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Peak, the successful UK-based brain training app, backed in part by Creandum, has launched in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden with localised versions to the native languages of each country. Peak is the app that trains your cognitive function with challenging and fun games, exercising skills such as memory, focus, attention, problem solving, and mental agility. They also offer non-traditional games …

With new national strategies focused on increasing digitalization and technical competencies, the Nordic countries are facing an urgent need to innovate within education.  A strong ed-tech cluster can help address this. The public sector has traditionally been lacking in it’s abilities to focus on innovation, which is why often, industry organizations and NGO’s  help pick up the slack.  When all …

The story of Tradeshift has become somewhat legendary in Nordic entrepreneurial circles. The company was “founded on Twitter”, after one of Tradeshift’s founders Christian Lanng responded to a tweet by serial entrepreneur Morten Lund asking about interesting work being done to make government more efficient. Lang tweeted back about some of the projects he was doing with his colleagues Mikkel …

Gamification is a term that’s been sweeping through Europe and Scandinavia like wild fire, inspiring business, educational institutions and individuals alike to achieve more by making everyday tasks more rewarding… but, what exactly is gamification, how does it work, where is it used and why is it suddenly becoming so popular? WHAT: Simply stated, gamification is the application of game-like …

Stockholm-based Identitrade, founded by Phillip Hallenborg in 2014, is on a mission: to unlock the web for trusted consumers. B2C companies need to create best in class user journeys for online domains and devices. Increasingly, they need to do so in the context of commercial partnerships. Today consumers cannot flow freely between domains – they are subject to signups, logins …

The growing variety of threats to IT security represents an expansive future for the Finnish company Nixu, who are making cyber security services to keep the digital society running. Overlooking the sea in the Espoo suburb of Keilaniemi, it seems somehow fitting that a world globe is situated inside the meeting room at Nixu’s office. “Our strategy is to be …

When you surf the internet, different companies gather your data in the form of so-called cookies, which are used to, for example, tailor advertising.  Now, the Danish ISP Waoo has developed a new plugin that allows you to donate your data to charity. On the internet, your data is used daily by companies, who are interested to find out how …

Fintech is increasingly changing the way business is done globally. For the first time in history, both start-ups and established businesses have easy access to alternative sources of finance. Check out the below infographic on 10 statistics about fintech that will blow your mind. Fintech, or the provision of financial services through technological devices, has made it easier for borrowers …

The InnoFrugal Conference acts as a forum for best practices, policy analysis, sharing the latest thinking and highlighting success in frugal innovation. The second annual InnoFrugal event was held last week at Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre in Vantaa, a few minutes north of Helsinki. Co-organised by the non-profit Nordic Frugal Innovation Society and the Ministry For Foreign affairs Finland, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.  

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 …

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, …

Adjacent to the Helsinki University’s Department of Teacher Education, housed at the same University campus that once hosted Finland’s first particle accelerator, xEdu is firing up the first ed-tech accelerator for startups in Northern Europe. The education system in Finland has famously high rankings in world education polls.  While it might seem like Finland’s crown jewel should not be tampered …