Tag Archives: Baltics

Japanese investors are favoring Finland and Estonia

New report on Japanese Investments launched last week at Slush shows that when it comes to Japanese investments going in to the Nordic regions, Finland & Estonia is leading.  The report was made by Innovation Lab Asia, Nordic Ninja VC and Copenhagen Capacity. According to the report, since 2013, 22 of the 36 Japanese investments going into the Nordics has …

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Vilnius positions itself as a global startup ecosystem competitor

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 …

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Amazon, Netflix and Google will meet the President of Estonia to talk about data and AI adoption in Europe

Artificial Intelligence champions from top technology companies Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Google DeepMind, Nvidia, Taxify, Microsoft, Starship etc will meet at North Star AI, Applied Machine Learning and Data Conference on March 7 in Tallinn, Estonia to discuss how organizations and startups with limited resources can benefit from data and AI adoption President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid will open the international …

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New €100m Japanese VC fund backs startups in Nordics and Baltics starting in 2019

BaltCap, together with JBIC IG Partners, a Japanese government backed private equity and venture capital firm, is establishing a new €100m fund focusing on venture capital investments in the field of industrial technology in the Nordic and Baltic region. The fund was announced at Slush 2018 and is launching this year. JB Nordic Ventures is a 50/50 joint venture between BaltCap,  …

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Pitching in Georgia – a hidden market for tech travel startups?

Estonian travel startup Guide.me recently competed in the Welcome Challenge, a tourism-focused pitching competition in the country of Georgia. The rapid growth in tourism activities in Georgia is a major reason why investors sees Georgia as “currently underserved” by Nordic startups. Which industry employs one in ten people globally and accounts for ten percent of the world’s GDP? Hint: It’s the …

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Vesterbacka introduces new opportunities to Tartu startup and business communities

Peter Vesterbacka, one of the founders of Angry Birds mobile game and the biggest technology conference in north Europe – Slush, will visit Tartu from 03-04. October. The purpose of the two day visit is to introduce new educational and business opportunities to Tartu start-up community and local entrepreneurs, and to increase regional cooperation between Finland and Estonia. Peter Vesterbacka …

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Latvia’s Droneplan creates drones for risky industrial inspections

Industrial inspections are a risky job.  To inspect overhead power lines, for example, a person usually has to climb up a high tension wire, deal with wind and weather conditions, and on top of that, perform a detailed inspection.  Droneplan, a startup based in Latvia, is creating intelligent flight planning software to enable drones to perform autonomous inspection. Droneplan started …

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Watch: The first concert for robots organized in Estonia

The biggest robotics festival in Europe, Robotex, that took place in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, hosted among other things the first live concert performed exclusively for robots. Robotex 2017, taking place from 24-26 November, was attended by more than 15,000 spectators. The event offered various activities for kids, students, robotics enthusiasts and even grandparents. It also hosted what was believed to …

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Estonian e-residency is attracting attention for pioneering borderless society

The Estonian e-residency programme is celebrating its two-year anniversary in 2017, and the idea of digital identity has attracted much attention from all over the world to the small country in northern Europe – even the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (ESCAP) has published a report on the role of Estonia’s e-residency programme in …

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Young Transatlantic Innovative Leaders Initiative opens again for applications

Last year, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, launched the first Young Transatlantic Innovative Leaders Initiative, an international exchange program focused on the themes of entrepreneurship skills and enhanced Euro-Atlantic integration. They selected 45 young professionals from 41 European countries, including some of the Nordics and Baltics. During the program, the fellows spent time in …

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Citizens of the world – The ins and outs of Estonian e-Residency

In May this year, Nordic Startup Bits writer, Thorunn Jonsdottir, was at infoShare in Gdansk listening to Kaspar Korjus, who’s leading the e-residency project on behalf of the Estonian government. She was intrigued and decided to apply. Three months later, after applying online and appearing at the embassy of Estonia in Berlin, she had her e-residency card. But what exactly …

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Medihub: “We hit the bottom but now are on the way to the top”

Medihub, an Estonian startup founded in spring 2015 aim at building up a kind of database in which patients can search for affordable and creditable clinics, the services of which suit their needs best. CEO Helary Lainjärv gives us some insight into the company’s past, present and future. You’ve been working as a physician for over 8 years now, so …

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A startup journey from LA to Estonia and back again

Ever thought on working abroad? Taking a Jobbatical? Teleporting yourself to a new country? That’s something Erik did when he came all the way from LA to work at Startup Wise Guys in Estonia. This happened in March 2014. For two years, he was living in Tallinn, Estonia. Having great time and working at Startup Wise Guys accelerator. But now …

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