GROW

What GROW does

GROW is a Danish non-profit initiative founded in 2021 by Torben Larsen, CEO and co-owner of Give Steel A/S, headquartered in Brande, Denmark. The organization motivates Danish companies to hire people outside employment or education — including apprentices, interns, flex workers, and individuals on the edge of the labor market — and provides the infrastructure to quantify and document the resulting societal value. GROW operates as a non-government organization under the corporate umbrella of Give Steel A/S, which is its sole financier and parent entity, with no external venture or institutional investors disclosed.

GROW's core product is the Den Sociale Bæredygtighedsberegner (The Social Sustainability Calculator), a web-based tool that translates CSR employments into monetary public-sector savings through increased tax revenue, reduced benefit payments, and lower social costs. The calculation methodology uses official Danish public datasets (SKAT tax authority, STAR labor agency, and SØM social investment model) and has been validated by Deloitte, with a patent-pending status. The calculator generates a CSR Diploma and a 'Social Percentage' metric visualized as a speedometer, showing the share of CSR employments relative to total headcount. GROW also operates a free ambassador program with 57+ participating companies, a free talks/presentation service delivered nationwide across Denmark (minimum 20 participants, online or in-person), and downloadable tracking tools (a helper spreadsheet).

GROW's revenue model is non-commercial: all services — the calculator, advisory support, presentations, and the ambassador program — are provided at no cost to users. The organization is funded entirely by Give Steel A/S. Distribution is event-driven and product-led, relying on free talks, content marketing (YouTube, LinkedIn, blog), direct-to-company presentations, and an ambassador referral network rather than a traditional sales force. Marketing is primarily content-driven and community-driven, with strategic partnerships with Danish Industry (DI), Deloitte, Aalborg Municipality, Copenhagen Business School, Kriminalforsorgen (Prison and Probation Service), and the Danish Sports Confederation extending reach across public, private, academic, and social sectors.

Name

GROW

Legal name

GROW c/o Give Steel A/S

Website

https://wegrowpeople.dk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

GROW is a Danish non-profit initiative that provides a free, Deloitte-validated Social Sustainability Calculator enabling organizations to quantify and document the societal value of CSR employment for ESG reporting under CSRD.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

ESG Social Impact Measurement Software

akta.pro primary industry

Sustainability & ESG Reporting (GRI/SASB/ISSB/CSRD) (EUAHAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

ESG Governance, Sustainability Reporting & Assurance Advisory (BPAHAFAJ), Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL) (BPAGABAO), Economic Growth, Livelihoods & Private Sector Development (BPADAEAE)

Keywords

• Social sustainability calculator
• CSR measurement tools
• ESG social reporting
• Inclusive employment metrics
• Social value quantification

Headquarters

HQ city

Brande

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Non-profit / CSR Initiative: GROW is a non-profit NGO funded by Give Steel A/S. All services including the calculator, talks, and advisory support are provided free of charge to companies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

GROW provides a free, Deloitte-validated Social Sustainability Calculator (Den Sociale Bæredygtighedsberegner) that helps Danish companies quantify the social and economic value created by hiring employees on the fringes of the labour market. Its methodology aligns with CSRD/ESRS S3 reporting standards and converts CSR employment data into comparable social value metrics, complemented by the GROW Social Percentage label on the CSR Diploma, live presentations, and an ambassador programme promoting inclusive employment across Denmark.

Product overview

GROW is a Danish NGO offering a unified product ecosystem centered on the Social Sustainability Calculator (Den Sociale Bæredygtighedsberegner). This core tool enables organizations to measure and document the societal value created through CSR employment. The ecosystem includes complementary offerings: the CSR Diploma and Social Percentage add-on for formal documentation, the free Presentation/Talk service for awareness building, the GROW Ambassador Program for community engagement, and a Helper Spreadsheet tool for data tracking. The calculator is validated by Deloitte and is designed for use in ESG reporting, supporting the 'S' (Social) component under CSRD framework.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Den Sociale Bæredygtighedsberegner (The Social Sustainability Calculator): A specialized ESG tool developed by GROW to help organizations calculate and document their social bottom line, quantifying the societal value created through CSR employments (apprentices, flex workers, people on the edge of the labour market). Validated by Deloitte. Used for ESG reporting under CSRD, particularly S3 'affected society.'
• GROW CSR-diplom (CSR Diploma)
• GROW-ambassadør (GROW Ambassador)

Products and services

• Den Sociale Bæredygtighedsberegner (Social Sustainability Calculator) A free, web-based, Deloitte-validated calculator that quantifies the social and economic value generated when Danish companies hire employees on the fringes of the labour market. It is built on a patent-pending methodology aligned with CSRD/ESRS S3 reporting standards and uses Statistics Denmark (SKAT STAR, SØM) labour market data to produce comparable social value metrics for ESG/CSR reporting.
• CSR-diplom / GROW Social Percentage A free certification programme (CSR Diploma) that recognises companies for their inclusive employment efforts, displaying the share of CSR-flex-jobs as a 'GROW Social Percentage' on the diploma to make social responsibility visible and comparable. Intended for Danish companies that want to evidence their social impact to customers, partners, and employees.
• Foredrag (Presentations and Talks) Free live presentations delivered by the GROW team to companies, partners, and other audiences, sharing the GROW framework, calculator results, and case stories on CSR employment to drive adoption.
• GROW-ambassadør (Ambassador Programme) A community of GROW Ambassadors who promote inclusive employment, encourage companies to use the Social Sustainability Calculator, and extend the reach of the GROW initiative across Denmark through partner- and event-led engagement.

Quantifiable outcome

• Average societal gain of approximately DKK 160,000 per person brought into employment
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Give Steel A/ScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent company and founding sponsor of GROW. Torben Larsen, CEO of Give Steel, founded GROW in 2021. GROW is operated as a non-profit initiative under Give Steel, which also finances the organization.
• Danish Industry - Lærlingefællesskabet (DI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with DI's Apprentice Community to promote apprenticeship hiring and social responsibility in Danish industry.
• UngeløftetcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational partner to Ungeløftet, a partnership helping young people outside education or work into the labor market. Give Steel and GROW support this initiative.
• Aalborg MunicipalityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipal partnership to promote social employment and inclusive hiring in the Aalborg region.
• Videnshus CabiminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKnowledge center partnership focusing on labor market inclusion and social sustainability.
• Copenhagen Business School (CBS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership for education and research on social sustainability and ESG reporting.
• Danish Sports Confederation (DIF)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to promote social responsibility through sports and physical activity contexts.
• Kriminalforsorgen (Danish Prison and Probation Service)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help former inmates reintegrate into the labor market through social employment.
• High:FiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to connect companies with young people on the edge of the labor market.
• Code of CareminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNGO partnership to open doors to the labor market for vulnerable groups.
• DeloittecoreTechnology or IntegrationDeloitte has validated and approved the calculation methods behind the Social Sustainability Calculator, providing credibility and audit-ready documentation for ESG reporting.
• DI ProduktioncoreGTM or Marketing PartnerDI Produktion used GROW's calculator to document estimated social value of over 9.1 billion DKK from member companies' social employment, receiving a CSR diploma from GROW.
• GROW Ambassador Companies (57+ companies)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCompanies that have submitted calculator results and agreed to be ambassadors, including: Flexfabrikken, Hydraflex, Carls.nu, Gjørtler Ejendomme, Give Steel, and 50+ others. They share results anonymously in the national counter and inspire others through their stories.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Sweep: Sustainability and ESG data platform with strong European footprint and CSRD focus; comparable as a broader-incumbent ESG platform where social metrics are increasingly bundled alongside environmental KPIs.
• Workiva: Listed ESG and CSRD reporting software platform; competes indirectly by offering integrated CSRD reporting infrastructure where social KPIs (the gap GROW fills) are becoming one module inside a much larger reporting stack.
• Watershed: Enterprise sustainability platform expanding from carbon accounting into broader CSRD reporting; a broad incumbent that may absorb social-impact quantification into a unified ESG suite.
• EcoVadis: Global sustainability ratings provider whose scorecards increasingly cover social and labor practices alongside environmental and ethics; a broader-incumbent competitor whose methodology GROW's tool could feed into or compete with for enterprise ESG data.
• Sedex: Global ESG data platform for supply chains covering labor, ethics, and environmental practices; relevant as a broader incumbent whose SMETA-style supplier assessments overlap with GROW's social-employment quantification.

Direct peers

• Goodera: Social impact measurement and ESG platform for enterprises; comparable because it quantifies social programs and CSR activities in measurable terms for corporate reporting, addressing the same 'invisible social value' pain point GROW solves.
• Social Value International: Global network managing the Social Value principles and SROI methodology that Social Value UK operates; serves as the international umbrella for organizations doing the same kind of social-impact quantification GROW performs.
• Social Value UK: UK-based social value methodology organization that pioneered the Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework — a direct methodological cousin to GROW's Social Sustainability Calculator, both quantifying social impact in monetary terms.
• Position Green: Nordic-headquartered CSRD and ESG reporting platform used by many of the same Danish/Nordic enterprises GROW targets; both companies monetize the CSRD S1–S4 disclosure workflow, though Position Green offers a paid SaaS while GROW currently gives the core tool away free.

Others

• B Lab: Non-profit certifying B Corporations using a social/environmental impact assessment; adjacent rather than directly competitive — both organizations certify and promote socially responsible business, but B Lab uses a certification model whereas GROW sells a measurement tool.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@givesteel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wegrowpeopledk

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

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 GROW