Helsinki has become the leading startup ecosystem in Europe with more than 537 startups based in the city. It is no surprise that the city’s digital economy is the most advanced in Europe, with a consistently robust performance from its venture capital funds that foster startups to grow.
Helsinki has gained significant acclaim as a startup hub. Its emergence is driven by several factors — a highly educated workforce, robust technological infrastructure, and a societal dedication to equality and openness.
Several homegrown have achieved great success even on the global stage. Here is a list of the hottest startups that are gaining attention in Helsinki to watch out for in 2024.
Doublepoint
Founders: Ohto Pentikäinen, Jamin Hu, Lauri Tuominen, and Eemil Visakorpi
Founded Year: 2020
Funding: €3M
Hiring: Yes, check out the job opportunities here
Doublepoint is a touch interface startup that develops more intuitive and versatile touch interfaces for electronic devices like smartwatches. It uses algorithmic programming and proprietary hardware that measures gestures through small vibrations generated by touch.
The startup’s debut product is a machine-learning algorithm that detects micro gestures using highly sensitive smartwatch sensors. It also offers a free software development kit to transform existing smartwatches into input devices.
Doublepoint has secured around €3M in funding from backers, including FOV Ventures, Superangel VC, and Superhero Capital.
Exolyt
Founders: Henri Malkki, Jonne Bovellán, and Mauri Karlin
Founded Year: 2020
Funding: €450K
Hiring: No.
Exolyt is an all-in-one TikTok analytics tool developed with AI to assist businesses in monitoring accounts and trends. The Helsinki-based startup targets brands, marketing agencies, product developers, and researchers, with over 100 customers to date.
The tools can be used for account management, data synchronisation, video monitoring, and influencer advertising campaign analysis. It also tracks the performance of individual music tracks on the platform.
Exolyt received $450K in pre-seed financing from local venture capital firms Trado Capital and Founder’s Edge.
Flowrite
Founders: Aaro Isosaari and Karolus Sariola
Founded Year: 2020
Funding: €4.7M
Hiring: No
Flowrite is a writing productivity tool designed to help users in composing emails and messages. The startup utilises AI to instantly transform word sequences into ready-to-send emails, messages, and posts while preserving the user’s writing style.
The startup raised €550K in a pre-seed round in 2020, featuring investors like Lifeline Ventures, Seedcamp, and Unity founder David Helgason.
Flowrite has raised a total of $5.1M (€4.7M), attracting investment from venture capital firms, including Moodfire Ventures and Project A.
Solar Foods Oy
Founders: Juha-Pekka Pitkänen and Pasi Vainikka
Founded Year: 2017
Funding: €104.3M
Hiring: Yes, check out the job opportunities here
Solar Foods Oy is a biotechnology and food processing startup from Helsinki that produces a new kind of sustainable protein. The company started the construction of its inaugural commercial-scale production facility, Factory 01, in 2021 to produce the proteins.
The startup produces a nutrient-rich protein using carbon dioxide from air and electricity, following the motto’ food out of thin air.’ This innovative method solves weather, climate and agriculture dependency issues and emphasises sustainability.
Solar Foods Oy has secured $113.2M (€104.3M) over 14 rounds, the most recent being a $8M (€7.4M) investment in November 2023. The capital raised will ramp up production at Factory 01, utilising new production organisms and commercialisation.
Yahaha
Founders: Chris Zhu, Hao Min, and Penfei Zhang
Founded Year: 2020
Funding: €111M
Hiring: No
Yahaha is a gaming startup based in Helsinki and Shanghai that provides a unique platform for game developers and players. Yahaha was founded by a group of Chinese gaming vets in 2020.
This platform enables developers to create and share their games, offering a spotlight to emerging talents with new ideas. The low-coding game creation and distribution platform allows users to engage in an immersive virtual world of metaverse games.
Yahaha has secured $40M (€36.8M) in its latest round in November 2022. In total, the startup has raised an impressive $121M (€111M) from twelve investors over three rounds.
P2X Solutions
Founders: Herkko Plit
Founded Year: 2020
Funding: €26M
Hiring: Yes, check out the job opportunities here
Founded in 2020 by Herkko Plit, P2X Solutions is a startup that produces green hydrogen and power-to-x technology. Their innovative approach involves converting electricity into carbon-neutral synthetic fuels.
P2X Solutions plans to establish several production plants of green hydrogen and synthetic fuel plants in Finland. The company aims to produce a total of 1 GW of hydrogen production capacity by 2031.
The company secured €26M grant for new energy technology development from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. In total, the company has raised $63.52M (€58.5) over three rounds.
Return Entertainment
Founders: Samuli Syvähuoko, Miika Huttunen, Anna Lappalainen
Founded Year: 2019
Funding: €5.7M
Hiring: Yes, check out the job opportunities here
Return Entertainment is a startup that specialises in cloud-native technology and SmartTV gaming. The technology ensures instant and shareable gaming experiences with high-quality visual effects.
The startup, co-founded by Antti Sartanen, Miikka Huttunen, and Tuomas Paavola, has secured €5.7M in funding through pre-seed and seed rounds. Notable investors include Samsung Next and various venture capital firms like Sisu Game Ventures and Vgames.
Veri
Founders: Anttoni Aniebonam, Frans Lehmusvaara, Verneri Jaamuru
Founded Year: 2019
Funding: €10.8M
Hiring: No
Veri is a Helsinki-based startup that is dedicated to enhancing users’ metabolic health. The company offers guidance on dietary choices, eating habits, and meal frequency, utilising a blood sugar sensor integrated with a mobile app.
The healthcare startup has successfully secured funding multiple times, including €7.5M Series A in June 2022. Overall, the startup has amassed a total of €10.8M from five investors, including Lifeline Ventures and Accel.
Metacore Games
Founders: Aki Jarvilehto and Mika Tammenkoski
Founded Year: 2020
Funding: €200.3M
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here
Metacore Games is a mobile game development studio from Helsinki that has rapidly achieved success and is now expanding to Berlin. The startup creates chart-topping gaming experiences and is one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe.
Its most notable game, Merge Mansion, has garnered over 50 million players. The company also passed a revenue of €129M in 2022. Since its inception, the game studio secured a total funding amount of $217.5M (€ 200.3M) over six rounds.
AppFollow
Founders: Anatoly Sharifulin and Eugene Kruglov
Founded Year: 2014
Funding: €7.3M
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here
AppFollow is a Helsinki-based startup that aids companies in managing and monitoring mobile app reviews, ratings, downloads and search positions from all major app stores. The company has garnered the trust of over 30,000 companies for its services.
The startup also offers to increase an app’s visibility in stores and download numbers to help companies overcome the highly competitive market. AppFollow allows app owners to track keyword performance and track competitors and market leaders.AppFollow has raised a total funding of $7.3M (€6.7M), including the €995K investment from Vendep Capital and RTP Global.
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/helsinki-10-startups-this-year/
