Iceland

Since launching its report on who funds whom in the Nordics, together with partners like Startup Sweden and NVCA, the team at Unconventional Ventures have been busy. They recently launched the UV Syndicate, giving everyone the opportunity to co-invest in, by UV vetted, startups at pre-seed and seed stages. Today they announce the first digital accelerator targeting underrepresented founders based …

Álfur Brewery, an Icelandic nanobrewery, is on a mission to bring sustainability to Icelandic beer. The team recently completed the Til Sjávar og Sveita accelerator program organized by Icelandic Startups for companies creating innovative solutions in agriculture and fisheries. Co-founder Haukur Páll Finnsson came up with the idea after having a conversation with his family about food waste. During a …

People with Disabilities Are Missing out Places and Events Because of Lack of Info Disabled people who travel might find themselves in an uncharted area full of obstacles and miss places worth visiting just because these locations lack information about accessibility. Now, Travable, a mobile application from an Icelandic startup with the same name is looking to change that. Designed …

Mobile Games Going More Social Is the New Gaming Trend By believing that mobile game players will find a more social and personalized experience while playing very satisfactory, the Icelandic startup Teatime Games is aiming to revolutionize the mobile gaming landscape. The four founders, Thor Fridriksson, Gunnar Holmsteinn, Johann Thorvaldur Bergthorsson, and Ymir Finnbogason call themselves industry veterans and are …

Automating the Hiring Process with 50skills Hiring new people and expanding the team is certainly a mark of progress, but it nevertheless adds to the company costs. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates the costs related to new hiring at $4,129, while also pointing out that the average time for filling in a position is 42 days. The …

Kara Connects Clients with Therapists in a Virtual Office Kara Connect is a startup that was founded in 2015 in Reykjavik by Thorbjorg Vigfusdottir, a former city councilor with a Master’s degree in Education. Building a dedicated team of programmers and healthcare professionals, she has focused on addressing a major challenge pressing the healthcare industry, as well as the education. …

AWE is a Danish startup working on specializing in location based 3D audio augmented solutions.  Recently AWE participated in SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin, Texas. It was our first time at the huge festival and conference for interactive media, music and film.  Below, we share a few tips about how to find a platform for your business and best …

It is that time of the year again, we are starting the preparation for Startup Iceland 2017. The theme for this year is Personal Data, Health, Wellness and Technology. I want to bring emphasis to the health, wellness and fitness of the founders, my tribe. I have written about why I believe this is important for founders. I also feel …

Last week, Helga Valfells, CEO of NSA Ventures in Iceland, along with two of the funds’ investment managers, Jenny Ruth Hrafnsdottir and Hekla Arnadottir, announced that they have left NSA Ventures to start their own VC fund, Crowberry Capital. According to the team at Crowberry Capital, NSA has been reviewing its’ investment strategy since 2012 and will now become a …

Reykjavik-based Aldin Dynamics was born in early 2013, just in time to join the Icelandic Institute for Intelligent Machines startup accelerator program.  Since then, they have been working deep in virtual reality (VR). “We build our content from the ground up for VR, and it’s meant to be experienced that way.  There are just so many different, unique mechanics that …

Impact Iceland 2016 is crowdfunding Iceland’s first conference on social entrepreneurship on Karolina Fund.  It will be the first in a series of conferences in Iceland focusing on social innovation as a profitable, sustainable, and impactful response to today’s challenges. Tanja Wohlrab-Ryan writes at Startup Iceland about making Iceland not only a vibrant startup community, but a hub of social …

The Nordic Startup Awards grand finale took place in the Harpa Center in Reykjavik, Iceland, and hosted collaboration with Icelandic Startups.  Attendees from all over the Nordics gathered to celebrate the best startups, accelerators, and investors of the year. Kim Balle, founder of the Nordic Startup Awards, spoke about why the awards are so important for the startup ecosystem. “We …

While the need for a better approach to diabetes management has been well established, healthcare solutions catering to such an approach has always been lacking. It is perhaps for this reason that Medilync not only won the best “IoT startup” award, but also the “People’s  Choice” award in Nordic Startup Awards Icelandic final this year. Sigurjón Lydsson, CEO and Co-founder …

The semi-finals of the Nordic Startup Awards are now finished. This series of events promotes and celebrates startups in the Nordic region.  Country winners are chosen for each country, and the finalists move upwards to a grand ceremony held in Iceland at the end of May. Winners in Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark have been announced in regional ceremonies …

The world-renowned startup and technology event Slush is set to occur for it’s ninth run in Helsinki, Finland on November 30 and December, 2016.  Register now to join the biggest startup conference in the Nordics and one of the most exciting startup events worldwide. “Our focus is on creating an event that brings the highest value to the startups. We …

Edmonton, the capital of Alberta in Canada, has a strong startup community, which in many ways shares similarities with Iceland.  An Edmonton film crew has create a project about Reykjavik. Check out the short film below. I have written about the strong affinity between the Startup Community in Edmonton and Reykjavik. Last year Startup Edmonton crew started a new project …

InfoShare 2016 is the biggest tech and new media conference in the entire Central and Eastern European region. For the 10th year in a row, the event will take place in Gdansk, Poland, from 18-20 May at the Amber Expo, the biggest expo center in Tricity. This  event brings in over 5,000 worldwide participants and 100 speakers spanning the entire …

Fintech startups from all over Europe were nominated for the European Fintech Awards in Holland.  Now, over 20 of them have been named as part of the “European Fintech Top 100“. This means that the top companies have been invited to participate in the European Fintech Awards on April 14th in Amsterdam, where the top 25 on the list will …

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, …

Startup Tourism, a new 10-week accelerator program held in Iceland from February 1st, 2016, is now in full swing.   As the number of tourists in Iceland increases exponentially, startups rush to fill the challenges that arise. Oddur Sturluson, managing director of Startup Tourism, believes there has been a paradigm shift among tourism companies in Iceland, spurned by recent history. “After …