Artificial intelligence may dominate the startup conversation, but the latest data from ARCTIC15 2026 suggests that the Nordic and Baltic ecosystem is becoming considerably more diverse — and increasingly focused on technologies with applications in healthcare, defence, energy and manufacturing.
A new analysis of participation data from the 2026 edition of ARCTIC15, organized by ArcticStartup in Helsinki, mapped more than 1,150 startups across 40 industry categories. The findings offer a snapshot of where founder activity and interest are concentrated across the region, and point to a broader shift from traditional digital services toward AI-enabled, science-based and industrial technologies.
Software and Technology remained the largest category, representing 36.5% of participating startups. But Artificial Intelligence and Data was close behind at 35.6%, underscoring how deeply AI has moved into the mainstream of the startup ecosystem.
Rather than emerging as a standalone vertical, AI increasingly appears to be becoming an underlying layer across industries. The presence of Agentic AI in the top 10 — accounting for 22.8% of participation — further reflects the rapid expansion of AI applications beyond conventional software products.
The data becomes particularly interesting further down the ranking.
Health and Wellness was the third-largest category at 32.5%, followed by Medical Technology at 30.5%. Energy and Sustainability represented 27.1% of participation, while Defence accounted for 25.4%. Human Resources and Impact, SaaS and Manufacturing and Materials completed the top 10.
The result is a startup landscape in which software remains foundational, but the boundaries between digital technology and physical, scientific and industrial innovation are becoming increasingly blurred.
From AI to hard tech
One of the clearest signals from the data is the growing weight of what could broadly be described as “hard tech.”
Defence and Manufacturing and Materials both feature prominently among the most active categories. This reflects a wider European push toward technological resilience, strategic infrastructure and domestic industrial capabilities — areas that typically require more capital, longer development cycles and closer collaboration between startups, corporations, governments and research institutions.
The same pattern is visible in energy. With Energy and Sustainability representing 27.1% of participation, climate and energy technologies remain a significant part of the ecosystem, particularly as Europe looks to combine the energy transition with greater resilience and technological independence.
Life sciences are another major pillar. The combined prominence of Health and Wellness and Medical Technology points to sustained founder activity around science-based and regulated technologies, from healthcare innovation to technologies that can move from research environments into commercial applications.
Importantly, the percentages do not represent market share. Startups participating in ARCTIC15 could select multiple industry categories, meaning the figures measure participation levels and founder interest across categories rather than mutually exclusive segments.
The deal-making data tells another part of the story
The industry breakdown is only one way to measure what happened at ARCTIC15 2026.
As ArcticStartup and ARCTIC15 CEO Vedat Öndas noted in a post following the event, the 15th-anniversary edition brought together more than 3,250 participants, with SiRA Connect recording more than 15,000 participant-side meeting interactions during the event.
The post-event data also points to a strong emphasis on business relationships rather than attendance alone. Some 97.4% of respondents said they made at least one useful professional connection, while 63.2% reported making between four and seven. Meanwhile, 92.9% expected at least one serious follow-up after the conference, and 29.5% expected four to seven.
Investor activity was similarly prominent. Some 91.9% of respondents reported having investor conversations, while 90% of startup respondents said they were either fundraising or open to investment.
Overall, participants rated their ARCTIC15 experience 8.5 out of 10.
For us at ArcticStartup, these numbers are particularly relevant because ARCTIC15 was built around a premise that startup events should be measured not only by how many people enter the venue, but by what happens once they are there: who meets whom, which conversations continue, and whether those conversations can develop into investment, partnerships, pilots or commercial relationships.
A broader picture of the Nordic and Baltic ecosystem
Taken together, the data paints a picture of an ecosystem that is becoming more technologically ambitious and more closely connected to the physical economy.
AI and software remain at its core. But alongside them are healthcare technologies, defence, energy, manufacturing, materials and other areas where innovation increasingly depends on scientific research, industrial infrastructure and access to capital.
That shift matters for the region. The Nordic and Baltic countries have long been strong in software, digital infrastructure and consumer technology. The growing presence of capital-intensive and science-based categories suggests that the next phase of the ecosystem may be defined by a different set of challenges — scaling laboratory discoveries, building industrial capacity, navigating regulation, securing long-term financing and bringing technologies from research to market.
ARCTIC15 2026 offered one view of that transition through the companies and founders who participated in the event. The data suggests that the region’s startup story is no longer simply about building the next software company. Increasingly, it is about applying technology to some of the harder problems facing healthcare, energy, security and industry.
The next ARCTIC15 will take place in Helsinki on June 16–17, 2027. You can save your spot now!
Before that, ArcticStartup will bring the ecosystem together for NORDEEP 2026, the fifth-anniversary edition of our Nordic Deep Tech Business Summit, taking place in Espoo on September 16–17. The event will focus on the companies, researchers, investors, corporates and institutions working to turn science-based innovation into scalable businesses. Click here to buy your ticket.
Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/arctic15-2026-data/
