The Nordic

As Norway tops quality of life and gender equality indexes consistently, it is no surprise that more and more women are looking to leave Silicon Valley – and the bro-culture that dominates the valley- behind for beautiful fjords and generous paternal leave.  We interview 4 women who took the plunge and embraced the Nordic lifestyle. “I have been here three …

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 …

Slush, the largest startup event in the Nordics, took place in the “death month” of November in Helsinki. With over 15,000 attendees comprising 1,700 startups, the array of new companies and technologies can be dizzying.  From the SLUSH 100  pitching competition to the 240 demo booths, here are 5 startups that caught our eye.   FairStart FairStart is a startup …

Slush is finished and if you’re anything like most people you felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities: from exciting startups and world-famous experts, to inspiring talks and promising parties. So where should you focus your time to get the most out of it next time around? Last week I set out to find the best practical advice to …

November weekend in Helsinki for most of us doesn’t sound like the time of our lives – it’s dark, cold and windy in the seaside city. To make matters worse, the Finnish word for November, Marraskuu, by it’s etymological meaning means the month of death, marras origin from the same word family as Latins mors and French’s mort, death – …

The World Bank has just released it’s annual report, “Doing Business in 2017“. Last year we reported on Nordic countries coming in at the top of the best places in the world to do business.  How do this year’s findings compare? These 15 countries in the below infographic, compiled by Market Inspector, rank the highest in their ease of doing …

From Spar Nord announcing a new fintech collaboration with Rocket Labs in Aalborg to the central bank in Norway considering blockchain for real time clearing and settlement for domestic payments among other things, it is clear that fintech is making solid progress in the Nordic banking industry. These developments are in lockstep with the rest of the financial world, as …

It was perhaps significant that the recent Oslo Innovation Week (OIW) five-day series of events was preceded by a forty-eight hour Techfugees hackathon where more than one hundred data scientists, engineers, user experience designers and entrepreneurs united in teams to build prototypes alongside refugees, to find solutions to enable better integration into Norwegian society. the Techfugees Hackathon Techfugees is a …

“Power Couples” was the theme for the recent Oslo Innovation Week (OIW) and quite fitting that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway (pictures above, interacting with the AV1 robot) attended the opening ceremony at Skur 13, the indoor skate hall alongside the regenerated harbour in Oslo. Oslo Innovation Week is hosted by the City of Oslo and …

Apps like Tinder and OkCupid are filled with people looking for love. But are there any apps that cater to Nordic users? Fortunately there are. The Nordic region is home to apps that are a bit different from the dating apps that most people are used to. Here are some of the best dating apps making the rounds in Northern …

A delegation of Nordic startups rang the bell at the Nasdaq in New York on October 11th, as part of the #NordicMade showcase. #NordicMade is a community initiative that aims to build bridges between global tech regions and strengthen Nordic cooperation.  The bell-ringing also signaled the launch of a new €1.5 million Nordic fund. Helga Valfells, CEO of NSA Ventures, …

A new wellspring of employee organization is emerging in the so-called ‘sharing economy’, but the CEO of Daimler-backed ridesharing business MyTaxi, Uber’s main competitor in Europe, has dismissed the trend. By Tamlin Magee As Uber drivers in London and New York organise for the right to collective bargaining, the boss of Europe’s top ride-sharing competitor – MyTaxi, set to merge …

Last week, the second ever #Nordicmade tour touched down in NYC to meet the local startup ecosystem, including Lemonsqueeze.  #Nordicmade is collaborative initiative between the five Nordic countries founded in Copenhagen in 2014, to increase cross-border collaboration and promote Nordic startups internationally. #Nordicmade’s NYC tour was whirlwind trip that took the 12 Nordic founders on a whirlwind tour of the …

Health apps, which can log and monitor everything from moles to menstrual cycles, are asking for an increasing level of detail from their users, and the information may end up in the wrong hands. Apps that keep an eye on your health or cycle, have become popular in the Nordics. They are often free and can help users to keep …

Virtual reality (VR) might be booming around the world, but as the market begins to mature and competing companies gain some attention from the masses, certain countries are starting to move ahead. By Daniel Smyth As ever, Europe and North America find themselves locked in a battle for supremacy and in the last few months it seems as though the …

As Ed-tech is becoming the next industry to watch in the Nordics, with success stories like Kahoot, DigiExam, and Funzi. We take a look at 3 major trends in the ed-tech world.   Adult education Ed-tech is often thought about in terms of “gamified” learning tools like Duolingo, but the real face of adult education is in the corporate world, …

The Nordics have a natural advantage when it comes to education technology, including strong school systems, technical expertise, and forward-thinking municipalities who put digitalization on the agenda. What is holding back ed-tech development in the region? Many startups in the Nordics struggle with the VC investment bottleneck and finding the right talent. However as Hanna Kristín Skaftadóttir of Mimi Creations …

Helsinki in the beginning of June was quite literally the hot-bed of start-up and investment activity in the Nordics. The beautiful 25°C weather complemented the hot new innovative solutions on display. Several events created the perfect melting-pot with which to showcase Finnish and Nordic talent to a wider audience of international visitors. Several key events took place during the week …

At Infoshare 2016, Rachel Milgram  of InnovIL shared an investor’s perspective on startup funding.  Rachel’s expertise comes from years of working closely with VC’s and business angels to evaluate companies seeking investment and help match them with the right opportunities. “The fundamentals are never going to change”, says Rachel.  “When an investor looks at an idea, they will always look …

Start-up founders who focus on issues of resource preservation, resource recovery and recycling, often lack access to funding opportunities, as they have difficulty competing the b2b scale-ups that investors see as big money. That is why in 2014 Green Alley, a strategic circular economy investor based in Berlin, initiated the annual Green Alley Award, Europe’s first start-up competition for entrepreneurs wanting …