Athenas

What Athenas does

Athenas ApS is a privately held Danish company founded in 2005 and headquartered at Flakhaven 1 in Odense, Denmark, operating the country's largest speaker bureau (formidler af foredrag). The company runs a managed marketplace that connects event organizers in Denmark with professional speakers, moderators, and conference hosts across a broad range of topics — including leadership, artificial intelligence, health, climate, change management, motivation, and communication. Athenas employs 51–100 people, supports inquiries via phone (35 11 21 31) and email, and operates the website athenas.dk with topic- and speaker-level browse pages, a blog, and a MailChimp-distributed newsletter.

The company generates revenue through a transactional take rate on speaker bookings: pricing varies by speaker experience and topic, event scope, duration, and travel requirements, ranging from a few thousand to many thousands of Danish Kroner. Athenas maintains direct, consultative sales relationships with three primary customer segments — private companies and organizations (logos include Novo Nordisk, Vestas, VELUX, BESTSELLER, Matas, Topdanmark, BDO, COWI, Danske Bank, and Novozymes), Danish government and public institutions (municipalities of Odense, Stevns, Gladsaxe, and Vesthimmerlands; Bornholms Hospital, Sygehus Sønderjylland, Odense Universitetshospital; Syddansk Universitet; Nordjyllands Politi), and associations and non-profits (HK Kommunal Hovedstaden, KAB, CP Danmark). Marketing combines SEO-driven content, organic social on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, and paid retargeting across the same platforms plus Google and YouTube.

Athenas positions itself as the dominant Danish speaker bureau, citing more than 20 years of operating history, co-brokerage partnerships that extend its speaker supply, and a 5/5 customer-testimonial wall that is featured prominently on the website. The core technology is described as a search, inquiry management, and booking facilitation platform; no API, SDK, or proprietary AI/ML capabilities are disclosed. The company is fully privately owned, with no external investors, no disclosed acquisitions, no international footprint beyond Denmark, and no public financial reporting — all of which represent material data gaps for any external investor analysis.

Name

Athenas

Legal name

Athenas ApS

Website

https://athenas.dk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Athenas ApS is Denmark's largest speaker bureau, operating a managed marketplace that matches Danish event organizers with vetted professional speakers, moderators, and conference hosts across topics including leadership, AI, health, climate, and change management.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Speaker Bureau and Event Talent Marketplace

NAICS

Agents and Managers for Artists, Athletes, Entertainers, and Other Public Figures (7114), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

akta.pro primary industry

Speaker, Program & Abstract Management Services (THAHACAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Abstract, Speaker & Session Management Systems (THAHAFAI), Onsite Operations & Event Staffing Management (THAHACAL)

Keywords

• Speaker booking services
• Event speaker marketplace
• Keynote speaker bureau
• Conference host services
• Professional speaker agency

Headquarters

HQ city

Odense

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Speaker Booking Commission: Athenas acts as an intermediary between customers seeking speakers and professional speakers/lecturers. The company earns revenue by facilitating bookings and charging for the matchmaking and booking service. Pricing is passed through from speakers to customers with Athenas taking a margin or service fee.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Athenas operates a managed speaker bureau marketplace that matches event organizers in Denmark with professional keynote speakers, moderators, and conference hosts. The company curates a network of vetted speakers across diverse topics including leadership, AI, health, climate, communication, and organizational development, and earns transaction-based commissions on bookings facilitated through its platform with consultative matching support.

Product overview

Athenas is Denmark's largest speaker bureau offering a platform connecting event organizers with professional speakers and moderators. The core product is the speaker booking service, representing hundreds of speakers across diverse topics including AI, leadership, climate, health, and workplace culture. The company offers speakers in all price ranges and provides full booking support including post-booking coordination. Additional services include moderator/conference host booking and an educational blog featuring content from their speaker network. The company operates from Odense, Denmark, and serves both public and private sector clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Athenas Speaker Booking Service
• Moderator and Conference Host Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Rapid response to inquiries emphasized as a key differentiator
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers25 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• All American Speakers Bureau: US-based bureau representing a broad catalog of keynote speakers, business speakers, and celebrities for corporate and association events. Operates the same speaker representation and booking intermediation model as Athenas, at a larger US-centric scale.
• Foredrag.dk: Danish speaker booking platform connecting event organizers with lecturers across topics. Direct domestic competitor to Athenas within the same Danish market, offering a similar online speaker directory and booking facilitation model.
• Keppler Speakers: US-based speaker bureau representing business, leadership, and motivational speakers for corporate and association events. Closely comparable service offering to Athenas: vetted speaker roster, consultative matching, and end-to-end booking support.
• Premium Speakers: UK-based speaker bureau representing business speakers, motivational speakers, and after-dinner speakers. Directly comparable matchmaking and transaction-fee business model, serving a different geography but the same European corporate event buyer.
• BigSpeak Speakers Bureau: Speaker bureau representing keynote, business, and motivational speakers primarily for the North American market. Mirrors Athenas' marketplace model of speaker representation and corporate event booking facilitation.
• Executive Speakers Bureau: Bureau focused on booking business and motivational keynote speakers for corporate audiences. Closely comparable to Athenas in target buyer (corporate event planners), matchmaking service, and per-booking commission revenue model.

Broad incumbents

• Washington Speakers Bureau: Long-established US speaker bureau focused on political, business, and thought leadership figures for corporate events. Similar role as an intermediary matching speakers with organizations, with deeper resources and roster scale than Athenas.
• CAA Speakers: The speaking arm of Creative Artists Agency, representing high-profile speakers across business, politics, sports, and entertainment. Functions as a premium speaker agency comparable in business model to Athenas but with a far more celebrity-driven roster.
• Harry Walker Agency: One of the largest global speaker bureaus representing prominent figures across politics, business, and entertainment. Comparable to Athenas as a managed speaker agency model, but operating at significantly greater scale and global reach rather than a single domestic market.

Regional players

• London Speaker Bureau: Established European speaker bureau representing keynote speakers and moderators for corporate events. Similar matchmaking and booking business model to Athenas, but serving primarily UK and broader European markets rather than Denmark.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/athenasdk
• Facebookfacebook.com/athenasdk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/athenas
• Instagraminstagram.com/athenas.dk

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Athenas