For the last few years, the Nordics have tried to gain a foothold at SXSW, the unparalleled tech festival that collectively brings over $300 million to the city of Austin, Texas, every March. Every year, over 80,000 registrants stream into the conference, trade shows, and festivals. Past keynote speakers have included President Barack Obama, and …
Rising North is a fund that aims to help Nordic startups become global leaders. The fund was launched in October 2016 with a NASDAQ bell ringing as part of the #nordicmade trip to New York. In her keynote speech at the fund’s launch, Helga Valfells, CEO of NSA Ventures, Iceland, and Steering Board Member at Rising …
With the unemployment rates as low as they are, it’s obvious that the traditional workforce approach is still favored in the Nordic regions. That being said, the evolution that is allowing up to a third of Americans to work from a remote site is fast becoming the new norm across the globe. By Jenny Holt The rise …
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. …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
