As Antti reported earlier we are closely following the Finnish companies that will be pitching to Israeli VCs at the IVA conference. Last Wednesday we had a chance to witness the final preparations of these companies for the event. Concilio Networks, Eniram, EpiCrystals, SenseG, and Whatamap did a dry-run of their pitches, which were then commented by seasoned professionals (incl. Jussi Harvela, Moaffak Ahmed, Pekka Roine).

Pitching is hard, if you want to do it properly. You have to keep your pitch length at eight minutes, you face a VC audience that sees thousands of pitches every year and you only have about ten to fifteen seconds to get everyone’s attentition. So what can you do? Here are some advice from the experts:

1) Focus, focus (never say “..and here’s a few more things you can do with our product”)

2) Reveal your value proposition first, then a concrete use case

3) Focus on a single benefit, provide ROI

4) Tell a story, but use a format (like news broadcasters do)

All the above-mentioned Finnish companies are in Israel at the moment. They will pitch on Wednesday, May the 21th and have many pre-scheduled meetings and events prior to that. We try to get a word from the field so keep an eye on our future coverage.

Another Technopolis event coming up is MoneyTalks™ Forum Special on 8th of May, claimed to be the largest investor event in Finland during the spring of 2008. The event is invitation-only and targeted to VCs, business angels and promising high-tech & innovation based start-ups seeking financing. Companies interested in pitching in the event should check for further information.

The bi-annual special event promises to feature the rising stars of the Finnish high-tech scene and prominent early stage investors from Finland and abroad. Participants should have plenty of opportunities for one-one-one meetings with investors and entrepreneurs.

Photo by cpalmieri.

TechCrunch reports more difficult times ahead for companies looking for funding in Silicon Valley. Overall, the number of M&As have gone down, as well as IPOs and the total value of disclosed M&A deals. When in US, they report on quarterly figures, we have to settle for annual figures (which are increasingly late as well) here in Finland. Then again, our market domestically is in very early stages (the average size of a venture capital investment in 2006 was a mere 680 000 euros).

While I don’t believe the effects of the downturn have hit Europe yet, I believe they are on their way. Any comments from the field would be appreciated on this topic, like always :)

Being the founder of the blog, I’m very very glad to announce that we have secured funding from two Finnish venture capitalists. The money will be used to hire a full time blogger and expand the services overseas to other Scandinavian countries. We are still in talks of publishing the two private investors in the near future.

We’re thrilled of course, needless to say. However, we won’t be selling this blog so the focus will be kept critical and analytical in the future as well. The blog was started in 2007 with a suspicion that I will have time to continue writing it. Soon it gathered momentum and I had sort of an obligation from the fans and companies to continue on the track I’ve chosen. With this funding I see that our efforts have not been in vain.

A huge thanks to all the readers and companies involved - I’m starting of the day with a bottle of champagne :)

I and Miikka had a chat yesterday with Tatu Laurila, CEO of Greater Helsinki Promotions about a venture they are organising for Finnish startups and prospects to Israel. Greater Helsinki Promotions is co-organising the event with Technopolis ventures.

Ten of the finest Finnish companies eligible for this venture will be sent to Israel to the IVA Hi-Tech Conference 2008. The event is held in Tel Aviv 19.-20.5.2008. The Israeli Venture Capital Association (IVA) has offered the Finnish organizers an opportunity to bring 5-10 promising start-ups plus an accompanying delegation to Tel Aviv for IVA’s annual conference, which attracts about 1,500 global players from the high tech industry, including VC and Corporate investors. Large number of global VC’s will attend the conference. The estimated cost for the whole program is a maximum of 5000 € at the maximum, a more exact budget will be available in the next couple weeks.

Deadline for enrollment is 2.4.2008. If you’re interested, contact Will Cardwell of Technopolis Ventures for more information on how to apply.

For those who are unaware with the startup and entrepreneurship environment in Israel, it is a lot more effective than it is in Finland. The countries themselves are similar in size and population. With a focus on entrepreneurship and a 15-year strong track record, Israel has managed to enlist over 100 companies to Nasdaq and there seems to be more in the pipeline. There’s definitely a lot there to learn. Arctic Startup will try to cover the process, preparaion up to the event and the event itself as thoroughly as possible. Stay tuned!