Nordic Startup News Early Stage Startup News From The Nordics
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 Danish government agencies together with Nordic Innovation.
“Our main objective is to lower the barriers to accessing the Silicon Valley ecosystem, and provide the best possible opportunities for the companies to scale and become competitive on international markets,” says Yvonne Ericsson, Community Manger at the Nordic Innovation House.
In order to achieve this goal the Nordic Innovation House offers a co-working space, resource center and networking hub for startups to connect with potential customers, partners and investors. Located in the heart of Palo Alto The Nordic Innovation House opened in September 2014 and currently has 93 connected companies, which is an increase of 82 pct. since their opening.
Each startup typically brings 2-3 employees to Silicon Valley and all work in different fields of technology such as Internet of Things, Big Data, EdTech, Software as a Service, FinTech, Security, Sensor Tech and Smart Energy.
Lowering barriers for Nordic startups entering the US
“When a Nordic startup joins our community we introduce them to mentors and coaches in the Bay Area, open up doors to the ecosystem in Silicon Valley, recommend proven service providers that can help with visa, forming a US corporate entity and much more. We connect startups to VC-agencies both from the Nordics and local Silicon Valley investors,” explains Yvonne Ericsson.
Yvonne Ericsson explains that through the Nordic collaboration, the companies are able to leverage the local resources of each individual Nordic country in Silicon Valley.
One of the startups currently present is the Norwegian SAP Mobility solution Neptune Software. To get an impression of the benefits we asked them a few questions.
Would you have moved your business to the US if not for Nordic Innovation House?
“Probably, but definitely not in such a smooth way. Our stay at TINC helped us decide to incorporate our US subsidiary faster and the program gave us the insight and network to avoid the many pitfalls such an endeavor pertains,” says CTO in Neptune Software Njål Stabell
What has this opportunity meant for you?
“After having success in Europe, for us a global player in Enterprise Mobility development tools, having presence in the US is vital. We have several of the fortune 100 and 500 customers now and success over here easily spills over to other parts of the world,” he says.
