Helsinki, Finland · Startup Aiven is a Helsinki-based cloud data platform founded in 2016 that provides fully managed open-source data infrastructure services including PostgreSQL, Apache Kafka, Redis, Elasticsearch, and ClickHouse across all major cloud providers. The company raised over $270 million including a $210 million Series D in 2022 at a $3 billion valuation, making it Finland's most valuable startup at the time. Aiven serves thousands of customers globally and employs over 500 people. By abstracting the operational complexity of open-source data tools, Aiven enables engineering teams to focus on building rather than managing infrastructure.
Helsinki, Finland · Event Nordic startup and investor matchmaking conference in Helsinki with a focus on curated 1:1 meetings between founders, VCs, and corporate partners. Known for its high meeting-to-attendee ratio and strong Nordic/Baltic deal flow.
Helsinki, Finland · Event Organisator ArcticStartup is a Helsinki-based media and events organization covering the Nordic and Baltic startup ecosystem since 2007. It produces NORDEEP, positioning it as Northern Europe's first and only deep tech conference with a business focus, with the mission to unlock deep tech potential by connecting startups, researchers, investors, and corporations. The organization runs the annual NORDEEP Nordic Deep Tech Business Summit in Espoo, Finland, expecting 750+ attendees and 200+ startups at each edition.
Helsinki, Finland · Event Finland's legendary demoscene and gaming festival, running since 1992, now combines its traditional demo competitions with esports tournaments, indie-game showcases, and creative-coding workshops. 5,000+ attendees bring their computers for a LAN party atmosphere. Relevant to gaming, creative-coding, and entertainment-tech startups as both a community event and a recruiting ground for engine and graphics talent.
Helsinki, Finland · Support Organization Business Finland is the Finnish government agency for innovation funding and trade, investment, and travel promotion, formed in 2018 from the merger of Finpro and Tekes. It is one of the most significant public funding sources for startups in Europe, distributing hundreds of millions of euros annually in grants, loans, and R&D funding to Finnish companies at all stages. For startups, Business Finland offers the Tempo funding program (up to EUR 50,000 for early validation), NIY (up to EUR 1.25M for scaling), and various R&D project grants for deep tech and industrial innovation. The agency also operates a global network of offices helping Finnish startups enter international markets, and runs targeted programs for sectors including cleantech, health, gaming, and AI. Business Finland plays a foundational role in Finland's innovation system and is a key reason Helsinki has become one of Europe's leading startup cities.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup CurifyLabs is a Helsinki-based HealthTech company automating the production of personalised medicines. Its Compounding System Solution combines proprietary software, GMP-manufactured excipient bases, and 3D-printing hardware (including the PharmaPrinter Aurum) to let pharmacies compound and dispense custom-dosed medications up to nine times faster than manual methods. Founded in 2021 by Charlotta Topelius and Niklas Sandler — a professor of pharmaceutical technology at Åbo Akademi University with over a decade researching automated compounding — the company's technology is already in use across pharmacies in 21 U.S. states and multiple European countries. In July 2026, CurifyLabs closed a $14 million Series A, co-led by Sandwater and HealthCap with participation from Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd.) and existing investor Lifeline Ventures, to expand its compounding platform.
Helsinki, Finland · Person David Sonnek is the CEO of Navigare Ventures, a Nordic venture capital and ecosystem development organization focused on supporting deep tech startups across Scandinavia and Finland. He has played a significant role in building cross-border collaboration between Nordic startups, investors, and research institutions, and is a regular participant in the Nordic technology conference circuit. Sonnek is a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup HappySignals is the leading SaaS platform for IT Experience Management (ITXM), measuring how employees perceive IT services and translating that data into productivity and service quality improvements. Founded in Helsinki in 2014, the platform covers over one million employees across 130 countries and integrates with major ITSM tools. In 2024 the company raised €12 million led by Mandatum Asset Management to fund global expansion. Customers using the platform report an average 26% increase in end-user productivity, and the company hosted the inaugural ITXM Summit in London in May 2026.
Helsinki, Finland · Event The Nordics' largest design festival, running for 10+ days across Helsinki with 200,000+ visitors, 250+ events, and a dedicated design-business program for creative startups, service designers, and UX studios. Features exhibitions, pop-ups, talks, and the Design Forum pitching event. Most events free. Useful for creative-tech, UX tooling, and design-software founders looking to connect with Nordic design buyers.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Icebreaker.vc was founded in 2017 in Helsinki by Aleksi Partanen, Lasse Lehtinen, Riku Sepälä, and Teddie Wardi to address the pre-seed funding gap in Finland, Estonia, and Sweden. The firm targets idea-stage companies with tickets of €150,000–€1.5 million, with Fund III targeting €30 million. Portfolio standouts include Hoxhunt (raised $40M Series B), Aibidia ($28M Series B), and ReOrbit (€45M Series A). Icebreaker is known for its diversity focus, backing 3.5× more immigrant founders than the Finnish VC average.
Helsinki, Finland · Person Inka Mero is the Founder and Managing Partner of Voima Ventures, a Finnish deep tech venture capital firm focused on science-based startups in quantum computing, synthetic biology, and advanced materials. She is one of Finland's most prominent venture investors and a vocal advocate for translating Nordic academic research into globally competitive companies. Mero is a regular keynote speaker at deep tech and innovation events across Europe and is a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Inventure was founded in 2005 in Helsinki by Timo Tirkkonen, with Tuomas Kosonen (ex-Nokia, ex-Rovio CFO) joining shortly after; the firm manages approximately €377 million in assets under management across four funds, with Fund IV closing at €144 million. The firm backs Seed and Series A companies across the Nordics and Baltics with tickets of €300,000–€5 million, focusing on deep tech, B2B SaaS, consumer internet, health tech, and AI. Its portfolio includes Wolt, Swappie, and Stravito. Inventure is one of the most established and prolific seed-stage investors in the Nordic ecosystem.
Helsinki, Finland · Person Jacob Fellman is a Partner at NGP Capital, a global venture capital firm with Nordic roots that originated from Nokia's venture investment program and now invests independently in technology companies across Europe, the United States, and Asia. He focuses on deep tech and software investments with a strong presence in the Nordic startup ecosystem. Fellman is a confirmed investor speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Helsinki, Finland · Event Europe's largest hackathon, held in Helsinki with 1,500+ developers, designers, and entrepreneurs building products in 48 hours around challenges set by corporate partners. Winners receive cash prizes and fast-track access to accelerators. Free admission (application-based).
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Lifeline Ventures was founded in 2009 in Helsinki by Petteri Koponen and Timo Ahopelto and has grown into Finland's largest VC focused on unlisted growth companies, raising its €400 million Fund VI in 2025. The firm invests at the angel and seed stage with tickets of €100,000–€2 million, backing sector-agnostic founders from day one across Europe. Lifeline has seeded most of Finland's best-known unicorns, including Supercell (acquired by Tencent for $8.6B), Wolt (acquired by DoorDash for $8.1B), Oura, ICEYE, and Aiven. With over 115 portfolio companies and more than a dozen exits, it is the benchmark early-stage firm in the Finnish ecosystem.
Helsinki, Finland · Event Organisator Founded in Helsinki in 1995 by Kari Korkman, Luovi Productions is a cultural event production company specializing in curation, production, and communication for the design field. The company organizes Helsinki Design Week, the largest design and architecture festival in the Nordic region, held annually in late August and early September. Luovi Productions also produces the Fiskars Village Art and Design Biennale and PechaKucha events in Finland, and publishes Helsinki Design Weekly, a media outlet covering Finnish design culture.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Maki.vc was founded in 2018 in Helsinki by serial entrepreneur and Slush Chairman Ilkka Kivimäki and former F-Secure executive Pirkka Palomäki, and now manages €260 million across three funds. Its November 2024 Fund III of €100 million targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies across the Nordics and Northern Europe, with tickets of €300,000–€3 million, focusing on deep tech, AI-native, quantum computing, green tech, and brand-driven consumer startups. The fund is backed by LPs including founders of Skype, Wise, RELEX Solutions, Aiven, and Supercell. Portfolio includes IQM Quantum Computers (unicorn 2025) and Enfuce.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital NGP Capital is a global venture capital firm that originated from Nokia's venture investment program and now operates independently, investing in technology startups across Europe, the United States, and Asia. The firm focuses on software, deep tech, and digital infrastructure investments and has maintained a strong presence in the Nordic startup ecosystem since its founding. NGP Capital has offices in Helsinki, Menlo Park, and Beijing, making it one of the Nordic region's most internationally active VC funds.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Nightingale Health is the global leader in NMR-based metabolomics, quantifying 250 blood biomarkers from a single sample to enable large-scale disease risk detection and prevention. Founded in Helsinki, it completed the analysis of all 500,000 UK Biobank samples, creating the world's largest blood biomarker database. Listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Main Market since March 2025, the company is deploying its technology into Finnish public healthcare in 2026 through wellbeing services counties. It also partnered with Alamar Biosciences to expand into brain health proteomics.
Helsinki, Finland · Event Europe's leading business and leadership conference with 7,500+ attendees and world-class speakers (past speakers include Barack Obama, Brene Brown, and Reid Hoffman). Focuses on leadership, strategy, and scaling. Premium pricing from EUR 2,000+ but unmatched networking with Nordic business elite.
Helsinki, Finland · Person Pekka Laurila is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of ICEYE, the Finnish company that pioneered commercial SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite technology for earth observation. ICEYE has grown to operate one of the world's largest commercial SAR satellite constellations, serving customers in insurance, government, and disaster response globally. Laurila is a well-known figure in the Nordic space technology and deep tech ecosystems and is a keynote speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Helsinki, Finland · Event An international games-industry B2B conference within Finnish Games Week, connecting Nordic indies, developers, publishers, and investors, with indie pitch competitions and investor matchmaking.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup RELEX Solutions delivers a unified AI-native platform for retail and consumer goods supply chain planning, covering demand forecasting, inventory replenishment, space & assortment planning, pricing, and workforce management. Founded in 2005 by three supply chain scientists from Helsinki University of Technology, the company has grown to over 2,400 employees in 21 countries and raised more than $816 million in total funding, reaching a $5.7 billion valuation. Its customers include major European and North American retailers and manufacturers.
Helsinki, Finland · Person Risto Siilasmaa is a Finnish serial entrepreneur and corporate board leader, best known as the founder of WithSecure (formerly F-Secure), one of the most recognized cybersecurity companies to emerge from the Nordic region. He served as Chairman of Nokia from 2012 to 2020, steering the company through its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent and its transformation into a major 5G infrastructure provider. Siilasmaa is a frequent keynote speaker on technology leadership and board governance and is a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Helsinki, Finland · Person Sabrina Manisalco is the CEO and Co-founder of Algorithmiq, a Helsinki-based quantum computing startup developing quantum algorithms for pharmaceutical and life sciences applications. She is also a Professor of Quantum Information at the University of Helsinki, making her a prominent academic-entrepreneur bridging fundamental research and commercial deep tech. Manisalco is a recognized figure in the European quantum ecosystem and a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Helsinki, Finland · Event Organisator One of the world's leading startup and tech events, connecting founders and investors. Slush is an event organiser based in Helsinki, Finland. Organising events in the Events, Startup Ecosystem space.
Helsinki, Finland · Event One of the world's largest and most iconic startup and investor events, held at Messukeskus Helsinki. Attracts 13,000+ attendees, 4,000+ startups, and 2,500+ investors for curated matchmaking, founder stages, and side events. A must-attend for any European founder seeking Series A-B funding. Tickets from EUR 500.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Smartly is an AI-powered advertising platform that enables brands and agencies to automate and optimise paid social and cross-channel ad campaigns at scale. Founded in Helsinki in 2013, the platform handles creative automation, campaign management and performance analytics across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, Amazon DSP and connected TV. The company serves over 700 enterprise advertisers globally and reported $221 million in annual revenue in 2026. Its AI Studio has generated nearly two million creative assets, delivering an average 27% performance lift versus static creatives.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Solar Foods produces Solein, a single-cell protein made via gas fermentation using CO2, hydrogen and electricity — entirely decoupled from agriculture. Founded in 2017 as a VTT and LUT University spin-off, the company opened the world's first commercial-scale air-protein facility in Vantaa in 2024. In 2026 it is advancing its EFSA novel food approval and finalising the investment decision for Factory 02 in Lappeenranta, which will scale annual capacity from 160 to 6,400 tonnes. Fortum is a key investor and strategic partner for district heating integration.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Steady Energy develops the LDR-50, a simplified small modular reactor (SMR) delivering 50 MW of thermal output for zero-carbon district heating. Founded in 2023 as a spin-off from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the company raised €32 million and in February 2026 poured first concrete for a full-scale non-nuclear pilot plant inside Helsinki's former Salmisaari coal power station. Fortum and Finnish energy utility Helen are strategic partners. Steady Energy is also expanding to Sweden, targeting district heating decarbonisation across the Nordic region.
Helsinki, Finland · Person Stina Wallmark is Investment Director for Life Sciences at Voima Ventures, a leading Finnish venture capital firm investing in deep technology and life sciences startups. She focuses on early-stage science-based companies in the Nordic and Baltic region. Voima Ventures is recognized as one of Finland's most active investors in transformative science-based innovation across health, biology, and materials.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Supercell is a Helsinki-based mobile games studio founded in 2010 by Ilkka Paananen (CEO), Mikko Kodisoja, Petri Styrman, Lassi Leppinen, Visa Forstén and Niko Derome. It publishes some of the highest-grossing mobile games ever made — Clash of Clans, Hay Day, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars — reaching around 290 million monthly active players and €2.65bn in 2025 revenue. Its 'cell' model gives small autonomous teams of 5–7 full authority to greenlight and kill games, treating cancelled prototypes as learning rather than failure.
Supercell was backed early by European VCs Lifeline Ventures (Helsinki), Accel and Atomico (London) and Index Ventures, raising a $130M Series B in 2013. SoftBank and GungHo acquired 51% that year; in 2016 a Tencent-led consortium paid $8.6bn for ~84% at a ~$10.2bn valuation, with Tencent consolidating majority control by 2019. Tencent has kept Supercell operationally independent in Helsinki, with remaining shares held by employees.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Swappie is a European recommerce platform specialising in certified refurbished iPhones and iPads, selling to consumers across more than 20 countries with a 12-month warranty. Founded in 2016 in Helsinki, it refurbishes devices through a 52-stage technical process at its facilities in Helsinki and Tallinn, and has served over two million customers. The company raised $124 million in Series C funding and has 586 employees as of early 2026. Swappie transitioned to a fully online model in 2025, closing retail stores to focus on its digital marketplace.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Helsinki-based decentralised social coding platform built on the AT Protocol, the same open standard powering Bluesky. Provides federated Git hosting, pull-request workflows, and social discovery for developers, positioning itself as a European alternative to GitHub. Raised €3.8M seed from byFounders with participation from GitHub's ex-CEO.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Varjo designs and manufactures industrial-grade virtual and mixed reality headsets used in professional simulation, defence training, and engineering visualisation. Founded in 2016 in Helsinki by Nokia and Microsoft alumni, the company has raised over $200 million and pivoted strongly toward military and defence customers. In 2026 it launched ready-to-deploy XR systems for air-gapped and secure environments, backed by a €40 million R&D programme co-funded by Business Finland, and attracted a €5 million strategic investment from defence technology firm THEON.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Voima Ventures was founded in 2019 in Helsinki by Inka Mero, a serial entrepreneur and investor, and specialises exclusively in science-based deep tech spin-outs from universities and research institutions across the Nordics and Baltics. The firm raised its third fund of €90 million in 2023, bringing total assets above €100 million, and invests €200,000–€3 million at the earliest stages in biotech, quantum, AI, energy, climate, and life sciences. Over 70% of its 51 portfolio companies originate directly from academic labs, including Solar Foods. Voima is one of the few female-founded and female-led VC funds in the Nordics.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Wolt is a Helsinki-based delivery platform founded in 2014 by Miki Kuusi that expanded from restaurant food delivery into grocery, retail, and merchandise delivery across 27 countries. Known for its polished user experience and strong operational execution, Wolt became one of the Nordic region's most successful consumer tech companies. DoorDash acquired Wolt in 2022 for approximately $8.1 billion in an all-stock deal, using Wolt as its vehicle for international expansion. The Wolt brand and Helsinki-based team continue to operate DoorDash's business outside North America and Japan.