Entrepreneurs

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 …

Nordic Startup Bits sat down for an interesting talk about the foodtech startup scene at SLUSH in December with Accelerace’s Investment Manager, Business Accelerator and Head of Venture Scouting Martin Holmboe. Accelerace is the Nordics’ leading startup accelerator and pioneering in the corporate – startup matchmaking space. Martin has many years of experience as a food entrepreneur and we were …

The founder of the startup Colive wants to use premium Cypriot olive oil to spark global conversations about peace. He connects family farms on both sides of the UN Buffer Zone to create the first product in what he hopes will be an entire line of culturally significant ingredients and foods to encourage cooperation. That idea secured him the Startups4Peace …

This year at Slush – one of Europe’s largest tech summits, Nordic Startup Bits wanted to take a closer look at some interesting FoodTech startups. We met one of the most exciting entrepreneurs in this scene, Martti Paatela, a former rocket scientist and now CEO and co-founder of the Finish FoodTech startup Epic Foods. According to a report launched in …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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 …

Insubalance, the Food Supplement That Can Prevent Diabetes With the number of diabetes patients on the rise, the Norwegian startup Lion Healthcare has focused on shifting from the traditional healthcare that includes treatment once the disease is diagnosed and instead is positioning a solution that would prevent the pre and early-stage type 2 diabetes. The experienced team led by Zy …

It’s Time to Take Mental Illnesses Seriously Mental health has become a huge social burden and a problem that grows on a daily basis. According to Monsenso founders, it is a major reason for lower life quality. This problem is expected to become the largest burden in the early 2020s. That’s why Monsenso has developed an innovative mHealth solution with …

Sharing the Noble Goals of the UN for Clean Water In a world where water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the global population, a  Norwegian startup embarked on a mission with a noble cause – provide cheap water by making proven method for water purification far more efficient. Founded by three young Norwegian and Indian entrepreneurs Aquasolis Global …

As Norway tops quality of life and gender equality indexes consistently, it is no surprise that more and more women are looking to leave Silicon Valley – and the bro-culture that dominates the valley- behind for beautiful fjords and generous paternal leave.  We interview 4 women who took the plunge and embraced the Nordic lifestyle. “I have been here three …

Last year, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, launched the first Young Transatlantic Innovative Leaders Initiative, an international exchange program focused on the themes of entrepreneurship skills and enhanced Euro-Atlantic integration. They selected 45 young professionals from 41 European countries, including some of the Nordics and Baltics. During the program, the fellows spent time in …

Triin Kask, co-founder and CMO/CFO of Estonian based Greenhouse CI, profiled earlier on Nordic Startup Bits, took the stage at infoShare 2016 to share her experience in handling organizational crisis in different growth stages and how founders must stay humble in the face of exponential growth, which creates crisis and turbulence for a company.  Triin’s talk was based on Larry …

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 …

Agriculture and fire prevention are not what you expect to talk about when you discuss IoT trends, but perhaps you should.  Haytech, a new startup from Finland, aims to help farmers prevent fires. Often, when we talk about the Internet of Things (IoT), we imagine trendy consumer products – wearables such as Fitbits, for example, which people find exciting but …

Earlier this month, a #nordicmade delegation of 30 Nordic startups attended the LAUNCH Festival in San Francisco.  The tour, organized by STARTNordic, was part of an initiative that promotes the Nordic startup scene by connecting it to other startup ecosystems around the globe.  Juraj Pal of Sure gives a recap of the festival. Juraj Pal is a founder of Sure, …