Nordic growth markets explained: First North, NGM & Oslo

Below each of the five main Nordic stock exchanges sits a second tier of growth markets, where smaller and earlier-stage companies list under lighter rules. This is where most new Nordic listings happen, where hundreds of companies trade below the headline indices — and where English-language coverage all but disappears.

If the main Nordic stock exchanges are hard to follow from outside the region, the growth markets are harder still. The companies are smaller, the news is almost entirely in Swedish, Danish, Finnish, or Norwegian, and international outlets rarely look this far down the market. The English-language gap is widest exactly where the company is smallest. This whole tier is the small end. This guide maps the four venue families — Nasdaq First North, Nordic Growth Market, Spotlight, and Euronext Growth Oslo — explains how they differ from the main markets, and covers how to follow them in English.

What is a growth market?

The primary distinction between main and growth markets is regulatory. A main market like Nasdaq Stockholm or Euronext Oslo Børs is a regulated market in the EU legal sense, and the most demanding tier, with full prospectus, IFRS accounting, and the heaviest disclosure obligations.

Most growth markets are not regulated markets. They are multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), and several are further registered as SME Growth Markets, a category created under the EU's MiFID II rules specifically for small and medium-sized issuers. The trade-off is deliberate: a company on a growth market follows a lighter set of rules suited to a smaller business. In practice that usually means a shorter admission document instead of a full prospectus, local accounting standards rather than mandatory IFRS, and, in most cases, a mandatory adviser whose job is to keep the company compliant.

One consequence worth stating plainly: "less regulated" is not "unregulated." Growth-market issuers still fall under the EU Market Abuse Regulation, still have to disclose price-sensitive information, and still answer to a national financial supervisor. The rules are lighter, not absent.

The Nordic growth markets at a glance

All four are growth venues for smaller companies. Note one venue that is not in this table and is often mislabelled: Euronext Expand Oslo (formerly Oslo Axess) is a full regulated market for smaller companies, not a growth MTF — more on that below.

Nasdaq First North Growth Market

First North is the largest of the Nordic growth markets and the one most international readers will have heard of. Nasdaq operates it across four of the five Nordic countries — Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. Norway is not part of it; Oslo's growth venue is run by Euronext.

Legally, First North Growth Market is a registered SME Growth Market under MiFID II, not a regulated market. Nasdaq states the trade-off directly: issuers "are not subject to all the same rules as issuers on a regulated main market" and instead follow "a less extensive set of rules and regulations adjusted to small growth companies." A company can join with a shorter company description rather than a full prospectus, and it can report under local accounting standards — IFRS is only required on the higher First North Premier segment.

The defining requirement is the Certified Adviser. A company must engage one before applying and must keep one for the entire time it is listed; if that engagement ends, it has three months to appoint a replacement. On admission, at least 10% of the shares must be in public hands, held by at least 300 qualified shareholders. There is no minimum market capitalisation and no profitability requirement — the business can be early-stage, as long as it has been operating for at least twelve months and can show working capital for the twelve months ahead.

To put scale on it: across First North Growth Market and its Premier segment, Nasdaq counted 444 listed companies at the end of 2025 — more, in raw count, than the 363 on Nasdaq Stockholm's own main market, though First North's figure spans the Nordic and Baltic markets. It is the centre of gravity for Nordic small-cap listings, and only one of four growth venues. Its listings range from established small-caps to early-stage tech, among them the satellite maker AAC Clyde Space.

Browse the latest news on our Nasdaq First North Sweden page, with separate pages for Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.

Nordic Growth Market (NGM)

Nordic Growth Market (NGM) is a Swedish exchange, wholly owned by the Boerse Stuttgart Group and authorised by Sweden's financial supervisor. It is easy to get NGM wrong, because it runs three different venues: Main Regulated (a full regulated market), Nordic MTF (for products such as certificates and warrants), and Nordic SME (its SME Growth Market for smaller companies). For this guide, the relevant one is Nordic SME.

Nordic SME is, in NGM's own words, "a growth market for small and medium-sized enterprises," which means certain legislative alleviations apply that would not on a plain MTF or a regulated market. Its equivalent of First North's Certified Adviser is the Mentor: a company must have one for its first two years on the market, and can never go more than a calendar month without one. The admission requirements echo First North — at least 10% of shares in public hands and, as a rule, at least 300 shareholders each holding shares worth around SEK 5,000 — with the company itself responsible for compliance under the Market Abuse Regulation.

NGM is Swedish-based, but its marketplaces reach Denmark, Finland, and Norway as well. Nordic SME's listings include recognisable consumer names such as the cider maker Kopparbergs Bryggeri. See its companies on the Nordic SME page.

Spotlight Stock Market

Spotlight is the other Swedish growth venue, founded in 1997 under the name AktieTorget and now trading as Spotlight Stock Market. It is a multilateral trading facility, registered since 2020 as an SME Growth Market and supervised by Sweden's financial regulator. Its focus is squarely on growth companies, and despite its Swedish base it admits issuers from elsewhere in the Nordics — it runs dedicated segments for companies in Denmark and Norway.

Spotlight differs from First North and NGM in one notable way: it does not require a standing certified adviser or mentor. There is no Spotlight equivalent of the Certified Adviser as an admission condition; a financial adviser is optional, and the exchange instead leans on a liquidity provider in certain cases. Its published admission criteria are concrete: at least 10% of a share series in public ownership, as a rule at least 100 shareholders each holding shares worth at least SEK 2,000, and a board of at least four directors, two of them independent.

Spotlight reports roughly 140 listed companies alongside 82 exchange-traded products (as of mid-2026), among them the mining group Beowulf Mining. Browse them on the Spotlight Stock Market page.

Euronext Growth Oslo (and the Euronext Expand distinction)

Norway sits outside the Nasdaq Nordic group. Oslo's markets have been owned by Euronext since 2019, so its growth tier is Euronext's, not Nasdaq's. Oslo runs a three-step ladder:

• Oslo Børs — the main regulated market.
• Euronext Expand Oslo (formerly Oslo Axess) — a regulated market for smaller companies. This is the one that catches people out: it is a full regulated market, not a growth MTF, even though it sits below the main board.
• Euronext Growth Oslo (formerly Merkur Market) — the multilateral trading facility, the actual growth venue.

Euronext Growth Oslo is the direct counterpart to First North and Spotlight. Its required adviser is the Euronext Growth Advisor, which a company must engage to apply. Its admission thresholds run a little higher than the Swedish venues on float and a little lower on headcount: at least 15% of the shares distributed among the general public, held by at least 30 shareholders each with shares worth at least NOK 5,000, and an expected market value of at least NOK 1 per share.

Its listings include the soil-technology company Desert Control. See the listings on the Euronext Growth Oslo page; the regulated smaller-company tier has its own Euronext Expand page.

How a company lists on a Nordic growth market

The shape of the process is similar across all four venues, and it is lighter than a main-market IPO by design:

1. Engage the adviser. On First North a Certified Adviser, on NGM a Mentor, on Euronext Growth a Growth Advisor. (Spotlight is the exception — no mandatory adviser.) The adviser assesses the company's suitability and shepherds it through admission.
2. Prepare the admission document. Usually a company description rather than a full EU prospectus — a full prospectus is only triggered in specific cases, such as a large public offer.
3. Meet the spread and governance tests. A free-float minimum (10% on the Swedish venues, 15% on Euronext Growth), a minimum number of shareholders, and board and management suitability checks.
4. Exchange review and admission. The exchange reviews the application — on First North, a minimum of 20 business days — and decides on admission to trading.

The common thread is what's absent: no minimum market cap, no profitability test, an adviser in place of the full regulated-market machinery.

Why English coverage is thinnest here

This tier is the sharpest example of the problem that runs through every Nordic market: the news exists, but not in English.

The companies on First North, Nordic SME, Spotlight, and Euronext Growth are small, and the smaller a Nordic company is, the more local its coverage. A large-cap like Novo Nordisk or Equinor will at least get the occasional English wire story. A First North micro-cap announcing a rights issue, or a Spotlight company posting half-year results, rarely does. International outlets do not follow companies this size, and the original reporting stays in the home language.

That is also where the long tail of Nordic equity investment opportunities and risks lives — and where new ones keep arriving. In Sweden, the most active Nordic IPO market, most 2025 listings came on the growth venues rather than the main market. Hundreds of these companies, most of them Swedish, publish material news that a non-Nordic-speaker cannot read.

How to follow the Nordic growth markets in English

Nordic Financial News covers this tier, not just the blue chips. It aggregates business news from across Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland — including the growth markets — translates it into English, links each article to the companies it mentions, and groups related reporting into single stories. Every venue above has a live page listing its companies, with translated news and upcoming earnings and dividend dates.

Follow the Nordic growth markets in English. Live company pages, translated news, and earnings dates across First North, Nordic SME, Spotlight, and Euronext Growth. Get started — free

For the main markets that sit above these venues, see the companion guide: Nordic stock exchanges, and how to follow them in English.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a Nordic main market and a growth market?
A main market — such as Nasdaq Stockholm or Euronext Oslo Børs — is a regulated market in the EU sense, with full prospectus and disclosure requirements and mandatory IFRS accounting. A growth market is usually a multilateral trading facility, often registered as an SME Growth Market, with lighter rules suited to smaller companies: a shorter admission document, local accounting standards, and a required adviser rather than the full regulated-market framework.

What is Nasdaq First North?
Nasdaq First North Growth Market is the Nordic region's largest growth market, operated by Nasdaq in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. It is a registered SME Growth Market, not a regulated market, and companies list with a Certified Adviser under lighter requirements than the main market.

Is Euronext Expand a growth market?
No. Euronext Expand Oslo (formerly Oslo Axess) is a regulated market for smaller companies, not a growth MTF. Oslo's actual growth venue is Euronext Growth Oslo (formerly Merkur Market). Both sit below the main Oslo Børs regulated market.

How do I follow Nordic small-cap and growth-market news in English?
Nordic Financial News translates business reporting from across the five Nordic countries — including the growth markets — into English and links it to the companies and venues involved. You can start for free.