Greater Helsinki Boosts Startup Ecosystem with Strong Founder Connectedness
Finland
Greater Helsinki
Early-Globalization Phase
MEMBERS:
Helsinki Business Hub
Even in times of crisis, Helsinki continues to be a functional, safe and sustainable city. We work with the local community to help startups survive and rebound.
Sub-sector Strengths
AI, Big Data & Analytics
Finland was the first EU country to publish a National AI Strategy in June 2017. The free AI education program offered by Reaktor and the University of Helsinki enrolled nearly 90,000 students from 80 countries in its first 4 months, making ‘Elements of AI’ Finland's top online course. The Finnish Centre for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI) earmarked €8.3 million in funding for 2019–2022. Giosg, an AI customer behavior tool, raised $5.3 million in venture funding led by Varenne Investment. ZenRobotics, which uses AI-powered robots to sort trash, raised $17 million.
Digital Health
Finland ranks among the strongest health technology economies in the world, while Digital Health is its largest high-tech export. Foreign exports of health technology rose to a new record in 2019, amounting to $2.67 billion, an increase of 5.7% from the previous year.
Greater
Helsinki is focused on further advancing its Healthtech ecosystem and launched the Health Incubator Helsinki in 2019 with the aim of driving health innovation and research. Patient monitoring software provider Kaiku Health was acquired for an undisclosed amount in May 2020.
Why you should invest in Greater Helsinki
TOTAL EARLY STAGE FUNDING
$511 m
GLOBAL AVG.
$431 m
ECOSYSTEM VALUE
$5.8 bn
GLOBAL AVG.
$10.5 bn
Top 20 Emerging Ecosystem
Talent
Top 5 Emerging Ecosystem
Funding
5
Exit Growth
INDEX
INDEX
9
Investor Activity
INDEX
INDEX
3
Funding Growth
INDEX
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Reasons to move your startup to Greater Helsinki
Low Cost, High Quality
The Greater Helsinki startup ecosystem offers entrepreneurs all the benefits of a Scandinavian lifestyle at a lower cost of living than many other tech hubs in the region. Startups have access to excellent talent at reasonable salary levels, as well as to various government funding actions. Finnish startups receive the most venture capital per capita in Europe. Greater Helsinki is home to Artic15 and Slush, leading startup and tech community events.
COVID-19 Policy
The City of
Greater
Helsinki, in its first phase of measures to relieve the burden on businesses due to COVID-19, announced a three-month postponement of rent (interest-free) on city-owned commercial properties leased by the city. Additionally,
Greater
Helsinki granted a one-off support facility to sole traders worth €2,000. These measures are part of a wider package of support offered at the municipal, regional and national levels.
Startup Community
Startup Genome
Members
MEMBER
Helsinki Business Hub
Startup Genome
Partners
Espoo Innovation Garden
Helsinki Think Company
Nestholma
Maria01
NewCo Helsinki
Butterfly Ventures
Arctic Startup
Business Finland
Helsinki Games Factory
xEdu Accelerator
Featured Articles from
Local Ambassadors
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Are you interested in diving deeper into this ecosystem? Drop us a message. Our Ambassadors and Partners can plug you in.