International

It takes a while to process the multiplicity of the two-day tech conference Next, which happened in the middle of the four-day Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. The conversation flowed between consumer trends and music hype, pop-culture, and up-and-coming innovations. At NEXT15, business, lifestyle and technology mingle together and can no longer be separated. This years theme, “How will we live?”, …

PHI Blades is a Hamburg-based startup working to improve wind turbines by redesigning the rotor blades. Rotor blades can be expensive, and don’t necessarily last a long time as they are constantly exposed to the elements. PHI Blades solution is remarkably simple:  they have developed a rotor blade made entirely of wood. The founders recently participated in speed-dating with investors …

On October 13th Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of the cloud service giant, announced that it has earmarked $100 million to invest specifically in European startups. Salesforce Ventures has pumped half a billion dollars into over 150 cloud and enterprise startups since 2009.  Though most of those investments focuse on the US, Salesforce Ventures is now getting more serious in …

Today the London-based Octopus Ventures launches a new $140 million fund to provide growth capital to “ successful fast-growing later-stage companies across Europe”, reports Tech Crunch. Last year, Octopus Ventures revealed it had a $91.3 million early stage funds. Today, they launched a new fund focusing on later-stage startups across Europe. Furthermore, the Octopus Zenith Opportunities II LP (also known …

Last summer the Danish startup Templafy received 20 million in venture capital to strengthen product integration within their enterprise segment and attract the best talent in the industry. Now, they have opened their North American headquarters in New York, and solve a niche problem in a global market. Templafy is behind a cloud based service which ensures that organizations can …

Inspired by SXSW, Reeperbahn Festival is Germany’s largest club festival and since its debut in 2006 it has grown to become one of the most important meeting places for the music industry worldwide. In 2009, the organizers introduced a business and startup space at the conference and has partnered with Hamburg Startups to highlight the local and international startup scene …

Business competitions are a tricky concept. They are based around the idea of a group of humans evaluating (read: judging) teams and their ideas, and trying to overcome any biases they have in the process. Judges are basically asked to evaluate unquantifiable things with their very human and biased brains. They then make a judgement based on what they know …

Establish a solid, sustainable business in the United States in just 30 days! This is the challenge the Danish startup Planday have given themselves –  look over their shoulders and experience their 30-day voyage ‘over there’.   Each year, many Danish companies try to put down roots in the US market, but only a few succeed in this mission. What is …

From Guatemala to Holland to Singapore: this year’s winners of the “Oscars” for designers come from all over the world to receive the prize in Helsingor. The Index Award: Design to Improve Life is widely recognized as the most important and prestigious design award in the world.  For the past ten years, an international jury has awarded the prize for the …

What it was doing on traffic information, Google has now gone on to provide similar data w to provide information on the busiest times for a local business near you.  According to Google, the idea is to provide consumers with information that would help them avoid long queues and plan out the best time to go grocery shopping, pick up …

I’m standing in the foyer of the Innovation House in Gloucester, MA. In the kitchen to my left people are cleaning up after lunch and starting preparations for an afternoon garden party hosted by Vivaldi later that day. Located in a beautiful 18th century mansion north of Boston, the Innovation House is locally known as the White House of Magnolia. Hosting visitors …

Last week, leading games VC London Venture Partners (“LVP”) and Klang Games signed an investment agreement  to back the gaming company’s future projects, including the upcoming mobile and tablet game, ReRunners. LVP will not only be financially investing in the game developer but also offering valuable knowledge of publishing within the gaming industry. Oddur Magnússon, Developer and Co-Founder of Berlin-based Klang Games, commented: “We …

Garage Technology Ventures, Norway’s StartupLab, and Silicon Valley-based MAD-Partners announced earlier this month the launch of Silicon Valley Catalyst, a new joint venture to fund and grow brilliant emerging European technology companies that are ready to launch in the U.S. The collaboration brings together a team of experienced Silicon Valley and Nordic venture players to provide investment capital and intensive …

Nordic angel investor Hampus Jakobsson presents some clear go-to advice for how to strategize your business process. The advice was originally posted as an answer to the question: “This is my first startup company and I read conflicting ways of strategizing the business process online. Can someone help provide clarity in what I should be doing?” Find the original here. I think you should …

A Nordic partnership of key players in the Nordic crowdfunding scene is committed to developing an ever more crowdfunding-friendly Nordic region. The cross Nordic alliance was officially established in March 2014 by the founding members from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland with the University of Agder’s Center for Entrepreneurship in Norway as the project coordinator. Has raised almost €5 million …

Over the past couple of years, there has been a boom in the number of Nordic startups looking to set up camp in the US. This boom has led Nordic Innovation to establish the Nordic Innovation House in startup mecca, Silicon Valley. 93 companies in eight months Nordic Innovation House is funded by an alliance of Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic and …

The Nordic One project strives to create an ecosystem for young and experienced entrepreneurs alike with a focus on international growth from day one. Starting a company is a daunting task, no matter which market one starts out in. But being from a city in the Nordic region that would be considered a town in the US – perhaps a …

On June 4 the Danish startup Aporta Digital will compete at this year’s Tech World Championship. You now have the opportunity to vote them to the top. On June 4 World Cup Tech Challenge 2015 is launched at Microsoft in Silicon Valley, San Francisco. 200 startups from 53 different countries have been cut down to a final group consisting of …

Do you have what it takes to boost the business of five major organisations? Then attend Reverse Pitching 3.0 in Helsinki, Finland at the 17th of April and show off your talent. Special focus: Media The focus of this edition of Reverse Pitching is Media and Aller, Alma Media, DNA and YLE as well as the energy company Helen are …

With a still growing pool of awards awaiting the most innovative ideas, STARTER has decided to postpone the application deadline for their Startup Contest. The new deadline is May 4.  The infoShare Startup Contest in Poland gives you a chance to win 10,000 euro in cash plus an opportunity to tap into the pool of further 850,000 euro accumulated by investors. At the …