“Data provides knowledge, and knowledge about the audience is crucial in media relations,” says Joanna Drabent, CEO & Co-founder of Prowly.com. “Our research gives data for what we already expected: even the best story may get buried in journalists’ inboxes if sent out at a wrong moment.” Here’s a handy infographic about the best times to send out press releases …

Impact Iceland 2016 is crowdfunding Iceland’s first conference on social entrepreneurship on Karolina Fund.  It will be the first in a series of conferences in Iceland focusing on social innovation as a profitable, sustainable, and impactful response to today’s challenges. Tanja Wohlrab-Ryan writes at Startup Iceland about making Iceland not only a vibrant startup community, but a hub of social …

The Stockholm-based healthy food startup Naturalbox explains their successful crowdsourcing campaign on Prowly. Results: coverage in key media channels, nearly 100 investors, 212% campaign overfunding. In order to raise capital for its operations, Naturalbox chose crowdsourcing over a traditional VC, engaging its customers, friends and fans. To make that happen, the startup decided to leverage all the advantages of social …

A common thought, though perhaps a naive one, is that the online fashion retail market is saturated and there’s no room for newcomers to have any mainstream success. While it’s true that technology pretty much allows anyone to knock up a web-store, source cheap products or sell on behalf of a larger company, it doesn’t mean there isn’t room for …

Little by little financial technology (FinTech) entrepreneurship has been chipping away at the once mighty banking industry, threatening to turn it into brick-and-mortar shell of its former self. Piqued by widespread frustration with impersonal services and fee bombardment, tech-savvy customers have been abandoning traditional banks in favor of digital banking services. Today’s consumers and business owners want banking services they …

Sweden. The Unicorn Factory. Top three on the Global innovation index. One of the strongest Gaming Industries in the world.  The potential for an ed-tech hub in the Swedish startup ecosystem is huge. By Jannie Jeppesen, Head of EdTech Sweden Innovative, disruptive and scalable startups like Spotify, Klarna, Mojang and King have come out of Sweden the last years. The …

I had the great pleasure of paying a week long visit to South By South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas in May 2016. My first thoughts on scene were that the interesting mixture of music, film and interactive events created a relaxed environment for people to present their companies and find common goals in their future business. By Kaius Meskanen, …

The South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) is more like a festival than a traditional expo. It figures, as it has its roots as a film and music festival. SXSW consists of three main parts: Interactive, Music and Film.  My company, Vincit Oy, came for the Interactive part, as part of one of the Finnish companies coming along with the Nordic …

Couriers Track has created an infographic of their top cost-cutting tips for startups, including  digital advertising, “cloudsourcing”, and taxes. Check it out below. Infographic courtesy of CouriersTrack.

For years, it’s been a norm that sending something in long distance means going to a post office or using Fedex-like businesses. Shipitwise is here to change the way people experience logistics. Sander Gansen writes about their path to success from Garage48, the largest startup hub in Estonia. By Sander Gansen On average, the complete process to send something long …

Studies in Sweden and Norway show that students who play computer games do better in school.  And in Denmark, new research shows that playing computer games helps young people improve their social skills and create more friendships. By Tobias Thomasen Computer games have been blamed for many negative things.  Most often, they are thought to encourage violent and boorish behavior …

EduLAB is part of a rapidly expanding pre-incubator program at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences in Finland called Oamk LABs. EduLAB specifically targets the global education technology industry. By Blair Stevenson Like the other Oamk LABs, EduLAB is taught in English and is a full-time, 5 month educational program for university level students and professionals in re-training with backgrounds …

Helsinki is the most prolific source of successful mobile apps after Silicon Valley. This was revealed by the British think tank Caribou Digital’s and Mozilla’s report on the global business surrounding mobile phone apps. The Winners and Losers in the Global App Economy 2016 report’s researchers assessed which cities create successful mobile apps, reports the Finnish business magazine Talouselämä. The …

Successful global growth of ICT, Medtech, green tech and consumer product innovations can be the future for the Nordic economies.  But the process from idea to market success is quite different for the Nordic countries compared to the US. By Jennifer Vessels Sustainable growth requires more than a product idea.  It demands skillful commercialization to drive customer adoption and revenue …

The term diversification is a term regularly associated with investment strategies and it is without a doubt the single most powerful tool available to investors. Diversification isn’t a difficult concept to understand, yet it is still often misunderstood. Omar Shaikh, founder of Cocoa Invest, a completely independent online saving and investment company, explains exactly what diversification is and how important …

The learning curve is steep, but exciting, for 6 Danish founders participating in a US Entry Bootcamp, at Lemonsqueeze in Brooklyn, aimed at ”preparing for a successful launch in the US.” Where Silicon Valley is focused on trends like drones, blockchain and deeplinks, the New York startup scene is broader; tech is just one of several big industries, including finance, …

Sean Percival,  serial entrepreneur and investor, has been in Norway for his project 500 Startups.  Through a $15 million Nordic fund, growth marketing programs, and an accelerator, 500 plans to bring Silicon Valley’s best practices to the Nordic region. Like it’s Nordic neighbors, Norway is famous for Janteloven.  Janteloven, or the Law of Jante, describes a set of social norms …

The Internet of Things (IoT) will change everything. Existing businesses will be disrupted and their business models will be changed forever. Here’s why. Put yourself in the shoes of Philips, consumer products manufacturer. Philips makes dishwashers. One day, they’re going to throw a sensor and wifi chip into the newest dishwasher model and call it a “smart” appliance. We’ll have …

While many consider innovation to be the province of Silicon Valley and other high-tech centers in developed markets around the world, the reality is very different.  A look at where intellectual property is being created gives us some indication that we have to broaden our horizons when we look at new innovations. By Ajay Krishnan, Roger Edgley, and Laura Geritz …