Nordic Startup News Early Stage Startup News From The Nordics

A common claim that comes at the crossroads of technology and finance is that eventually most people will be replaced by machines.  It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”.  But is it that simple? By Andrew Woodman Inevitably, the topic of robots vs humans came up during a panel discussion in an event hosted by the Hong Kong Computer …

COCOA Invest founders Omar Shaikh and Lars Buur think the Nordics are often overlooked and under-served when it comes to personal finance. A London native, Omar sought to bring some of his expertise from his homelands financial sector to the Nordics.  He began collaborating with Lars, who was based in Denmark, and COCOA Invest was born. While they were both …

The world-renowned startup and technology event Slush is set to occur for it’s ninth run in Helsinki, Finland on November 30 and December, 2016.  Register now to join the biggest startup conference in the Nordics and one of the most exciting startup events worldwide. “Our focus is on creating an event that brings the highest value to the startups. We …

In a world of constantly changing data and shifting market trends, it is almost impossible to over-emphasize the importance of good data visualization software. Without an advanced degree in statistics, it used to be difficult to understand and interpret what multiple graphs or charts meant and how they interacted with one another. It is only a matter of time before …

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 …

An intensive 10-week program is going to take place starting in May at Sweden’s prized startup hub SUP46. A startup fund called 500 Nordics is helping to propel and cement Stockholm’s reputation as a leading place for startup growth by teaming up with Sweden’s most active early-stage investor, Almi Invest. “We love to support 500Startups coming to Sweden and see …

Last week a new collaboration space, Flux, opened in downtown Helsinki. Within the beautiful old Korkeavuorenkatu 35 building, a fresh and funky space has emerged. Already it is a hive of activity and the plan is to continue to have an intensive calendar of events in the coming weeks. Pekka Horo, General Manager, Microsoft Oy welcomed visitors and highlighted the …

Based on input from some of the top representatives in the Mobile and IoT industry, including Samsug, Qualcomm Ventures, and Motorola, SV House TV has compiled an infographic of what investments are hot with early stage corporate investors in 2016.

Finnish startup, Feedbackly, is dedicated to improving customer experiences as well as helping companies to increase their sales. The company has now raised a €500,000 funding round to help bring their new Software as a Service (SaaS) product to the market. When a company uses Feedbackly they are able to aggregate feedback from their clients in all manners, from brick-and-mortar …

Five months after announcing the closing of a €2 million funding round, Wolt returns with even bigger news. The rapidly-growing food-delivery service has raised €10 million in its latest funding round, backed by the key individuals behind Uber, Booking.com and Skype, accompanied with news of launching the service in Stockholm. Shortly after its previous funding round, Wolt announces an impressive …

It’s no secret that data is valuable. Oil used to be called black gold but now big data has taken its place. Kisko Labs breaks down what that means. At present there are ongoing discussions about the integrity of our data, the security of our data and the way in which companies we willingly give it to might be planning to …

Edmonton, the capital of Alberta in Canada, has a strong startup community, which in many ways shares similarities with Iceland.  An Edmonton film crew has create a project about Reykjavik. Check out the short film below. I have written about the strong affinity between the Startup Community in Edmonton and Reykjavik. Last year Startup Edmonton crew started a new project …

This past weekend, Startup Weekend Helsinki took place in the elegant surroundings of the NewCo building in the Kallio region of Helsinki.  Here is our look back at an inspiring weekend. Chris Georgiev, founder of Imagga, was the lively master of ceremonies, supported by a team of purple t-shirted volunteers. Present were seventy participants in their blue, yellow, orange, red …

The who, what, where, and when of the fintech industry today can be found in this excellent infographic put together by Banking Tech.  Find plenty of useful data, including the top specialists, uniforms, startup ecosystems, and acquisitions.  

In the startup world, teams who work remotely are quite common. Even now, however, when setting up a new team, the same questions frequently arise: is it really possible to work together without physically being in the same location? How can you do so effectively with little face-to-face interaction? What are some of the common risks that should be taken …

The Danish electronic invoicing startup Sproom has been acquired by Visma. The acquisition is part of Visma’s strategy to become the Nordic leader in e-invoicing. Sproom is a digital trading platform that automates and optimizes difficult and tedious billing work – the work that bigger companies have full-time employees to perform and that small business often lack the resources to …

Startup Fest Europe takes place in the Netherlands from 24 – 28 May and aims to bring the world together and help startups grow faster. With more than 28 events will take place in 14 cities across 5 days, Netherlands will transform into the center of the global startup community. These are the hard facts. The real fun is to …

It is a relatively nascent segment within the broader fintech sector, but investments in insurance-tech have soared in the first quarter of 2016.  Is insurance-tech the next big thing? According to CB Insights, the first quarter of 2016 saw early stage investments break all previous records for the same period in previous years.  Over $55 million has been invested in …

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, …

Media Honeypot, a “reverse pitching” event for startups and the traditional media industry, was held in Helsinki on April 6, 2016. I sat down with organizers Heikki “Hegu” Rotko, a long time media executive professional and Dmitri Sarle & Jan Ameri from Arctic Startup. Heikki  was recently at SXSW with me as part of the Team Finland Nordic Lighthouse program, …