarding system in Cyprus and Greece. With new experiments in Mediterranean countries, Kanpla is now in seven countries including Denmark.

While the young entrepreneurs are not afraid to try new things, they are still focusing on their scaling strategy in the UK and the Netherlands, which are their main areas of focus in international markets. This is also where Kanpla has launched their POS checkout system in early 2024.

“I traveled to England on 1. January 2024 and checked into the hotel at 2:30 in the morning. The receptionist told me that she had never seen anyone arrive at such an hour to attend a business meeting,” – writes Peter Bæch, co-founder and CEO of Kanpla, on his LinkedIn profile.

There is no doubt that Kanpla has growth potential, but with established business people such as Coop CEO Kræn Østergaard Nielsen and Astralis investor Lasse Guldsborg in the ownership circle, there are both the skills and knowledge to support it.

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The four main modules of the Kanpla platform:

1. the platform is first and foremost a menu where you can see what’s being served.

2. A sales and feedback loop is built in for kitchen staff.

3. There is a built-in checkout system, so you can pay with the app directly at the checkout.

4. You can order meeting catering so it’s all in one place on the app.