The Next 100 Million Euro Business Might Come From Bootcamp
Aalto Venture Garage is putting together a busy two week program they call Bootcamp. Bootcamp is to be held four times a year and it's an intensive program aimed at speeding up already existing early stage ventures. The first Bootcamp is to be run between September 17th and 30th. They are now accepting applications, but be quick - the deadline is September 8th. A mentoring program wouldn't be anything without high profile mentors and well enough, Aalto Venture Garage has managed to secure a good lineup of Finnish startup professionals. Mind you, the program isn't only aimed at Finnish startups - it's open for everyone around the Baltic rim.
Microtask Closes A Super Seed Round From Sunstone Capital
Microtask, a Finnish startup, has just closed a round of seed financing lead by Danish Sunstone Capital followed by a group of Angel investors (see list below). The size of the round is undisclosed, but the company told us that they should be able to get to summer 2011 with it. The round is their second seed round and it's structured as more and more financing rounds nowadays are: It's a seed round that's lead by a VC who has also committed to lead the A round next spring. Why do a VC come in so early in with a group of Angels? Because they want to make sure the Super Angels with minifunds are not eating their lunch, that's why. Even though Microtask news is positive and there exists hardly any threatening Super Angels in the Nordics, there is a lot of debate and tension about the general phenomena elsewhere. These tensions seem to be especially true in the US, where there's more investors battling for the best deals.
Finnish game industry showcased on Playfinland.fi
Tekes announced yesterday the opening of Playfinland.fi presenting Finnish companies to the world. Target groups are international media, potential partners and investors abroad -- and anyone else interested. The site is produced and funded by Verso - Vertical Software Solutions program of Tekes.
Tekes highlights that in 2007 the amount of financing allocated to the Finnish game industry was thirty times more than the amount of similar funding granted generally in the EU last year. The Finnish game industry is known for many original innovations, as well as high quality products, including both games and related products like 3D graphics technology.
There has been a lot of activity in the M&A sector in the last few years as well, some examples being ATI buying mobile graphics technology company Bitboys, Nvidia acquiring 3D graphics specialist Hybrid Graphics, and a bunch of mobile gaming companies sold to foreign companies. Unfortunately, for the most part the Finnish firms have been on the selling side of the table, mostly attributed to lack of capital available for expansion on their own.
Those interested can also join Play Finland Facebook group, which has been created to connect both Finnish and international players in the field.
More on Playfinland.fi in the press release.
