Wayne's Coffee, China, Apple And All Things Powerkiss
Powerkiss have not released much news this year. Apart from a feature in VentureBeat in June and a mention in connection with The Europas competition, we have not heard much about the company. Just this month, however, they've been pushing out news stories like crazy. First we hear that they've partnered with Wayne's Coffee in Sweden and Finland. The coffeeshop chain's guests can now (in limited locations) ask for a Powerkiss wireless ring from the counter, plug it into their phone, put onto the Powerkiss-enabled table and recharge it during their stay. Next we hear that Powerkiss is the official wire-free provider for Santa in China. That's right: Santa Clause foundation has been hosting showrooms in China to promote Santa and other Finnish exports and Powerkiss has been one of those products. Last but not least, Powerkiss' wireless charger has been officially approved as an Apple accessory. Charging an iPhone/iPod next to you soon! Apart from all the glitz, the case of Powerkiss poses some interesting questions.
12 New Startups And 120 Positions Created With Nokia Technopolis Innovation Mill
Almost a year ago we reported on a Nokia, Tekes and Technopolis backed venture where startups would be able to reap the ideas and R&D results from Nokia's patent portfolio. Not all patents, but specific ones that Nokia has put aside for the program. At this stage of the program, 12 startups have been formed, with 120 employees together with over 5 million euros in venture financing and angel funding. Tekes is the Finnish development fund for technology and Technopolis is a public company working with growth companies in many different ways.
In the first phase of the program, Nokia and Technopolis have gone through thousands of ideas from which about a hundred made it into the program itself. All three parties have commited quite a bit, to make all this happen. Tekes for example has been able to make financing decisions in a week for the companies involved in a program - something regular entrepreneurs can only dream in their wettest day dreams.
Powerkiss Goes From Wireless Charging To A Service Platform (Video)
We all know Powerkiss from before, but to be honest you can get only so excited about wireless mobile phone charging.
But Powerkiss is not really what it looks like on the surface. One could easily think their core offering is wireless charging. Think again. Increasingly in the future it will be centered around Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled service platform which acts as a glue between different consumer services. Think location based advertising, where the location has been pinned down to the level of a restaurant table, or really selling any other service that is tied to a location. The variations are endless.
Wireless Powerkiss Coming To Town in Q4/2009!
People often forgot to unplug their chargers. If all Nokia cell phone users globally would plug off when battery is full charged, energy savings would be as much as 100.000 average-sized European homes annual consumption.
Powerkiss provides a new charging solution, which transforms a charger in to public product, instead of private accessory. The company has two products: a module integrated into furniture and a charging stick plugged in the device (cell phone or a laptop). The stick is plugged in and the device is placed on the charging table top. The battery is charged automatically. The charging time remains almost the same, depending on the device. Right now, the Powerkiss is able to power devices up to 40W, next year up to 100 W.
Powerkiss has signed the first deals with furniture manufacturers Martela and Isku on commercialization during autumn 2009. By the end of this year, Powerkiss will introduce the charging sticks for Nokias and mini-USBs (by October), Apples, micro-USBs and netbooks (by November). The company targets to introduce bigger laptops on the portfolio in Q1 2010.
Invest Tech Finland - From Wireless Power to Social Games
Espoo Otaniemi boomed of startups and investors when Invest Tech Finland was held for the first time on last Tuesday and Wednesday. There was a real mix of companies from all round consumer web, nano, medical and material tech.
We got some taste of new startups, more seasoned companies seeking growth and some familiar faces marching forward with their plans. There were quite a few interesting companies to write about, the full list can be found here - check these out. Note that most of companies presented at the event already had some prototypes, partnerships, customers or revenues. Here is some of my picks (not in any particular order):
