I got pretty many Facebook updates related Slush 2013 start-up event that started in Helsinki Finland today. It means that pretty many people I know have something to do with the event.
The world’s largest startup event will host over 5,000 participants, and the capital of up to 60 billion euros. The event brings 1200 start-up companies together with investors. The event is on the news so it is worth to note here as well. I am not personally planning to take part in this event.
There has been a start-up talk boom in Finland recently. The reason is that there have been two super successful mobile game start-up cases recently: Rovio and Supercell.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Who will impress? Nintendo and other game giants studied today, Finnish game peaks
Four international games industry, large companies will arrive in Helsinki metropolitan area to explore the brightest experts in the game.
The Japanese game industry’s big names from Nintendo, Square Enix, and Crooz arrive in Finland 13 to 14. November in the Slush-growth company event. Knowledge of Finnish game industry professionals a high level and is famous for companies searching for the potential partners from Finland.
A total of four international companies will participate in the metropolitan area to invest in players of Greater Helsinki Promotion and Otaniemi Marketing Slush Pit Stop-called stand
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/kuka+tekee+vaikutuksen+nintendo+ja+muut+pelijatit+tutkivat+tanaan+suomalaisia+pelihuippuja/a946993
Tomi Engdahl says:
Supercel new owner : Finnish game industry’s most cutting edge
Super Cell – game firm’s new owner Taizo Son participates in start-up firms altogether will present the Slush event.
Finland is the world top five among the game’s developer , says the Japanese GungHo game ‘s major shareholder and chairman Taizo Son .
Finland is at the forefront of the gaming industry along with the U.S., Japan , South Korea and Britain.
” I’m curious as to why so many of the great game studios come from Finland ,” Son says.
Source: http://www.hs.fi/talous/Supercellin+uusi+omistaja+Suomi+pelialan+ter%C3%A4vint%C3%A4+k%C3%A4rke%C3%A4/a1384312774321
Tomi Engdahl says:
Skype developer to give roses and thorns of Finnish attitudes
Skype developer and the current investor Niklas Zennstrom believes that the Finns have a good attitude to entrepreneurship. Slush entrepreneurial event is a venture capital investors hard work.
Cable Factory in Helsinki organized Slush event is a meeting place for future entrepreneurs and investors. One part of the event is a pitching competition, in which firms can give information about themselves and their products for a few minutes.
Cable Factory crowd around yesterday around 5500 Slush visitors. They included representatives of about 1000 companies and 500 investors. Since last year, the number of visitors has grown to a few thousand.
Investor taking a Skype call web service developer Niklas Zennstrom looking for companies with the aim of beginning to internationalize.
- Many people want to get involved in the seed stage. We’re more interested in expansion of the Zennström says.
Venture capitalists can help companies not only financially, but also in different countries and business knowledge in the art market. Investors may visit the market to open a lot of doors for the fledgling company’s own through partners.
Zennström says Atomico is an international, as the company is looking for promising companies in the world. Atomico is also a Finnish Supercell and Rovio companies to financiers.
Zennström, Nokia’s collapse in Finland can be beneficial in the long term.
- Expenditure for Nokia to work was an easy choice for young people before. Nokia has released the collapse of a lot of talented people.
Finland’s small size while forcing companies to immediately think of the international market.
- In the United States and Germany, entrepreneurs do not necessarily have the same attitude, Zennstrom said.
According to him, the Finns are also hard-working and keep their word. Something for improvement in his opinion, is.
- As an outsider it seems that the Finns are not always easy to get along with foreigners. On the other hand Helsinki, yes there are many start-up companies, whose employees have been different nationalities.
Malloy points out that the private equity firm are also part of the company and giving power. The entrepreneur should be alert to when and what kind of investor to train to jump. Quick profits, do not want to be the only investor can sometimes harm.
- For example, in the case of scientific research, in which the product is dubious or several years away, so it is better to seek funding even from one state actors, such as Finland, Tekes, Malloy says.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/bisnes/2013/11/14/skypen-kehittaja-antaa-ruusuja-ja-risuja-suomalaisten-asenteille/201315813/66
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slush: Finnish companies to finally leap to the consumer trade
Do you want to buy something? Finnish companies Kiosked, Walkbase, rebate and Indoor Atlas are interested in you. Slushiin of consumers’ changing business enterprises, aiming at the global market.
Cable Factory in Helsinki at the event Slushissa are a growing company this year received a lot of attention to the games and health care products, which have their own stage. But Slushissa is also found in many Finnish companies, which may change in consumer sales.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/slush_suomalaisyritykset_loikkaavat_vihdoin_kuluttajakauppaan
Tomi says:
Is Digital Health the Next Finnish Gaming?
http://www.slush.org/2013/11/health-track/
Let’s start with some interesting facts about Slush 2013: more than 120 startups of the health and wellness industry attended the conference this year. There were two areas specifically dedicated to digital health space: the Health Demo Area and the Health and Wellness Track. With the help of Sitra, Suunto, EIT ICT Labs and HealthSPA we could showcase these multiple startups and their disruptive products. What’s more, the winner of this year’s Showcase Demo competition is BetterDoctor, the startup that helps people find doctors. The domain is clearly booming at the moment.
Can you share your insights into the health and wellness domain?
“There is a creative explosion happening right now in this startup sector. We see lots of new companies emerging. In Finland alone we have over 100 startups that tackle health and wellness issues. Regarding products, we see unique combinations of hardware and software. There are companies that create sensors. And there are companies that build advanced algorithms enabling innovative data mining of these sensors.”
Why is Finland the right place to nurture health technology?
“Innovation starts with people. There is a lot of talent in this domain in Finland. The Finnish companies like Suunto, Polar, Vaisala pioneered this space back in the day and still today they are at the forefront. We have all components in place that are required to build successful health and wellness companies. First, we know how to create both embedded hardware and embedded software. Second, we have the classic Finnish service design and, third, we are good at UI design. Combining these disciplines in a novel way allows us to create great businesses. Valkee and PulseOn would be good examples of how people with the cross-industry experience create innovative health companies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How the Collapse of Nokia Is Igniting Europe’s Next Silicon Valley
http://mashable.com/2013/11/18/collapse-nokia-next-silicon-valley/
HELSINKI — Helsinki, Finland, is in one of its coldest, darkest months of the year, but yet, some of the hottest startups and investors meet in the remote Nordic region annually at this time to discover the next big thing in tech.
The Slush startup conference — which was held in Finland’s capital of Helsinki last week and founded five years ago by Finnish-based Rovio (Angry Birds) CMO Peter Vesterbacka — has become a gathering place for new businesses across Europe. Set up in the old space where Nokia did its research and made most of its phones during its heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s, Slush kicked off the event with a keynote from Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, who wore (in true startup style) a blue hoodie as he discussed the need for innovation.
The story of Finland’s fascinating emergence as a hotbed for startups — quite possibly the next Silicon Valley of Europe — can’t be told without looking at Nokia, the once hometown hero of the country.
The startup scene in Finland has a unique flavor that matches the country’s culture. In a nod to its love of saunas to keep warm during the cold months, many budding companies hold major meetings and negotiate deals inside heated vestibules, where it’s encouraged to strip down to get to the bottom line in a relaxed environment. Some offices even have “meeting saunas” for this very purpose.
Tomi says:
Slush 2013: The trends and standout companies at Northern Europe’s biggest startup event
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/19/slush-2013-trends-standout-companies-northern-europes-biggest-startup-event/
Last week nearly 1,200 companies came together at a converted Cable Factory in Helsinki for the biggest startup conference in Northern Europe. The limelight went to BetterDoctor, a US doctor database with user rankings, and Weekdone, an elegant staff management tool, who won the two day Showcase demo and pitching competitions respectively.
But Slush 2013 was about far more than any individual startup. This year it preached cohesive ideologies and highlighted four key sectors which look to be ripe pickings for the savvy startup over the next few years.
While different markets will always require different approaches, talking to numerous startups at Slush 2013 we witnessed near-consensus in the way to become a successful entrepreneur. The three key points were: treat everything as a service, put the customer at the centre of every business decision and test early.
“You must get the prototype out there and see what customers are saying,” stresses Weekdone CEO Juri Kaljundi.
Hot sectors
Mobile Gaming
On the back of the global success of Supercell and Angry Birds developer Rovio, Finland has become a Mecca for mobile games developers and their investors.
Finance
‘Everyone hates banks’ is something we have known for a long time, but the message of Slush 2013 is that startups are now in a position to launch a full-on attack on these antiquated institutions. Relaxed regulation is leading the way for this with the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) removing money transfer premiums across the EuroZone and the Payment Services Directive (PSD) allowing companies to become ‘Payment Institutions’ – essentially banks minus loans and investments.
Gaining most coverage from this at Slush this year was Helsinki startup Holvi.
Health Tech
BetterDoctor is a predictable inclusion given its victory in the Demo Showcase category, but it was representative of a wider push for health at Slush 2013 which saw 120 health and wellness startups at the show.
Customer tracking
Finally while much has been made of cookies and their attempts to track consumer behaviour online, the last Slush 2013 trend that caught our eye was entrepreneurs’ ingenious ways to track us offline.
Most remarkable was Finnish startup IndoorAtlas, which uses the earth’s magnetic field and the digital compasses found in most modern smartphones to accurately track people where there is no GPS or phone signal. “At first it was purely academic research,” explained CEO Janne Haverinen. “The magnetic interference [from the steel structures] in buildings stops compasses. We turned this problem around to use the dead spots as a map.”
Other Notable Startups
The Finnish advantage
Aside from trends and specific standout startups one other crucial factor surfaced time and time again at Slush 2013: the significant advantages Finnish companies currently enjoy.
The most crucial part of this is Tekes, a government organisation briefed with providing grants and low interest loans to fund Finnish innovation.
Rovio, Supercell, Grand Cru, IndoorAtlas, Kiosked, Holvi , Mendor and Stylewhile are just some of the thousands of startups to have been Tekes beneficiaries.
The model is working. Finland is now third in Europe after the UK and France and ahead of Germany in attracting equity financing into VC-backed companies. On its own the Finnish mobile gaming industry will see its turnover rise from 250m euros in 2012 to 1.3bn euros in 2013. In 2014 this sector will repay all Tekes investment since it began in 1992.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slush became a world religion
The digital transformation heavily relies on the doctrine of motion, however, the culmination of empowering off-line meetings with experiential pitch-talk to replace the traditional sermon. Charismatic performances include a strong promise of a better tomorrow, and the explosive growth of the church. The movement has been criticized for its doctrinal success theology like fatherhood. The ecumenical movement known as the angel of the internationality of the doctrine is raised in astonishment. The so-called b-angels are seen
Source: http://www.marmai.fi/blogit/vierasblogi/slushilaisuudesta+tuli+maailmanuskonto/a2218099
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 Reasons Why Finnish Apps Are Beating American Rivals On US iPad Market
http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/11/22/5-reasons-why-finnish-apps-are-beating-american-rivals-on-us-ipad-market/
November 21 was another high point for Finnish app industry. FDG Entertainment’s “Oceanhorn” reigned as #1 iPad download in America and Rovio’s “Angry Birds Star Wars 2″ held onto #5 slot. Supercell’s two games were lodged as #2 and #3 grossing US iPad apps. This meant that three Finnish companies held more Top 5 positions in these two iPad charts than all US vendors combined.
In the past year, ten Finnish apps have hit Top 5 position on US iPhone charts, including rather exotic companies like Frogmind, Mountain Sheep and Fingersoft. Perhaps even more intriguingly, three Finnish vendors managed to hit #1 position on Japanese iPhone chart in 2013; a feat no other country has matched.
Why are Finnish app vendors so dazzling? This is a question I asked ten Japanese, Chinese and American industry experts at Slush 2013, a major start-up event held in Helsinki a week ago. Interestingly, all responses clustered around five arguments.
1) Creating a striking look. Many Finnish apps have a very distinctive vibe in both graphics and sound design.
2) Tight focus on Apple‘s preferences. Finnish companies tend to target Apple successfully for getting featured prominently. This involves intimate understanding of what sort of apps Apple likes to promote.
3) Relentless testing regime. Finnish app vendors tend to hone their apps for months or even a year in test markets like New Zealand or Canada. They adjust core loops and tinker with graphics until certain key metrics are met – such as 40% second day retention or 20 cents of average revenue per active daily user.
4) Creative pricing strategies. Everyone now says that only free-to-play works in the app market. But some Finnish companies are sharply contrarian.
5) Robust upgrade and expansion planning. Rovio pioneered the rapid and extensive upgrade strategy in 2010 by rolling out new levels at a furious clip for its original Angry Birds title in the year 2010. More recently, Supercell has managed to turn “Clash of Clans” and “Hay Day” into eye-poppingly perennial revenue machines by a carefully designed expansion plans.
Of course, many of these characteristics are not unique to Finnish vendors – they are evident in other Nordic countries.
As a massive wave of new new app start-ups is now building in Finland, the year 2014 is shaping up to be a decisive year for the country.