April, 2016

• 15 April

  Sproom aquired by Visma, but will maintain independence

  

  The Danish electronic invoicing startup Sproom has been acquired by Visma. The acquisition is part of Visma’s strategy to become the Nordic leader in e-invoicing. Sproom is a digital trading platform that automates and optimizes difficult and tedious billing work – the work that bigger companies have full-time employees to perform and that small business often lack the resources to …

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• 15 April

  5 Reasons to join Startup Fest Europe

  

  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 …

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• 15 April

  Insurance-tech had a record-breaking start in 2016

  

  It is a relatively nascent segment within the broader fintech sector, but investments in insurance-tech have soared in the first quarter of 2016.  Is insurance-tech the next big thing? According to CB Insights, the first quarter of 2016 saw early stage investments break all previous records for the same period in previous years.  Over $55 million has been invested in …

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• 14 April

  A founder looks back: Vibes at SXSW 2016

  

  I had the great pleasure of paying a week long visit to South By South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas in May 2016. My first thoughts on scene were that the interesting mixture of music, film and interactive events created a relaxed environment for people to present their companies and find common goals in their future business. By Kaius Meskanen, …

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• 14 April

  Media Honeypot organizers: “startups die before getting deals”

  

  Media Honeypot, a “reverse pitching” event for startups and the traditional media industry, was held in Helsinki on April 6, 2016. I sat down with organizers Heikki “Hegu” Rotko, a long time media executive professional and Dmitri Sarle & Jan Ameri from Arctic Startup. Heikki  was recently at SXSW with me as part of the Team Finland Nordic Lighthouse program, …

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• 14 April

  xEdu, Northern Europe’s first ed-tech accelerator underway

  

  Adjacent to the Helsinki University’s Department of Teacher Education, housed at the same University campus that once hosted Finland’s first particle accelerator, xEdu is firing up the first ed-tech accelerator for startups in Northern Europe. The education system in Finland has famously high rankings in world education polls.  While it might seem like Finland’s crown jewel should not be tampered …

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• 13 April

  5 Ways to unlock your open innovation ecosystem

  

  Many of the world’s most successful companies and organizations are building open innovation platforms and communities and repositioning their brands as part of a global innovation network. As part of Crowdsourcing Week, April 11-15th,  Roland Harwood, co-founder and managing director of 100%Open, shares his tips on how to build your own open innovation ecosystem. By Roland Harwood Building on some …

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• 13 April

  Start your engines: Startup Weekend Helsinki VII is coming

  

  This coming weekend, 15-17th April, the 7th Startup Weekend Helsinki comes to town. To “Launch a Startup in 54 hours” is the opportunity. Kicking-off on Friday evening, designers, developers, and innovators will pitch ideas to the crowd, form teams and build amazing startups over the course of the weekend. Results will be presented late on Sunday to an expectant crowd, …

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• 12 April

  Lemonsqueeze’s Mik Strøyberg: “Home markets don’t really exist anymore”

  

  Lemonsqueeze helps European startups scale into the US market from their offices in Brooklyn.  Now, the company will be expanding internationally themselves – back to founder Mik Strøyberg’s home country, Denmark, and much more.  For the first time, local startups will have access to Lemonsqueeze’s specialized knowledge in reaching outside of their home market. While the Nordics are one of …

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• 12 April

  Former AirBNB executive to bring Reshopper to the world

  

  Reshopper helps families to recycle items such as clothes through their platform, which joins local buyers and sellers.  Now, former AirBnB manager Aja Guldhammer Henderson has joined Reshopper to help them flourish abroad. For last four years, 31-year-old Aja Guldhammer Henderson has been a key figure behind the sharing economy-success of AirBNB in Scandinavia and the Netherlands.  She has now …

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