Helsinki's startup scene evolved around giants such as Nokia, games giant Supercell and food delivery platform Wolt. It is reaping the rewards with experienced entrepreneurs, investors and engineers powering a vibrant scene around the Aalto University campus and the startup festival Slush, one of the world's largest gatherings of investors and startups.
“We value work-life balance and collaboration,” explains Jonne Kuittinen, Deputy Managing Director of the Finnish Venture Capital Association. “The Supercell guys were very open about paying all their taxes in Finland, and this give-back mentality is visible as these founders help with many of the current funding rounds. I think the scene is about to get turbocharged.
The country's low unemployment makes programmers hard to find, says Claes Mikko Nilsen, director at VC Nordic Ninja, but a responsive government launching a fast track D visa in 2022 has boosted international recruitment. The next step? Larger funds for late-stage investments.
Paebl
“Concrete is the most consumed product in the world after water, and this is not decreasing,” says Andreas Saari, co-CEO of Paebbl. The main ingredient of concrete, cement, is the source of 8 percent of the world's CO2 emissions. Paebbl turns this around and uses rock weathering or mineralization to turn carbon dioxide into rock. Carbon captured at industrial sites is mixed with water and ground silicate to produce a solid carbonate-based material using a technique developed by Paebbl CTO Pol Knops. Paebbl founders Jane Walerud, Marta Sjögren, ex-Slush CEO Saari and Knops raised €8 million ($8.9 million) in seed funding in October 2022 from climate tech VC Pale Blue Dot, French investor 2050, the Grantham Foundation and several angels. In May 2024, the test reactor captured its first ton of CO2. A demonstration factory will come into use later this year and the stone will be used in the field in the spring. Next step: select locations and partners for four commercial-scale factories, operational in 2030. paebbl.com
Remote technologies
Distance Technologies has developed a prototype mixed-reality version of a military pilot's heads-up display (HUD) that works as a glasses-free 3D monitor. An LCD panel projects 3D images onto transparent surfaces, such as a car windshield treated with a reflective coating. The company discusses applications of detailed 3D topographic maps projected onto cockpit windshields for pilots and night vision images of the road for drivers. The prototype is equipped with a hand tracker, allowing users to interact with the screen hands-free. Founded in 2023 by co-founders Jussi Mäkinen and Urho Konttori, who met at Helsinki-based mixed reality headset company Varjo, it raised $2.7 million (£2.04 million) in a pre-seed round under led by FOV Ventures and Maki.vc, with Business Finland and Foobar.vc by David Helgason. Discussions are now underway with automotive, aerospace and defense companies. distance.tech
Stable energy
Steady Energy got its start at Finland's state technical research center when CEO Tommi Nyman and co-founder Hannes Haapalahti decided to commercialize the center's low-temperature nuclear reactor, the LDR-50. Most existing nuclear reactors operate at a temperature of about 300 degrees Celsius, superheating steam to drive heavy turbines. The modular LDR-50 operates between 65 degrees Celsius and 120 degrees Celsius and heats water directly. This will be pumped around district heating networks, supplying neighborhood systems with hot water from a central power station, which is transported via insulated pipes to heat homes. These networks have long been popular in Scandinavia and the US, and are spreading to other European countries thanks to last year's EU directive expanding their use. After raising €15 million ($16.7 million) from Lifeline Ventures, Yes VC and Reid Hoffman's Aphorism Foundation, Steady Energy has tentative agreements for 15 reactors with utilities Helen and Kuopion Energy. Construction is expected to start in 2028 and be operational in 2030. steadyenergy.com
Skyfora
Skyfora develops advanced instruments to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts. The company offers three different meteorological probes called StreamSondes: ultra-light atmospheric transmitters that hurricane hunters drop into the path of storms. The company also adapts satellite receivers in telecom base stations into a network of weather scanners that can analyze water vapor, temperature and air pressure. CEO Fredrik Borgström, CTO Kim Kaisti and co-founder Antti Pasila raised €5 million ($5.5 million) in four funding rounds from Icebreaker.vc, Voima Ventures and other business angels. The company's StreamSonde was deployed during Hurricane Beryl in July and Skyfora is now working with telecom operators to set up proof-of-concept pilot towers. skyfora.com
Enifer
In the 1970s, the Finnish paper industry used fungi to purify wastewater and sold the resulting mycoprotein as animal feed. Technology died along with the industry, but Simo Ellilä, Heikki Keskitalo, Joosu Kuivanen, Ville Pihlajaniemi and Anssi Rantasalo gave it a new purpose. Together they founded Enifer in April 2020 to develop food-grade mycoprotein by upcycling waste fluid from food, agriculture and forestry. A €15 million ($16.7 million) Series B round in April brings total funding to €27 million ($30.2 million) from Taaleri Bioindustry I fund, Nordic Food Tech VC, Voima Ventures and others. Construction of the factories began in May, with the aim of reaching industrial scale by 2025, with new sites on the way. enifer.com
ReOrbit
ReOrbit is a pioneer in 'software-enabled satellites', a distributed network of secure satellites that act as an Internet of Things in space. Satellite production has not changed in 40 years, explains Sethu Saveda Suvanam, CEO and founder, because they can only talk directly to Earth. Suvanam solves this by building 'flying routers', which, for example, allow military satellites to send high-speed images of Russian ships through space to the coast guard, speeding up warnings. A busy €7.4 million ($8.2 million) seed round in September 2023 will fund an orbiting demonstration satellite for launch in 2025.
Rich
Founders Miika Huttunen and Mikko Mäntylä met at Slush, a company with high employee turnover, leading to lost documentation and a lack of 'corporate memory'. With former Stripe engineer Johan Jern, they created a large AI language model that can search every digital document an organization has ever created to provide answers to questions from salespeople about past deals, for example. The first funding round of €1.7 million, launched in April 2023, was led by Lifeline Ventures with angels including the Helsinki founders of Zalando and Supercell. The company is now working with purchasing analytics leader Sievo, games company Remedy Entertainment and EV charging provider Virta. withrealm.com
Bob W
The company stands for 'Best of Both Worlds' and operates 36 full-service aparthotels in 17 cities throughout Europe. The company uses a digital reception of chatbot Bob W that handles check-in and check-out, books breakfast places and gyms. The system also informs guests about their CO2 emissions for each choice made. The company was founded in 2018 by Niko Karstikko and Sebastian Emberger and has raised €70 million ($78.3 million). The most recent round, in March, saw €40 million ($44.7 million) raised by Wise's founder Taavet Hinrikus and Supercell's co-founder Mikko Kodisoja. The money will finance an ambitious acquisition policy, which will involve purchasing 20 to 25 buildings across Europe and converting them into 1,500 to 2,000 aparthotel rooms. bobw.co
Swarmia
Swarmia is a software engineering effectiveness platform designed to make it easier for software teams to communicate, set goals, and measure productivity. Key to this is the software that connects other platforms like GitHub, Jira/Linear, and Slack, creating “working agreements”: agreed-upon guidelines for managers and teams on how they want to work together. These include objectives, how they will be achieved and how results will be measured. Founder Otto Hilska was previously Chief Product Officer at Smartly.io. He has raised €13.8 million ($15.4 million) in three rounds, most recently with Dig Ventures, and is expanding in the US. Swarmia currently serves more than 1,500 companies, including WeTransfer, Hostaway, and Axios HQ. swarmia.com
Noise
Noice is all about the metagame. The livestreaming gaming platform allows viewers to bet on the outcomes of games they watch using digital cards. For example, these can predict that the next murder in a Fortnite game will involve a shotgun. Each correctly chosen card earns points, and these can be purchased or earned by watching advertisements. Founded in 2020, the company has raised a total of €25 million in two funding rounds, backed by local entrepreneurs including the co-founders of Supercell and the co-founders of Wolt. Noice co-founders Jussi Laakkonen and CTO Jaakko Lukkari met at Applifier, the Finnish company that helped developers create in-game replay, before Unity acquired the company. The company is still in beta testing with a full launch later this year. noice.com
This article first appeared in the November/December 2024 edition of WIRED UK.
