Finland

Scandinavia’s biggest awards show for startups, the Nordic Startup Awards, has published their shortlist for the best startups of the year out of 740 nominees. In May, the Nordic startup ecosystem gathers to pay tribute to the biggest stars in the scene.  Promising businesses, entrepreneurs, and community builders are honored with awards such as Startup of the Year, Best Newcomer, …

The South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) is more like a festival than a traditional expo. It figures, as it has its roots as a film and music festival. SXSW consists of three main parts: Interactive, Music and Film.  My company, Vincit Oy, came for the Interactive part, as part of one of the Finnish companies coming along with the Nordic …

Contakti are going into battle with unanswered communications.  The Finnish startup has created a platformed aimed at handling all customer contacts – phone calls – live chats, texts, and emails – to make sure they don’t get lost in the digital paper pile. Today we have more ways than ever to communicate with each other, so it seems antithetical that …

Polar  Bear Pitching 2016 is a global investment event where over the course of 2 days startups from different countries introduce their projects to the whole world – from a freezing ice hole in Oulu, Finland.  We interviewed Anna Svirelkina from To Round about her experience. The event, which is held yearly, allows competing startups to communicate with investors and …

Did you know sending out a paper invoice costs nearly six times more than electronic one? Zervant aims to make e-invoicing easier for small businesses.  E-invoicing or electronic invoicing means sending, receiving and processing invoices in an automated system. It is a cost-efficient and practical tool for maintaining accounts, but for smaller companies e-invoicing has not always been the first …

The annual South by Southwest festival (aka SXSW) kicked off on Friday, and for the 7th year in a row, Finns are going over to Austin, Texas to show what they’re made of. The rest of the Nordics will also be represented at the Nordic Lighthouse. SXSW veteran Peter Green together with Pekka Pärnänen and Team Finland’s Hartti Suomela are …

Yes, this title is intentionally a bit “provocative”—especially for my friends in Norway, Sweden and Denmark—as there have been a number of interesting edtech developments in each of these countries, especially in the last year or two. But at least based on my own experience, and what I know right now, I still think that Finland might rightfully claim to …

It has been calculated that, as a result of population growth, the Earth will require 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water by the year 2030. The environment can no longer tolerate production processes that place a burden on it, which is why solutions to future challenges are being sought in the bioeconomy. Finland has turned towards …

For many companies, managing investor relations means unilateral communications, which may turn into a strategic pitfall. On the other hand, small-scale investors often find it difficult to locate easily understandable investment information on companies. Investoreye offers a tool that solves both of these problems. Different-sized companies are faced with different challenges when it comes to investor communications. Not nearly all …

The Redefining School program, which covered the challenges of education, was featured at Slush 2015. Among the speakers was Saku Tuominen, CEO and Co-Founder of Scool. Scool aims to find the best practices in education and share all the insights and know-how with the world, for free. As Tuominen said in his speech at Slush, the challenges of future education …

EduLAB is part of a rapidly expanding pre-incubator program at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences in Finland called Oamk LABs. EduLAB specifically targets the global education technology industry. By Blair Stevenson Like the other Oamk LABs, EduLAB is taught in English and is a full-time, 5 month educational program for university level students and professionals in re-training with backgrounds …

Mikael da Costa has tasked himself and his company Finternet Group with something that not a great deal of companies nowadays would even consider.  They are offering legacy media companies the chance to hop onboard the digital express out of Nowheresville before they are left in the dust and stood about wondering what the hell happened. “I often ask people, …

Helsinki is the most prolific source of successful mobile apps after Silicon Valley. This was revealed by the British think tank Caribou Digital’s and Mozilla’s report on the global business surrounding mobile phone apps. The Winners and Losers in the Global App Economy 2016 report’s researchers assessed which cities create successful mobile apps, reports the Finnish business magazine Talouselämä. The …

Three weeks have passed since the Girls in Tech Skills Bootcamp in Helsinki — it’s time to look back and reflect on what unfolded at the very first event of this kind in the Nordics. When I helped launch the Helsinki chapter of Girls in Tech in spring 2015, we wanted to create a community that would inspire, educate and equip more …

Helsinki-based Trip Republic have been nominated for the Travel Technology Disrupt Award, the at the Travel Technology Europe conference in London on February 24-25th.  They are the sole Nordic company nominated this year. Trip Republic has developed a seamless travel planning and booking solution and is currently in beta mode, with plans to launch a full website and iOS application next …

Born out of frustration with unreliable, insecure video calling services, Finnish startup Zyptonite believes it has found a better way, by harnessing the power of p2p technology. Keeping touch with family and friends abroad has never been easier. Unfortunately it also often goes hand-in-hand with pixelated video image and muffled sound. These are exactly the issues new technology startup Zyptonite …

Firms often hire strategy consultants to move their organizations forward.  But what happens when strategy consultants leave?  The outlooks isn’t good. According to a 2009 study by McKinsey, roughly 70% of organizations fall short of their goals while implementing key strategic initiatives. Many B2B startups tackle management tools, including Podio and Zendesk.  But few address the specific problem of change …

The Finnish health startup Nordic Hug has developed a berry-based spray to kill bacteria and is safe to use on delicate mobile screens With flu season hitting in full force, everyone is trying to find ways to stay healthy and sane. Short of sealing yourself off in a bubble, there are some easy steps to reduce your risk of getting …

If you’re following the Nordic startup ecosystem, then you’ll have heard of Startup Sauna, one of the regions top accelerators for promising early startups. But if you want to be one of the lucky chosen startups, here are 6 things you definitely need to avoid. Accelerators and incubators are often key players in helping startups prepare for their next steps …

John loves his Friday nights out with his friends. Last Friday, he went out to with his friends to the pub,  had a good time, and picked up the tab for the table at the end of the night with the plan to “settle” the bill later. But we all know what happens next. When “later” arrives, John feels awkward …