Well known for its high-quality education system, Finland is recently getting noticed by media as one of the most creative and productive tech start-up hub. Below we have selected top 7 Finnish start-ups, listed in random order:
1- Enevo
Espoo-based company Enevo was founded in 2010 by Fredrik Kekäläinen (CEO) and Johan Engström (CTO). Enevo provides smart wireless sensors that help companies and public organizations to function more efficiently. According to its official site, the goal of the company is to “become the leading global provider of smart logistics optimizations solutions for the waste management and recycling industry, helping both commercial waste management companies and public organizations to operate more resource efficiently.”
Among Enevo’s investors are Finnish Industry Investment, Lifeline Ventures, Earlybird, and Draper Associates. As of 2014, the company has 25 employees and operates in 25 countries. Its latest solution, Enevo One, provides up to 50% cost savings and besides helping companies save money, the solution helps them save time and the environment as well.
2 - 10Monkeys
Founded in 2011, game studio 10monkeys helps six to 10 year-old kids learn math in an easy and fun way. International growth company not only makes it easy for kids to explore the math world, but also encourages them to learn more in their own way. Based in Helsinki, 10Monkeys was founded by Katri Björklund, Simon Björklund, and Lisen Häggblom. Targeting kids, schools, and families, the company currently operates all over the world.
“Our goal is to make digital products that are accessible, products that fit the needs of today’s learning and most of all products that not only kids but also teachers and parents love,” according to 10Monkeys official site.
3 - Kiosked
Listed as one of the top 5 Finnish startups to watch, world’s leading audience monetization platform Kiosked was founded by Micke Paqvalén and Antti Pasila in 2010.
“Our technology dynamically creates native, in-view ad placements in publisher content for unique, easily targeted ads and bringing additional revenue for publishers and high performance campaigns for advertisers, designed to solve the industry's major issues around viewability and relevancy of ads,” according to the company’s official website.
In 2012, the startup received $5.8M in seed funding from Andreas Rosenlew, Tero Ojanperä, Kaj Hed, etc. In 2013 it received $6.9M in Series A from Tero Ojanperä, Andreas Rosenlew, Kaj Hed, John Lindfors, Kevin Wall, etc, while recently the company managed to raise its total funding to $16.9 million after receiving €3.7M in Series B by Dutch L’Arche BV.
“At the moment Kiosked is growing fast and at the end of last year, our business really started to expand and scale by winning over key publishers in the U.S., Europe and in Southeast Asia. Digital marketing and specifically advertising is moving rapidly towards 100% programmatic, and our value is that we can provide the industry with a leading and smart platform for that,” Kiosked CEO Miicke Paqvalén said for Geektime.
4 - Walkbase
Founded in 2010 by Tuomas Wuoti and Niclas Jern, Walkbase platform provides real-time in-store analytics and marketing solutions for offline retailers. In 2013, the successful start-up received $300K in seed funding from Jan Blomquist, Leonid Gluzman, Leonid Volkov, etc, and €3M in Series A funding from investors like SBT Venture Capital and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
The platform anonymously tracks customer’s activity within the store using Wi-Fi and other in-store technology, and combines all the data to create unique customer profiles to help retailers understand their customers’ behavior better and engage with them in a deeper level.
5 - Bitbar
Helsinki-based startup Bitbar was founded in 2009 by Marko Kaasila (CEO), Sakari Rautiainen, and Jouko Kaasila. Cloud-based service received its first funding in 2012 from angel investors and Finnvera Venture Capital in seed funding, and $3 million in 2013 from investors like Creathor Venture, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Finnvera Venture Capital, Finland’s TEKES and Qualcomm. Well known for its Testdroid platform, Bitbar Technologies provides mobile software development and testing solutions for mobile app and game developers.
With customers like Google, Facebook, PayPal, LinkedIn, and eBay, mobile software development Testdroid allows developers to upload and automatically test their Android and iOS apps and get real-time feedback within a short period of time.
6 - Jolla
Helsinki-based mobile company Jolla was founded on March 29, 2011 by Sami Pienimaki, Jussi Hurmola, Antti Saarnio, Marc Dillon, and Stefan Mosconi. The company went public on July 6, 2012 and is known as a designer and developer of various mobile devices as well as the mobile operating system Sailfish OS, which was introduced in November 2013. Among other Jolla products are Jolla Mobile Phone, Jolla Tablet, and The Other Half.
“Jolla is about offering a true alternative to the big players in the mobile industry. Our revolutionary Jolla smartphone, and the upcoming Jolla Tablet both run on the open and distinctive mobile operating system Sailfish OS, which was built on the heritage of MeeGo, an open source operating system formerly developed by Nokia among others,” according to Jolla’s official website. Currently the company has 125 employees and its smartphones are available in Europe, Hong Kong, India, and Russia.
7 - Stylewhile
Another Helsinki-based startup, Stylewhile platform is changing the way we buy clothes online. Founded in 2010 by Jutta Haaramo and Mika Marttila, Stylewhile allows its users to try clothes virtually before buying them. Among Stylewhile investors are Lifeline Ventures, Tekes, and the Foundation for Finnish Inventions. Anyone who uses the platform first creates a model with their body type and then is allowed to discover the latest trends and try on the clothes they pick. Customers can also create and match clothes to create their desired look and buy all the clothes as one purchase.