Northzone News
09 April 2020
9 min read
Words: Northzone
Images: Northzone (Benjamin Bon, freelance designer)

Northzone's Portfolio Covid Initiatives

It has been one of our highlights of the month to see how our portfolio companies are jumping in to support their customers and their broader community during COVID-19. Each one of us is being affected by this global crisis to a greater or lesser degree, and we wanted to highlight those resources, insights and strategies here in the hope that they will inspire others.

We’ve compiled this running (non-exhaustive) list of some of their efforts to make a difference in tough times. We’ll continue to update this page as we acknowledge other initiatives. We feel incredibly proud and grateful to see the teams responding to this crisis by shifting their production, helping local communities, and updating quickly to the situation, most of them behind the scenes.

AIDENCE

Aidence has founded the initiative ICOVAI that rallies clinical, scientific, regulatory and technology experts to bring the full potential of AI to health care practitioners fighting COVID-19.

The consortium aims to develop an AI tool to support overwhelmed medical staff with the reporting of these scans. To develop the AI solution for COVID-19 on Chest Computed tomography, the consortium’s most pressing need is to collect data from clinicians, medical societies and industry partners. Find out more her e

DISPERSE

Disperse have created a tech playbook for construction companies, particularly impacted by this crisis. They are offering solutions including facilitation of remote work, production analysis and protection against fraudulent claims. Find out more here

FORTO

Forto has set up a dedicated task force and transport services for medical equipment importers.

Forto is offering its order management platform free of charge to interested parties during the period of the immediate corona crisis. In addition, Forto connects other importers and producers to keep the timing and quantity of imported protective items at a consistently high level.

Forto has already been able to arrange the transport of approximately 20 million protective items from Asia in recent weeks, which corresponds to approximately 50 percent of the weekly demand in Germany’s healthcare system.

KAHOOT!

Kahoot! offers free access to all features to support distance learning in schools affected by the coronavirus outbreak Education institutions can get free access to Kahoot! Premium to empower distance and online learning and engage students anywhere, anytime. Find out more here.

“Through March, we have seen a rapid and fundamental shift in how digital tools are being used in companies, organizations, in social contexts and in all kinds of educational institutions. Over one billion participating players are using Kahoot! annually and there has never been a bigger need to make learning awesome for teachers, students, organizations and families around the world. “

In the coming months, Kahoot! will also launch several new features and initiatives including Kahoot! Study for self-study, Kahoot! Study Groups for students and corporate training, interactive presentations and improved integrations with other essential tools for distributed learning.

KLARNA

Klarna teamed up with ASOS on Give Back Day to donate £1, $1 or €1 for every Pay Later transaction placed on the retailer’s website on the 29th April.

The money will be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who will use it in its frontline response to Covid-19.

LABSTER

Labster is helping science teachers move courses online quickly and providing discounted pricing for the next several months. Example course mapping and online training so you can take advantage of virtual labs right now. More her e for schools.

MARKETFINANCE

Marketfinance has created an online hub to help businesses navigating through uncertainty and pulling together articles, how-tos and government advice into one handy place to keep all type of businesses going. More here.

MEDWING

Medwing have created a platform for both medical professionals and members of the public to volunteer their time and skills. They are placing volunteers in hospitals and with local communities and charities. Find out more here

PERSONIO

Personio have launched an HR Expert Hub and a free Home Office Tracking solution to help HR managers to handle the current situation. The downloads and expert tips are designed to help companies successfully navigate their operations. Find out more here.

SPOTIFY

Spotify pledges a $10 million fund to help artists and other members of the music community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of this money has already been siphoned off and donated to three bodies across the US and UK: MusiCares (US), PRS Foundation (UK), and Help Musicians (UK). Find out more here. Spotify is making a donation to these organizations and will match donations made via this page dollar for dollar up to a collective total of $10 million.

SPRING HEALTH

Spring Health is offering 60 days of free, unlimited therapy sessions at no cost to HR professionals. This offer is for up to 10 HR team members, which includes: Online access to assessments and check-ins, Care Navigators to guide them every step of the journey, and Video access to their world-class networks of providers. Here’s the Get Started Checklist and to start, HR leaders can email partnerships@springhealth.com. Spring Health is also hosting training for Managers to help Managers manage during a crisis, the Webinar will be repeated every Thursday for five weeks, at 4pm ET. Find out more here and here.

April Koh, CEO of Spring Health is joining Deb Muller, CEO of HR Acuity on April 16th, from 11AM-12PM ET for an expert webinar on the importance of mental health and practical advice. You can register here.

THIRTY MADISON

Thirty Madison are launching an online urgent care centre to help ease the strain on doctors and hospitals, with the goal of easing the strain on the health system. To maximize impact and reach populations who are most in need of this type of service, the service is “pay what you can” (consultations begin at $0 for those in need, with the option to cover the cost of your own consultation for $10 or donate to cover the cost of those who can’t afford to pay). They are currently open in NY, NJ, CT, MI, WA, and TX and will be adding additional states and conditions over the coming weeks. In addition, Thirty Madison is donating $100,000 to cover up to 10,000 free consultations.

TIER

Tier are supporting people working in system-critical jobs by launching Heroes and providing free rides for their daily commute, going to hospitals and other workplaces. Find out more here – or here.

“Our team is deeply grateful for all of the work everyday heroes are doing and have decided to give something back. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, supermarket employees, police officers, firefighters and those who put their community first, can get free rides for their commute during the crisis.”

TRUELAYER

TrueLayer helped launch The Campaign for Better Income Support for self-employed people and is offering free use of its platform for those working to combat COVID-19. Contact them for more information.

WAGESTREAM

Wagestream help people get paid whenever they want. Any shift that has been logged with Wagestream as COVID-19 is eligible for enhanced payment limits. They are also helping those furloughed, with colleagues being able to access up to 50% of their ‘furloughed’ income. Find out more here.

ZOPA

Zopa are giving an option for customers to freeze or reduce repayments, without this affecting any credit scores, to give them some breathing space until income returns to normal. Find out more here.