Videoplaza Secures $12 Million Series B
Videoplaza has just come out with an announcement that they have secured a $12 million investment aimed for global expansion. The Series B funding comes from Qualcomm Ventures and Innovacom. We've written about the Sweden based company before as well, regarding their strong growth. With this investment the growth is sure to follow. The company had a great 2011 according to the press release. It served five times greater ad volume than the year before and opened up new offices in Madrid, Berlin and Singapore. It now operates in 17 different countries.
Interview With Harry Nelis Of Accel Partners (Video)
We talked to Harry Nelis, a partner at Accel Partners, about startups, entrepreneurship and Europe as well as many other topics. When we shot the video, Nelis had just come down from the main stage at LeWeb where he participated in the traditional Money Panel. Accel has been able to discover and invest into some of the most successful startups out there. Some of their portfolio companies include Facebook, Groupon, Spotify and the list goes on.
Clipsource: Online Marketplace For News Videos
Clipsource is an online marketplace for news videos. Launched originally in Sweden in 2009, the service enables media companies to buy, sell or share news videos that have been produced in-house or sourced from viewers and readers.
The company aims to capitalize on the recent proliferation of video content on news and media sites. According to Dan Willstrand, CEO of Clipsource, "As online video advertising offers nearly ten times higher revenue per impression than standard banners, there is a strong economic incentive for the publishers to show more video".
The Last Set Of Arctic15 Pitches (Video)
Here we've got the last chunk of Arctic15 videos. See pitches by Meetin.gs, Graduateland, Holvi, Achoo, and Mepin. If you want more of the Arctic15 experience, join us for our pre-Christmas party with Future Female on December 1st, and keep your eyes out for our upcoming ArcticEvening events. Find these great pitches below the fold:
Second Batch Of Arctic15 Pitches (Video)
Here's another batch of Arctic15 presentations, including Mancx, the first place winner. Also in this group we've got presentations by Streamtainment, 300.mg, Fishare, and Kiosked. So clear off the rest of your schedule this afternoon, cancel that meeting, and re-live the Arctic15.
First Batch Of The Arctic15 Pitches (Video)
We're releasing the first batch of the Arctic15 pitches. We saw a wide variety of presentations from all across the Nordic and Baltic countries, and now we're presenting pitches from Tribe Studios, Conferize, Transfluent, Campalyst, and 46elks. Re-live the Arctic15 conference and check out the videos below the fold!
Hipmunk/Reddit Co-Founder Steve Huffman's Keynote At Arctic15 (Video)
Here's another Arctic15 video from the archive! We were honored to have Steve Huffman give our keynote presentation at the Arctic15 conference. In his talk, Steve tells us about his time at ycombinator, the Reddit story, and goes through the thought process behind his new startup, Hipmunk, which is bringing new innovations to flight search and hotel booking. You can find the video below the fold:
Felix Petersen At Arctic15 (Video)
We're ready to begin releasing our videos from Arctic15. The first video we are going to share is the talk Felix Petersen, the co-founder and CEO of Amen, held at Arctic15. He went through 18 points and backed them up with personal experience from his previous ventures and his findings working with Amen. Arctic15 is the annual launch event we organise to bring in world class keynote speakers and showcase the talent from Northern Europe to attendees.
VideofyMe Monetizes Independent Videos
Advertising is important for independent bloggers as it is so far one of the biggest revenue sources for them. VideofyMe, a Sweden-based start-up, is trying to serve that need by helping independent bloggers monetize their original video content. With their service bloggers can create videos in browser and on the go with their iPhones (Android app to be launched soon), easily publish those videos to Facebook or Twitter and earn some money from pre-roll ads that VideofyMe provides. The start-up has been working in the Swedish market since 2009 and is now going global.
WeVideo Video Editor Gets Integrated With YouTube
WeVideo, a startup founded by two Norwegians, has announced that its cloud-based video-editing platform is now available for free on YouTube. The platform allows YouTube users to create and edit their videos on the fly with no additional software needed. All you need is a YouTube account.
Angry Birds Played At Formula 1 Singapore (Video)
A few weeks ago we wrote about Angry Birds being played with the Uplause technology at the Formula 1 event that took place in Singapore. Since we covered the items right after the weekend, we didn't have any video available. However, now we do and it just makes you smile. Take a look at the video below and see people in the audience participate in playing Angry Birds Fast and Furious. People participate by shouting, which is basically the control for the slingshot. Made us smile for sure.
Arctic15 Exclusive: Derek Sivers - Uncommon Sense (7/8)
In the seventh and second last video of the series, Derek Sivers talks about Ideas vs Execution. He goes to talk about the fact that ideas aren't valuable by themselves, but it's the execution that matters. Sivers explains all this through a pretty wacky real-life example. We'll be posting the last bit of the series on Wednesday, just before Arctic15.
Arctic15 Exclusive: Derek Sivers - Uncommon Sense (6/8)
As the series with Derek Sivers is turning to its end, the sixth video is titled "0.1". In this video Derek Sivers shares his thoughts on shipping early and getting traction for your MVP (even though he doesn't really mention the concept in the video). The last two videos, coming out next week will be titled "Ideas vs. Execution" and "CD Baby". The videos will be published on Monday and Wednesday, just before Arctic15.
Arctic15 Exclusive: Derek Sivers - Uncommon Sense (5/8)
In the fifth video of the Derek Sivers - Uncommon Sense -series, Derek Sivers talks about switching your idea if it does not work. Wondering why we're sharing these videos? Check out the first post with Derek Sivers for more information. There are three more videos in the series and we'll release them this coming Friday, Monday and Wednesday - just before Arctic15.
Arctic15 Exclusive: Derek Sivers - Uncommon Sense (4/8)
In the fourth video of the Derek Sivers - Uncommon Sense -series, Derek Sivers is talking about "revolution". He talks about the fact that when you keep simple and base your business on existing concepts, you're a lot closer to the clients. He also talks about building the monetisation system for CD Baby and shares how he came about it. Wondering why we're sharing these videos? Check out the first post with Derek Sivers for more information.
Arctic15 Exclusive: Derek Sivers - Uncommon Sense (3/8)
In the run up to our Arctic15 conference, we've announced an exclusive video series with Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby. The story why all this is relevant can be read from the introduction to the first video. In the video series he will share his advice and experiences in building CD Baby into one of the largest online music stores before selling it onwards. In the third video of the series, Sivers talks about the fact that nobody knows the future. Sivers believes that if more people actually stated this, more intelligent conversation would follow.
RIM Strengthening Forces In Northern Europe
I had a chance to talk to Paul Lucier yesterday at The Conference held in Malmö. Paul Lucier works as the Managing Director for Northern Europe and Russia at RIM. He's stationed in Stockholm, Sweden and working from there to build RIM's presence into the region. Everyone who's had their toes in the mobile streams long enough know that RIM is a serious player in the market with their Blackberry products and services. Yesterday I got the chance to see a few of their products and play around a little with the new Playbook that will hit shelves this September in Sweden. What's also good to know is that RIM is looking to build up its presence in the region, not only to sell more devices, but also attract more developer talent.
How Sopima Values Microsoft Technology
I had the opportunity to talk to Jaan Apajalahti, the CTO and co-founder of Sopima, a company changing the way people work on contracts. Instead of passing around documents in e-mails and having a ton of different versions saved locally, Sopima allows companies and different parties to work on contracts in a much faster way by keeping them in a central location. More interestingly for the other founders and entrepreneurs out there, Sopima is built on Microsoft technology - Silverlight as well as Windows Azure.
Finnish Snowboarding Championships To Be Filmed With Nokia N8s
According to Nokia Ääni, a new Nokia blog written in Finnish, Nokia has partnered to film and televise the Finnish snowboarding championships solely with the help of Nokia N8s. According to the blog post, all filming will be done on N8s between the 7th and 10th of April in Ruka, Finland. The filming will be done by a four man crew of Flatlight Films. This is the first time in history a full television show will be filmed with only smart phones.
Interview With Mohamed El-Fatatry Of Muxlim (Part 2)
Yesterday we released the first part of the Muxlim Founder and CEO, Mohamed El-Fatatry interview. In the interview, El-Fatatry talks about the creation of their business and how they went on to grow it. In the second part of the interview El-Fatatry explains how they realised a completely new business area after discussions with Coca-Cola.
Interview With Mohamed El-Fatatry Of Muxlim (Part 1)
We haven't covered Muxlim at ArcticStartup in the way it deserves to be covered. So, what better way to do it than have a talk with the founder and CEO of the company, Mohamed El-Fatatry. El-Fatatry isn't your usual startup founder in Finland. He's of Egyptian background and went on to start the world's largest muslim-oriented site when still in school. Muxlim grew immensely fast in the early days they didn't really have any competition. One of the drivers of their growth can be attributed to excellent media coverage.
The Lift Release Brings HD, AirPlay And Many More Features To 23Video
Denmark based 23Video that helps users build full featured video sites has making a lift. 23Video has announced the coming of the Lift Release. The update will help users with more advanced options to make video sites a better and more efficient. The Lift Release brings quite a lot of features making the service a lot more usable for companies requiring video sites.
Video Interview Of Niklas Zennström - Part 1
Last week Niklas Zennström, together with Atomico visited Helsinki to talk to startups and promote their early stage investment company. I had the chance to sit down with Zennström and talk about the Nordic and Baltic investment environment, Atomico as well as some of their investments. Below is the first part of the video interview in a little over 7 minute clip.
23 Launches Their Video Platform - 100+ Partners Already Signed Up
In Internet the video revolution has been just around the corner as long as I can remember and I don't think it has ever arrived. The reasons are many. Whether its video's hard-to-index nature when it comes to seeing what the content really says in comparison to text, or the fact that it takes quite a bit of bandwidth. Or because an interesting video is just so much harder to produce that an interesting blog post. That said, it has come a long way of which the most recent example is 23 Video, a video platform by a Danish startup 23 (see our previous story here).
The company attempts to set a new standard in the online video space. 23 wants to take online video from embedding from central services to creating a whole video sites where organizations can engage with consumers in their own brand universe. In the process they want to make building a video sites easy and inexpensive with their new turnkey solution. The big vision is to enable the company to communicate visually where they currently communicate by text.
VideoFlow Monetizes The Long Tail Of Online Video
VideoFlow, a new online video distribution and monetization network has come out of closed Beta. The company opened it's Beta already in June to the Finnish fashion blogger community, but now it is open for all the video producer and production houses.
The service was partly build already in early 2009 and has since tried out various different models before finding its current form. You can think of the service almost like 'Adwords for video' that come with the platform. A amateur, semi-amateur or professional video producer can upload its content to the network and distribute in all the platform she wishes. Videoflow will not only host the videos but will include smart content sensitive advertising on the video. Here's the best bit. You can use the platform for free and once you upload the video on your blog or media you will get paid everytime someone watches it. Videoflow will share the revenue between the producer, the publisher (the media owner) and keep a slice to themselves.
New Trailer & Screen Shots Of Upcoming Location-Based iPhone MMORPG Shadow Cities
Grey Area, a new Finnish iPhone gaming startup (see our previous coverage), has been operating silently the past months, but now the firm has released a new teaser trailer and screenshots of their upcoming location-based MMORPG for iPhone called Shadow Cities. The game transforms the neighborhoods and familiar streets as part of the game world, visible to the player through iPhone. The tagline is "Your city is a game." The company promises the game will be available on the iTunes App Store in late 2010.
Interview With Helle Moen From Investinor - Video
At the beginning of July I was visiting the Oslo Cleantech Capital Day, where I spoke with Helle Moen from Investinor. Helle is an Investment Director at the venture fund, which invests into Norwegian Cleantech companies.
Web Design Rebel Hammerkit Launches Closed Beta
Finnish web design solution provider Hammerkit has launched a closed beta of the new version of its cloud-based web design tool with revamped UI and features. The company's tool allows web designers to implement even complex websites on their own, without the need for help from programmers. Traditionally web designers have built mock-ups and wireframes, and then transferred these over to programmers to implement and weave in database connections etc. dynamic functionality. Hammerkit aims to revolutionize this old school fashion, allowing creativity without learning complex programming techniques - thus the company's tagline "a tool for the web punk generation."
ArcticEvening Helsinki Streamed Live!
Below you'll be able to follow the ArcticEvening Helsinki event live stream, courtesy of Bambuser.
ArcticEvening Helsinki Will Be Streamed Live
Great news for all those who can't make it to our sold out event tonight - we'll be streaming it live, thanks to the wonderful guys at Bambuser. Later tonight, at around 6pm (GMT+3) - a blog post will go out with the embedded video stream, where you can watch it. We'll be streaming the introductions, Microsoft presentation of their mobile platform as well as the panel, including audience questions. All this will be about 1,5 hours in length.
So grab a beer later tonight, have a sit by your computer and enjoy the show we'll broadcast live from Korjaamo Helsinki. For all those who want to tweet about the event, the hashtag is #AEHki.
