ArcticStartup is partnering with TechCrunch UK and Slush Helsinki in organizing a brunch for start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors and key industry players the day after the Slush event. Slush will take place on Monday 24th November and the brunch on Tuesday 25th.

Slush is an event for startups by startups in Helsinki, Finland. The event will showcase all the major Finnish Internet-era success stories from F-secure to Jaiku, from Habbo Hotel to MySQL, along with all the hottest Finnish startups.

TechCrunch Brunch @ Slush kicks off with discussions about entrepreneurship and startups in general with Mike Butcher, the editor of TechCrunch UK initiating and moderating the discussions, followed by plenty of networking over brunch.

The event is sponsored by Muxlim, a Finnish born Muslim online community with users from over 190 countries across the world. The site is the official Finland nominee to the World Summit Awards 2009, for the “e-Inclusion & Participation” category.

There is limited capacity for attendees at TechCrunch Brunch @ Slush, so TechCrunch is asking for a €20 cover charge to minimise no-shows. The brunch will take place at Cafe Ekberg, from 09:30am to 01:00pm. You can register for the TC brunch here, and for the Slush itself here. Hope to see you in the Slush on the 24th as well as at the brunch the day after!

PiX ‘n’ PaLs, a new Finnish startup, offers web based application to create collaborative photo galleries around shared events. This is a new take on the ever popular photo sharing since it brings events into the center of photo sharing activity.

The idea is to document your life together with your friends in a collaborative way. Your life, or “The Story of Your Life” as the company calls it, consists of events that you have participated in. An event can be for example a wedding, a party, a vacation or any important happening in your life. Any user can create a new event and invite the people who participated, so that everyone can post their photos and memories to the same place.

Users can also be invited to events as viewers with limited rights. This can be used when you want to show an event to a friend who was not present at the event himself. PiX ‘n’ PaLs attempts to add value, above and beyond your regular photo sharing service, with its collaborative approach in documenting your events.

Another interesting feature in PiX ‘n’ PaLs is the possibility to use of all the content others have posted and select the best events and photos and tell people your version of the story. You can publish your version on your profile page, for everyone to see, and supposedly even share it on other social networking websites.This in effect makes it possible to have a photo gallery even if you don’t own a camera or have never taken a single photo.





The service layout is rather rough, but the user interface seems to make sense and the service works as it should. But since we are talking about a photo sharing service, aesthetics play a major role. Thus, it would make a lot of sense to put some extra effort to bring to layout up to standards.

Some new features that PiX ‘n’ PaLs are developing currently include:

• Development of the photos when right partner will be found
• Videos
• Integrating maps into the service

I haven’t had a change to see anyone add photos to my event yet, so not sure whether that really works, but the idea is good and I can see myself using the service for ArcticEvenings. Only thing that really bothers me are the advertisements that seems to be everywhere.





The service is developed by Disruptive Media Ltd, which in effect consists of two guys, namely Frans Ekman and Jarl Törnroos. The company was founded in August 2007 and the first version of PiX ‘n’ PaLs came out already in the middle of September 2007.

The guys told me that the project was more like a hobby for almost a year and did not evolve much since both of the founders had full time jobs elsewhere; hence, all the hacking had to take place during nights and weekends. But now both concentrate full time on the company. I’m eager to see what will happen now that the guys got their priorities right. The founders also revealed that there is a bigger idea developing in the background, but they are taking it a step at a time.

Nordic Mobile Media Conference will be held in Tallinn, Estonia on December 3-4th for the fifth time. The conference will address different perspectives to mobile media strategies and act as a networking forum for mobile media professionals, and those eager to collaborate to further develop the mobile media industry and grow the market. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas, share and learn from experiences, and hear about new exciting opportunities. Present will be media companies, mobile operators, content producers, mobile media companies, handset manufacturers and marketing companies.

ArcticStartup and Nordic Mobile Media Conference announce a search for the “most interesting Nordic or Baltic mobile startup”. The winner startup will get 2 free passes and in addition an exhibition stand in the exhibition hall in the networking/coffee breaks area. You will get a table, chairs, electricity and WIFI internet connection for introducing your startup to the conference delegates and to demo what you are doing.

To claim the free passes, please send us your pitch and reasoning why you would be the best candidate to participate at mart.kikas [at] aspiro.ee and info [at] arcticstartup.com. You have time until November 3rd to apply. We will announce the winner in the beginning of November. If you don’t fit to the target category or don’t believe in your chances, you may also register right away on the conference web page.

We had a fantastic ArcticEvening last night at Dubrovnik in Helsinki and I want to thank everybody who were able to arrive and enjoy the evening with us. Special thanks to Peter Robinett who came all the way from Amsterdam to share his insights on the local startup scene in Amsterdam and in Silicon Valley. Also thanks for our sponsor Technopolis Ventures who made the evening possible.

Based on what I saw last night in Helsinki and heard about the other corners of Nordic and Baltic countries the Arctic scene is very much happening. It is great to see that regardless of the tougher times for the global economy and Jason Calacanis’ darker prediction on things to come, the enthusiasm and spirit is high in the Arctic latitudes.

As Jason says, “Great entrepreneurs build value and market-share in down markets. They go to work seven days a week and breakout when other folks check out.” Last night showed that this is certainly the case in Helsinki. We are very proud of the entrepreneurs, startups and all the high spirited people in Finland -You made our night. Thank you!

Photo by Teppo Kotirinta

Megapolis, a Finnish born festival for global urbanites, is planning to go international. The theme of the third Megapolis is Happy Cities and according to Roope Mokka from Demos Helsinki says the event is going to be bigger and better than it was last year and that international expansion might be in the cards:

Theres plans, but theyre still v. much plans.

You can see the whole discussion thread here at Jaiku.

Once we get a samekind of buzz and self confidence going country wide and everybody buys the mindset that we can make it anywhere and everywhere, we’re doing just fine even without the ill incentiviced governmental early-stage investing and other market distorting subsidies from the public sector agencies.