Communities

Polar Bear (Jason Brower) and MC Simo Kekäläinen put up an interval show. Startup companies competed this year in the Polar Bear Pitching event held in Oulu, Finland, in an exceptional location and under extraordinary circumstances. By the Oulujoki river, the weather was mild with temperatures above freezing and drizzling rain.The finals of the event featured ten companies, including five …

In the era of AI, Hunome talks mostly about HI   So, at Arctic15 we met many AI companies, and then we met Hunome, more into Human Intelligence, HI, and especially for Collective Sensemaking.  With that, and a bit wider purpose statement of “helping humanity make sense of itself”, I had a pleasure to talk to Dominique  & Mika  from …

One of the many awesome meetings and encounters at Slush this year was with the Singapore delegation, and especially Rafael and Amelia from Singapore Management University, talking about their Global Business Plan Competition (link to the LKYGBPC website) We at Nordic Startup News agreed to help sourcing information of at least one Nordic company per country – so let us know …

The world’s leading startup conference Slush has decided to revoke the prize funding valued of 1M€ for Immigram, the Slush100 pitching competition winner after its alleged connections to Russia and Russian experts who want to exit their homeland. The company has also a presence in Russia. Immigram and its founders Anastasia Miroljubova and Mikhail Sharonov have created a platform, which …

The world’s largest start-up festival, Slush will take place in Helsinki on November 16-17, but Slush isn’t just the official single event. Slush Week, running from Nov 14-18, is loaded with a good variety of Side Events. Plus, and even no Slush Pass will be needed to access many of these events. Side Events are the perfect way to get …

Few years ago the tagline (and the hashtag) for #Arctic15 was #FindTheOne. Nowadays it has evolved to #ActionMatters, and at this years LIVE comeback, it was really in the center of the activities. Arctic15 happened in the beginning of June in Helsinki, Finland, where the sun was shining, and a decent groups of over 1000 likeminded souls gathered again at …

The revenue of the member companies of the Finnish Startup Community, founded a year ago, has grown by 62 per cent from last year. The combined revenue of the companies was EUR 3.5 billion in 2021. The growth is expected to remain strong in 2022. “The majority of the revenue of our member companies comes from exports, so the importance …

A new survey from Digital Hub Denmark shows that the need for digital talent among Danish companies has significantly increased since the spring of 2020. As of Q2 2021, the Danish demand for digital talent is 22 per cent higher than before the pandemic.  While many companies continued to thrive during Covid-19,  they have struggled to find the talent they …

The Copenhagen-based Nordic accelerator Urbantech Program, hosted by BloxHub, has announced the 10 most promising and innovative sustainable technology startups for their 2021 batch. This announcement comes after a global search for urbantech startups. According to the UN, up to 70 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in cities by 2050. This creates major challenges and calls …

Summer of 2021 is closing in, and as the world is seeing a surge in optimism with the influx of vaccines, Kiuas, the #1 startup accelerator in Finland, brings exciting news about expansion. Kiuas today revolves around the startup accelerator programs, and with the changing world, it makes to evolve the flagship program, Kiuas Accelerator, to the next level as …

You’ve heard of hygge. If you’re a Scandinavia enthusiast, you may even have heard of friluftsliv. But are you ready for the lifestyle trend that’s so quintessentially Northern that the people who invented it don’t even have a catchy term for it, much like fish presumably don’t have a word for water? It’s the Estonian phenomenon of “just sort of getting on …

Sigma Software has become an official partner of SSE Business Lab, startup incubator of the Stockholm School of Economics, which provides a platform for growth to exceptional entrepreneurs. The Stockholm School of Economics is a world-known business school with a rich history and is internationally recognized in The Financial Times Business Education Rankings. Their incubator, SSE Business Lab, is open …

TEDxCopenhagen is a local gathering where live TED-like talks and performances are shared with the community. TEDx´s are normally held physically as an event, and the Corona virus has therefore challanged this format. TEDxCopenhagen license holder, René Munk, speaks about how Corona has changed the TEDxCopenhagen format, maybe forever. TEDx has always been about the great ideas, making them visible …

The accelerator program Accelerate Estonia and Garage48 organized an online hackathon to develop solutions to help Estonia emerge from the coronavirus crisis and create competitive advantages for the post-crisis period. By Elis Tootsman The initiative, which has become the largest online hackathon in Estonia, was opened by President Kersti Kaljulaid and Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology Kaimar Karu. …

At Startup Fair Lithuania last week, the city of Vilnius touted it’s position as a city-sized sandbox to develop and test new products.  A radical open data policy that rivals Estonia’s and a slew of startup friendly regulations make Vilnius a startup ecosystem to watch. Startup Fair Lithuania, an annual event bringing together the local startup ecosystem, takes a refreshingly …

The Danish startup Sp8ces has been accepted as one of twelve startups for the Norwegian accelerator program Katapult, following an intensive 2 months long application process, where the accelerator screened more than 1500 startup applicants. Katapult is an impact focused accelerator, and are taking in startups that are working on a solution or product, which is in line with the …

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 …

Flexibility Is the Future of Work Many people today have turned to flexibility and want to work from other places except their offices and homes. They need places that will be both affordable and inspiring, located in urban areas with nice surroundings. That’s why Danish startup Sp8ces wants to transform some of Copenhagen’s most beautiful places into co-working spaces and …

Startups from across the world are now invited to apply for round three of Katapult Accelerator in Oslo, Norway. To be selected, the startups must be early-stage and use exponential technology like blockchain or AI to solve a social or environmental challenge. “The Katapult Accelerator is the world’s first global for-profit accelerator focusing solely on impact and exponential technology. 200 …

Evon Söderlund, originally from Malaysia, and her husband Jussi Söderlund founded Huone, the world’s first event hotel, in Finland a couple years ago. Since then they’ve hosted more than 4,000 events for smaller and larger groups in uniquely designed rooms, and won several awards. Now the company is expanding. Evon and her team just opened their hotel in Singapore on …