Walk the Valley is a bi-monthly podcast dedicated to sharing real-world advice from healthcare innovation entrepreneurs. We believe that the path from scientific discovery to commercial success is filled with invaluable lessons that are too often learned the hard way. Our mission is to illuminate this journey, helping the next generation of innovators navigate the challenges of bringing healthcare innovations to market.

About Valmista Valmista is an early-stage startup that we are currently taking over and rebuilding into a modern service marketplace. Our goal is to make it easier for people to find reliable help for everyday tasks and services, while giving freelancers, students, and independent service providers a better way to reach customers. We are currently expanding our team and looking for people who want to help build the company from the ground up.

Mitt Barnebarn er en seniorhjelp-bedrift i Trondheim. Vi hjelper hjemmeboende seniorer med det praktiske i hverdagen: renhold, hagearbeid, småreparasjoner, handling og digital hjelp. Navnet sier det meste: vi stiller opp slik et barnebarn ville gjort. Et menneske på døra, god teknologi i ryggen. Problemet vi jobber med er at mange eldre faller mellom familie som ikke rekker det, og en kommune med vedtak og ventelister. De trenger trygg, fast hjelp uten byråkrati. Det er det vi gir dem, med samme hjelper hver gang. Det som gjør oss spesielle: hjelperne våre er unge mennesker, og for mange er dette den første jobben. Hvert besøk blir et generasjonsmøte der en ungdom og en senior faktisk blir kjent. Vi tror unge kan styrke eldreomsorgen og avlaste en presset kommune, og vi bygger en bedrift som beviser det. Vi er et ungt team som bygger noe fra bunnen, og vi tenker stort: å vokse by for by, og gjøre kontoret til en hub der unge får prøve egne ideer, lære ferdigheter de tar med seg videre, og bygge noe som betyr noe. Å jobbe hos oss skal være meningsfullt, og du skal vokse av det.

We help companies detect stress, overload, and declining capacity before it turns into sick leave, disengagement, or employee turnover. Using passive biomarker data combined with cognitive validation, our platform gives companies early insights into workforce wellbeing - enabling proactive support instead of reactive damage control. Built for modern SMEs and scaleups, we turn invisible warning signs into actionable insights that protect both people and performance.

Mimir automates customer service for e-commerce using AI. We resolve up to 90% of support inquiries. Not by deflecting customers, but by actually helping them. We've been heads down building and making Mimir the best AI agent for customer support the last 20 months. Now we're scaling fast, breaking into several new markets, and we need all hands on deck.

Funky Matcha is a premium matcha brand on a mission to make ceremonial grade matcha the world's next great daily ritual. We create innovative matcha products sold directly to consumers and businesses across 15+ countries — from Sweden and the UK to Hong Kong and Singapore. We're obsessed with quality, accessibility and bringing the world's finest matcha to more people, in more forms, everywhere.

mellow designs is a circular design and construction company. We specialise in designing indoor and outdoor spaces using upcycled material like euro pallets and scaffolding systems. We have invented unique connection systems that allow us to use material in a modular manner to design and construct temporary infrastructure. We aim to solve the problem of material waste during temporary during infrastructure construction.

Custena is payment middleware for AI agent commerce. It lets anyone monetise an API or MCP server through a single integration that accepts every agent payment protocol (x402, MPP, L402, and fiat credit-card top-up) and gives enterprises the spending governance and compliance infrastructure they need to deploy spending agents safely.

Ankerias is building an AI-powered software platform to improve how chronic neuropathic pain is treated. We help clinicians make better treatment decisions in complex conditions where outcomes are often driven by trial and error. Neuropathic pain affects hundreds of millions of people globally, yet matching the right patient with the right treatment remains a major challenge. We combine clinical expertise with AI and data-driven methods to enable more precise and personalized care. We build data-driven patient models (“digital twins”) from clinical and physiological data to support better diagnosis and treatment decisions. Our goal is to bring better decision-making into everyday clinical practice. We work closely with clinicians, universities, and AI researchers, and bring together expertise in pain research, healthcare, and technology. We are a team with strong backgrounds in pain research, clinical collaboration, and AI-driven technology. We collaborate closely with clinicians, universities, and AI researchers.

Compli is a compliance operating system that transforms laws and regulatory requirements into structured, operational workflows inside a company. Instead of delivering static reports or raw risk data, Compli identifies gaps between regulations and a company’s existing procedures, and turns them into concrete actions, documented decisions, and continuous follow-up. It integrates regulatory updates, supplier risk, internal routines, and ESG reporting into one unified execution engine. Our vision is to build the infrastructure layer for regulatory intelligence in Europe — where compliance is no longer manual, reactive work, but an automated system that strengthens businesses every day.

Venli is the world’s first Agent Management System (AMS) for hospitality. An AMS is the layer that lets you manage all AI operations from a single platform. Venli connects directly to the most widely used hospitality systems, scrapes your website to build a live knowledge base, and creates a unified access layer where AI agents can perform real actions, not just respond to requests. Hotels use Venli to deploy guest-facing agents across SMS, voice, WhatsApp, and web that handle bookings, service requests, and operational tasks, while background agents automate reporting, planning, and internal workflows using live PMS, CRM, and revenue data. Everything runs in one system, with agents, integrations, and instructions working together in harmony. The result is AI that removes operational friction, reduces manual work for staff, and functions like a digital operations layer rather than a collection of disconnected tools.

At Candeno, we help you take the next step in your career and find your last dream job 🎈 We connect job seekers with companies and, since 2020, have helped more than 100.000 job seekers find their next job. We have chosen to break down the traditional recruitment process, introducing companies to the best candidates the second they post job openings.

Gennem platformene MineTilbud, Dayli og Publisher understøttes formidling af tilbud, inspiration og produkter på tværs af digitale kanaler og fysiske butikker. Løsningerne giver lokale butikker, kæder og brands, store som små, mulighed for at være synlige og relevante gennem hele kunderejsen, fra den første inspiration til det endelige køb. For forbrugerne skabes et enkelt, visuelt overblik over relevante tilbud, inspiration og aktuelle produkter i medieplatformene MineTilbud og Dayli. For virksomhederne giver Publisher platformen fuld kontrol over indhold, visning og timing – og ikke mindst lavere adgangsbarrierer og større gennemsigtighed i forhold til digital annoncering.

The live entertainment industry still runs on analog processes,scattered Google Docs, Excel sheets, and manual workflows.” Jocky is building the digital infrastructure for live entrainment. Collecting Invoices, scheduling, booking and live entertainment data so that venues, artists, and agencies can run their operations from a single place.

Viven is a healthtech / femtech company. We're building AI-driven online clinic that helps +35-year-old women monitor and improve their hormonal and overall health during their perimenopausal years.