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Norwegian VC insights: How to win in venture when the rules-and geography- of the game is chaning?

In this blog post, Katapult Group CEO, Fredrik Winther assesses the fast-changing landscape of venture, and why venture investors need to re-think strategy. By Frederik Winther The venture capital industry broke all records in 2021, and it led to systemic changes as to how it operates. Not long ago start-ups fought for the investors, these days investors are fighting to …

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Swedish Truecaller to IPO (aka what is in an exit)

An image of Truecaller's founders in front of green plants

This week, tech platform Intuit announced they are acquiring marketing firm Mailchimp for $12bn. Altanta-based Mailchimp has grown to its 2.4 million monthly active users without raising a single dollar of external funding, making the exit a lucrative one for the owners. The owners of Mailchimp are its two founders.  Also this week, Stockholm-based caller-identification service Truecaller confirmed its intention …

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Nordic startups building radical transparency into tech

Getting through the Nordic winter is trying at the best of times. The previous months have provided few hours of sunshine but an infinite amount of “recommendations” (it is to date not legal for the Swedish government to e.g. enforce a lockdown) formulated in almost as many ways as there are media outlets. The Nordics are the societies in the …

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Audio first: Nordic social interactions in the year of the pandemic

Statistics show we have collectively stigmatized randomly phoning someone up and as a result, over the past decade, the number of texts sent monthly have increased with 7,700% and US smartphones users allegedly receive and respond to 5x more texts than phone calls. We have built handheld walls against direct interactions at the same time as social platforms have moved …

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Guest post: Remote development teams in the Nordics

Countries all over the globe incline to hiring developers for startups as their business model as it is a modern, proactive, and effective solution in the business world. With remote employees that work for your project from around the world, you get maximum efficiency and cut costs considerably. But can this scenario be applied to startups in the Nordic countries? …

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Recap: The Nordics at Shenzhen Hi-Tech Fair

In late 2019, 40 companies from across the Nordics traveled to Shenzhen, China, to join the Shenzhen Hi-Tech Fair. This a 500,000+ attendee event, one of the largest in the world, is a hotbed of the latest technology. The Nordic China Startup Forum (NCSF), a community-run initiative supporting Sino-Nordic collaboration in the startup ecosystem, joined forces with local communities and …

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Belgian startup Husky on what they learned from the Nordic startup culture

Husky is a Belgian startup, designed to bundle marketers’ needs in one digital tool. It is made by marketers, for marketers. A digital platform like Husky allows you to plan and organize quickly. Managing tasks, projects and communication gets easier. In a recent talk, CEO Peter Desmyttere explains what he learned from the Nordic startup culture. By Robbe Desmyttere “To …

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Get Sandwich is Nominated for Best Newcomer by Nordic Startup Awards

Get Sandwich

Make the World Listen to You Get Sandwich is a startup that wants to help people who are struggling with public speaking by providing them with a library of authentic practice videos. The startup was founded in 2017 by Min’an Tan and Martha Winata, who were also struggling with their public speeches. They believe that improving people’s public speaking skills …

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Sensative is Nominated for Best Bootstrapped Startup Award by Nordic Startup Awards

Sensative

Making Your Home Smart Has Never Been Easier Swedish startup Sensative has created the world’s thinnest door and window sensor. The Strips sensor is a very flexible and accurate Z-Wave sensor that notifies users when something is wrong thanks to its connection to other smart devices in the home. The startup also offers other IoT products and services. Fredrik Westman …

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Kontigo Care is Nominated for Best Social Impact Startup/Best HealthTech Startup by Nordic Startup Awards

Kontigo Care

The Future of Addiction Treatment Is Digital Kontigo Care follows the personal journey of its founder, Daniel Benitez, who during his alcohol addiction treatment struggled with alcohol relapses even though he received good treatment. He has not been the only case though. Finding out that traditionally 8 out of 10 patients will relapse into addiction, he decided to work on …

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Travable is Nominated for Best Bootstrapped Startup/Best Social Impact Startup by Nordic Startup Awards

Travable

People with Disabilities Are Missing out Places and Events Because of Lack of Info Disabled people who travel might find themselves in an uncharted area full of obstacles and miss places worth visiting just because these locations lack information about accessibility. Now, Travable, a mobile application from an Icelandic startup with the same name is looking to change that. Designed …

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TRINE is Nominated for Best Social Impact Startup and Startup of the Year by Nordic Startup Awards

Trine

TRINE, the Crowdfunding Platform That Has Helped Nearly 230 Thousand People Get Access to Clean Energy Crowdfunding today is another global trend that is growing continuously. Since its emergence in the late 2000s, it has become popularized due to the individual’s decision-making process as one of the main features, and its viral nature, as it is based on the web. …

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Heartstrings is Nominated for Best AI/Machine Learning Startup/Best HealthTech Startup by Nordic Startup Awards

Heartstrings

Technology in a Mission for Preventing Heart Diseases “Our vision is saving at least 1 million lives each year,” say the creators of Heartstrings, Allen and Max Mohammadi, and with a vision this concrete and ambitious, is a company not set for success? Their idea, which was born after seeing a senior individual at a family party having an instant …

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Bookboost is Nominated for Best Newcomer by Nordic Startup Awards

Bookboost

How Can Hotels Improve Their Guest Journey with Bookboost? Businesses today are facing new challenges posed mainly by the changing customer behaviour. New trends are being set by the millennials, dubbed the “experience generation”, whose expectations are primarily based on experiences rather than the sense of ownership. This generation has, as such, affected the creation of new business models where …

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Zadaa is Nominated for Best Social Impact Startup by Nordic Startup Awards

Zadaa

Zadaa fights fast and unsustainable fashion with an app Fast fashion has become yet another challenge in dealing with sustainability or the lack there of, which is why we’ve been seeing a palate of initiatives that try to tackle this issue. These initiatives, transform in tech-based solutions very often, and a perfect example is the Finnish startup Zadaa which has …

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Teatime Games is Nominated for Startup of the Year/Best Newcomer by Nordic Startup Awards

Teatime Games

Mobile Games Going More Social Is the New Gaming Trend By believing that mobile game players will find a more social and personalized experience while playing very satisfactory, the Icelandic startup Teatime Games is aiming to revolutionize the mobile gaming landscape. The four founders, Thor Fridriksson, Gunnar Holmsteinn, Johann Thorvaldur Bergthorsson, and Ymir Finnbogason call themselves industry veterans and are …

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50skills is Nominated for 2018 Nordic Startup Awards

50skills

Automating the Hiring Process with 50skills Hiring new people and expanding the team is certainly a mark of progress, but it nevertheless adds to the company costs. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates the costs related to new hiring at $4,129, while also pointing out that the average time for filling in a position is 42 days. The …

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EnlightAID is Nominated for Best Social Impact Startup by Nordic Startup Awards

EnlightAID

A Virtual Fight Against Corruption It’s estimated that 30% of money globally allocated is diverted through acts of corruption annually. Oslo-based social business EnlightAID has the goal to prevent fund misuse with its platform that reads, records, and reports on transactions that happen during fundraising and social and environmental projects. Founders Veronica Celis and Klaus Hatle met in Canada in …

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SportaPost is Nominated for the Best Bootstrapped Startup by Nordic Startup Awards

Kojo app

The Sports Fans Are Now in Front of Their Mobile Phones Believing that the biggest sports audience is not at the stadium, but at home with their mobile phones, Mikael Kojo, an experienced graphic designer from Finland, founded a company and launched an application for sport-themed graphics, posted on social media by the clubs and athletes. Because social media presence …

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