Nordic Startup News Early Stage Startup News From The Nordics

New report on Japanese Investments launched last week at Slush shows that when it comes to Japanese investments going in to the Nordic regions, Finland & Estonia is leading.  The report was made by Innovation Lab Asia, Nordic Ninja VC and Copenhagen Capacity. According to the report, since 2013, 22 of the 36 Japanese investments going into the Nordics has …

A new coalition of European startups, unicorns, think tanks, and trade associations has launched a manifesto for startups and innovation at Slush. This manifesto, arguing for a ‘digital future for Europe’ is a direct response to the European Commission’s plans to regulate European tech.  This comes as the new EU Commission has received final approval from Members of the European …

Whether or not a startup scales has a lot to do with their motivation. A new report -— published by Nesta as part of the Startup Europe Partnership -— shows that there is substantial variation in entrepreneurs’ motivations to grow and seek finance across Europe. How do Nordic startups fare compared to their European counterparts? By Charlotte Reypens The Nesta …

Finland’s Enfuce secures €10 million from Maki.vc to launch a sustainability service, MyCarbon Action, a service for banks and financial service providers to help customers track their carbon footprint per purchase. Finnish payment service provider Enfuce has today announced its new funding round of €10M, led by the early-stage VC firm Maki.vc and including venture debt from Nordea, LähiTapiola, and …

Álfur Brewery, an Icelandic nanobrewery, is on a mission to bring sustainability to Icelandic beer. The team recently completed the Til Sjávar og Sveita accelerator program organized by Icelandic Startups for companies creating innovative solutions in agriculture and fisheries. Co-founder Haukur Páll Finnsson came up with the idea after having a conversation with his family about food waste. During a …

The Creandum funds won the “Venture Capital Fund of the Year” award at the 17th Investor Allstars event last night distinguished with the honors due to the outstanding performance over the previous year driven by exits from Spotify, iZettle, Small Giant Games, and Elastic. According to industry experts, the Creandum II fund is the best European institutional venture fund to …

The Copenhagen Metro is getting an extension, a 15.5km line called the Cityringen Metro. The Cityringen Metro is set to open soon, upgrading Copenhagen’s already efficient metro system. The expected opening date is September 29, 2019.  The project of Cityringen Metro uses modern technology, setting it apart as an automated metro line. The driverless trains will run continuously, 24/7 with …

From more than 200 startups, only six were chosen to pitch at the finals of the Green Alley Awards, An award that aims to turn the linear economy into a circular economy. Even though there was only one winner, all six startups are worth keeping an eye on. Often it is the newcomers, the small, agile companies that challenge the …

Is your startup willing to be challenged by purchasers in the public administrations? If so, get in touch Innobrokers, an EU-funded project, aiming at facilitating the procurement of innovative goods and services by strengthening the links between public buyers on the demand side and innovative companies on the supply side. The project addresses startups and SMEs, organizations supporting innovation procurement …

Buoyed by the immense growth of ecommerce, the martech industry continues to go from strength to strength. In the Nordics, Sweden has already established a healthy set of martech companies. If you want to know what to expect from the future of martech in the Nordic countries, keep an eye on these 5 Nordic martech startups. Boost.ai Founded in Norway, …

At Startup Fair Lithuania last week, the city of Vilnius touted it’s position as a city-sized sandbox to develop and test new products.  A radical open data policy that rivals Estonia’s and a slew of startup friendly regulations make Vilnius a startup ecosystem to watch. Startup Fair Lithuania, an annual event bringing together the local startup ecosystem, takes a refreshingly …

There are 100s of accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces in Austin. Austin is also the growth capital of USA, with approximately 150 people moving to Austin every day, of which approximately 100 are moving from the California’s Bay Area. But is it a viable landing pad for Nordic startups? At SXSW 2019, Nordic Startup Bits talked to Capital Factory ‘s …

Today, there are more banking options available than ever before. VertaaEnsin is on a mission to consolidate all financial products in one platform. “Financial products constitute the largest part of our monthly expenses. What is interesting, is that consumers are very familiar with comparing flights and other easy-to-understand products and services. We like making informed decisions regarding our purchases. However, …

This month, the first VC in the Nordics focusing purely on startups with a background in deeptech and science launched.  Headed by serial entrepreneur Inka Mero, Voima Ventures targeting a final closing of €50 million and has already announced commitments at €40 million. The fund’s press release states that their mission is to build a strong bridge between the scientific …

PINC is Paulig Group’s corporate venture capital unit. We sat down with the head of PINC, Marika King, for a Q&A to learn more about their investment thesis and how they’re shaping the future of taste. What is PINC? PINC stands for Paulig Incubator and is the innovation and venture arm for radical innovation within the Paulig Group. We were …

Accel raises a $575 million fund to back ambitious founders in Europe and Israel. The Nordics are a key market for this new fund.The Nordics will be a key market for investment Last week, Accel, a global VC firm, announced that it has raised a $575 million fund, its sixth to be invested in early stage companies across Europe and …

Serial entrepreneur Inka Mero launches Voima Ventures, the first VC fund in the Nordics with a focus purely on startups with deep tech and science background The first VC in the Nordics focusing purely on startups with deep tech and science background was launched officially today. Voima Ventures’ cornerstone investors are VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and European Investment …

NordicNinja VC by JB Nordic Ventures has officially launched its new €100M VC fund in partnership with Panasonic, Honda, Omron, and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The fund will help Nordic and Baltic scale-up companies enter the technology business ecosystem in Japan and across Asia. “Today, the Nordic startup ecosystem and Japanese blue-chip companies represent something of a …

The Media Honeypot series of events started in Helsinki in 2016. Now, three years, and several events later, it the go-to event for media startups.  Heikki Rotko, the founder of Media Honeypot, says that Media Honeypot was born out of a desire to connect startups with their business partners to create the media we as customers deserve. The aim of …

Slush, one of Europe’s largest startup events, has been expanding globally for the past few years and last year held the first ever Slush Tokyo.  At Slush Tokyo 2019, a pre-event called the “Global Gathering” was held to better promote connections between global tech ecosystems. Ms. Haruka Furukawa(CEO, Slush Tokyo), Ms. Kristina Nummila ( Slush Helsinki) and Ms. Rinchy Teng …