Pikkoo (see our previous coverage) uses Adobe’s Flash Lite technology, already available in tens of millions of mobile phones in the market, and native programming to allow fetching data from web services and displaying that in a custom screensaver while the user’s phone is in idle mode. When seeing something interesting on screen, the user can also choose to interact with the screensaver instead of the screensaver just disappearing with a button press. Pikkoo’s Live Screensaver also offers way to get more detailed information from foreca.mobi.

Pikkoo (see our previous coverage) uses Adobe’s Flash Lite technology, already available in tens of millions of mobile phones in the market, and native programming (mainly Symbian at the moment) to allow fetching data from web services and displaying that in a custom screensaver while the user’s phone is in idle mode.

When seeing something interesting on screen, the user can also choose to interact with the screensaver instead of the screensaver just disappearing with a button press. Foreca Live Weather Screensaver uses this functionality by offering way to go and get more detailed information from foreca.mobi. In this sense the screensaver is essentially another type of widget, featuring information in bits and pieces, and launching the phone browser when further information is wanted.

This seems to be a good win-win partnership – Pikkoo gets associated with an acknowledged brand and lots of traffic to their service; Foreca on the other hand gets another good way to reach out to the mobile consumers with a new service that many will hopefully find useful, and also drive traffic to their mobile site.

Of course, it is easy to see this is just the beginning for Pikkoo – the interactive screensavers could be likewise used in a variety of ways. For example bringing your latest Facebook or Twitter feeds on the idle screen would be a great screensaver. However, to really tap the global mass market, a solution that works well also on other than Symbian phones needs to be found as well. Also the homescreen widgets now becoming more common may pose competition, being a somewhat similar a service. Widgets are after all typically supported by the phone platform by default, while Pikkoo needs to get the user to install an additional piece of software.

Pikkoo, Pikkoo [pick-koo] is the world's first community for anyone to create, download and share interactive Flash Lite mobile screensavers and wallpapers for free. Pikkoo takes mobile personalization to the... More on ArcticIndex.com

Times Online further reports that If it Spotify achieves the valuation it aims for, the company will have almost trebled in value since it sold a £13m stake last autumn to Nordic investors Northzone Ventures and Creandum.

We are excited and for once, think the high valuation is for a very good reason. Just recently in an investor forum I heard a VC who had invested in Spotify proudly stating that Spotify is the next Skype, meaning that it will be the next big Internet service success story coming from the region. They certainly have the right direction and I don’t think I have seen any company have the same potential since. Regardless of whether Spotify ever reaches a $2.6 billion exit (with current exchange rate some €1.87 billion), or exit at all for that matter, I, for one, would invest in a heart beat.

Times Online also reports that Spotify has signed up more than 2m users in Britain since launching last October and that it took almost two years to persuade the four main record labels to let people listen free to their tracks. No small feat in any measure. A rather hilarious move to implicitly draw attention and emphasize the point that their business model works (advertising funded with an option to pay for ad free listening), the company has chosen Chris Anderson’s Free as the first audiobook on Spotify, although currently available only to UK listeners.

Spotify is also well represented on the Europas’ shortlist, TechCrunch Europe Awards 2009 for European and EMEA tech companies, that will be held on July 9 in London.

Disclosure: I am on the The Europas Awards Advisory Board

Spotify, Spotify is a Swedish startup offering a lightweight software application enabling on demand streaming of music. The startup has been able to get the backing for from many major record labels for its... More on ArcticIndex.com

Skype , Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. Skype created a little piece of software that used VOIP technology to connect people around the world via client on their desktop computer... More on ArcticIndex.com

Another interesting factor Mattias told us is that they have over 150 000 registered members and 96% of them are female, aged 18-25 following fashion blogs. It seems Bloglovin has been able to grab this segment extremely well and one could debate on it if they should position themselves simply as an RSS reader for the ladies. I’m sure that market is up for grabs and the competition there is a lot milder when all the large companies are still competing for the attention of the techies (usually guys).

The new site:

The old site:

BLOGLOVIN', Bloglovin' helps you keep track of the blogs you read by letting you know when they update. The service was founded in late 2007 in a garage in Stockholm and has over 150,000 members, 96% of them are... More on ArcticIndex.com

The Karma is, as Fisker puts it, “a beautiful and environmentally friendly car for people who do not want to compromise luxury”. The car uses a small gasoline engine which turns the generator that charges the lithium ion battery pack, which powers the car in normal use. You can configure the car so that it comes with a solar roof which helps to charge the car. The car drives 80 km before it starts to run on gasoline, and it seats four plus sufficient place for luggage. Finally, the design is beautiful, and conveys the image of speed and luxury.

Valmet Automotive is the company building the car in Finland. Valmet signed the deal with Fisker Automotive in November 2008 and production will start an the end of 2009. Their plan is to reach a volume of 15.000 cars per year, while the contract between Valmet and Fisker runs for several years. The reason that Valmet was chosen over their competitors was the quality and speed necessary to reach Fisker’s production goals, and because more than half of Fisker’s sales are expected outside of North America: Valmet represents an ideal international foothold, according to Fisker Automotive CEO, Henrik Fisker.

Valmet, which have been building Porsches since 1997 and thus have ample experience in building premium high-quality cars, enter new territory with the plug-in hybrid Karma. The production process needs to be adapted before the Karma can roll of the manufacturing line, and Valmet to keep investing in new technology to keep its high standard in producing cars. Environmental aspects are key issues for both companies, and they observe them also during the production process. Furthermore, Valmet is developing new technologies for electric vehicle manufacturing, as it is a rapidly growing market in the automotive industry. The company sees that there is a lot of know-how and competences in Finnish electric and automotive companies, and believes that cooperation in the field of development and manufacturing of electric cars could certainly be a promising future industry in Finland.

The first Karmas will be shipped to the USA in the end of 2009. If you’re able to get the Karma in Finland isn’t known yet, though Fisker announced that a network of 40 retailers in Europe will be selling the Karma, starting in 2010. If you’re interested in getting a Karma, you now have the time to start saving the 79.000€ plus VAT before the car is available. However, because you will save on gasoline in the long-term its an investment that can repay itself quickly.

Now the question is if the Karma will be successful. Its direct competitors include the Tesla Model S, but that one won’t be available before 2012. Toyota Prius, still the most successful Hybrid car available, is aiming at another public. The Aptera e2 on the other hand might just look too spacey to appeal to the mainstream. While other car manufacturers are ramping up their R&D in order to develop an electric car, until we see an Audi A8 plug-in hybrid or something similar, Fisker together with Valmet look like being on the right track.

Our Guest Blogger, Hendrik Morkel, is half Dutch/ half German and has lived in the Netherlands, Germany, Honduras and Spain.

Living in Finland since 2002, he has a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Management and a Master’s degree in Corporate Environmental Management.

He liked Finland so much that he decided to stay, and established Korpi Consulting, an environmental management consultancy focused on helping SMEs to optimize their environmental performance.

Hoist is an on demand project collaboration tool joining the long list of business productivity services such as Basecamp. It was launched in private beta at Reboot conference held last week, where I fortunately managed to get a short demo. There’s not too much information found on the site so the best way to find out more is indeed to book a demo meeting, get lucky requesting a test account, or simply wait them to go public later this fall.

Unlike many other services, Hoist is a premium service with a monthly fee based on the number of users instead of number of projects and storage space. Both the number of projects and storage space are unlimited with Hoist.

The service is based on Drupal framework, and as a proper SaaS product it works with all browsers. There’s mobile solution coming soon and I was told that even offline functionality is on the drawing board.

A Hoist project is called a space which is used to work and communicate with people where ever they are. A space consists of one or several apps that can be as simple as to rate an idea or to post an event. One can also create its own apps which then can be submitted to the library of apps. The apps can be reused and modified to suit one’s needs and new projects. 

Help people to work however they like
The company’s core focus is to help people to work without a massive overhead and not having the choice of work tools to be a big IT decision in an organization.

To quote Anders Pollas: “We want to empower people to work however they like. It should be just as easy (and without further consequences) to set up a three person space for a one week project, as it should be to create a network space with several hundred people from a organization.”

The company itself was founded early 2007 by Jon Froda and Anders Pollas. They both had been previously working as consultants and kept running into same scenario each time – the customer needed a wiki, a blog, easy communication tools and so forth. They simply got tired of that and created their own service, resulting in their first product in June the same year. Last Christmas they received funding, and have since then been busy developing the new Hoist, also adding one new member to the crew. The company has paying customers today but is yet to be profitable.

Will it float
For me Hoist seems like a playground with a filled toolbox letting one create just the things one really needs for work. How well that works out needs first hand experience, although the first twitter reports from the workshops held during the private beta launch read positive.

The Hoist’s market space is very competive and crowded with both free and freemium services and applications. That’s also when one needs to bring something unique to the market to have a chance. In addition to make life easier by saving money and time, that is. I personally find the idea of being able to create my own tools to work and collaborate compelling. If they manage to avoid the overhead, keep the UI simple and make the service transportable, I think they can stand the competition.

I’m certainly interested to see where Hoist is headed when they’re ready to hoist the sail.

Hoist, Hoist provides on-demand-software for collaboration. Simple, well-designed, efficient tools that help you work. More on ArcticIndex.com

The company had a very respectable board including Marko Parkkinen a reknown marketing man in Finland, Seppo Sairanen known for making his wealth from the private banking corporation FIM (and having invested into Fruugo). Other members of the board include Lauri Hulkko and Ilkka Seppälä. One thing that does surprise me is the resignation of Parkkinen as the CEO just 15 days before filing for bankruptcy. He had resigned the position on the 15th of June 2009 and the company had filed for bankruptcy on the 30th of June, 2009.

While it is never good to see startups going belly up, you have to admit and give it to people for trying. However, despite encouraging entrepreneurs – this is one idea that I never saw taking off, even in my wildest dreams. I remember talking to Parkkinen about the future of NewsToScreen and he was optimistic about the new course they had been taking with licensing the service to large corporations as a tool for communication. Needless to say, marketing without understanding the fundamentals of business does not work very well.

Oil crisis in 1970’s created a basis for Danish renewable energy production. In those days Denmark imported 99 per cent of all energy used. After 30 years, Denmark has enjoyed an economic growth ( GDP 56 per cent higher since 1980) with reduced CO2 (35 per cent lower since 1980). In 2004, Denmark has the lowest energy consumption per unit in EU countries.

The share of renewable energy of total production in 2004 was 30 per cent, which is among the highest in EU countries and gained without hydro power. Wind power provided almost 20 per cent of electricity in 2007, while biomass and waste represented the rest. Danish national goal for renewable energy is at least double to minimum 30 per cent of total gross energy consumption by 2025.

Denmark uses wide range economic incentives. Taxes and fees are used to affect the consumption of fossil fuels and renewable, and subsidies are used to increase bio-mass utilisation for electricity production and heat. (please look at Renewable Energy in Denmark by Danish Energy Agency)

Danish wind power industry possess around 40 per cent of the global market with a combined turnover of 3 billion euros with manufacturers. Danish wind power is a great success story altough public incentives have also been supported to biomass and solar collectors. The first projects in 1970’s began privately with public support on R&D. The first public grants, support for installations and advantageous feed-in prices introduced in 1980’s, increasing the development in large scale turbine development. The capital investment grant was revoked in 1990’s. Within few years wind power is expected to compete with fossil fuels without significant subisidies in Denmark (see a Fact Sheet by Danish Energy Authority).

Denmark started to decentralise heat and power production from centralised towards decentralised system. The point was to locate large number of minor plants all over the Country close to end-users to use heat in local District Heating system. Denmark has now more than 700 power plants with different technologies and systems. By using decentralised CHP system, Denmark has reduced fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent and increased the net efficiency of fuel significantly. 

Danish government’s proactive trade strategy to promote Small and Medium Size Enterprises (in cleantech) export trade deserves a special attention. The Trade Council of Denmark (Danida) is the export and investment organization within the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The key task, clearly, is to promote trade and identify trade barriers and provide solutions to break them down. It has set very transparent strategic objectives, targets and follow-up indicators   (please scroll down to page 3) for their operations. In 2006, even 96 per cent of enterprises were satisfied or very satisfied on Danida’s services. (I tried to catch benchmark figures of public organizations in other countries but didn’t find them..)

Dazzboard wants to become a non-proprietary, web-based personal portal for storing, organizing and sharing (via different of social networks) songs, photos, videos and other media content. Ideally, with Dazzboard you can sync anything with a memory to store your content.

Dazzboard overview from getdazzboard on Vimeo.

Now, part of why we have all few in love with Apple’s products and the effortless integration between devices and the web is exactly because they have been so anal about keeping the system closed. Once you allow for variation, numerous formats and technologies to interact the user experience normally goes south. Take Windows and Nokia. It’s not that they have not tried to make it an effortless and great experience. Nor it is about the people. For example, there are just as smart and capable people at Nokia as there are in Apple designing these experiences.  It just doesn’t work like it does if you tightly control every node in the system, and the number of devices and technologies that need to talk to each other is pushed to minimum.

Linkotec states that their ‘target market is the 2 billion mobile phone and media device users worldwide that are currently poorly supported in the arena of media management.’ A respectable market, but this is where the problems come it. No matter how great a product Dazzboard is, there is still the user experience of those 2 billion devices that Linkotec can’t influence versus one Iphone that Apple has 100% influence over.

All this does not of course mean that Dazzboard won’t be a big success. Naturally many individual products running on open platforms are big successes even though they don’t sync flawlessly with every single device. And in this context Dazzboard really is promising. For starters Dazzboard with Palm Pre does not sound that bad at all. Only set back is that currently Dazzboard supports only Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows “with support for more browsers and platforms coming in the near future.” So I am left waiting to see it in action.

We have 50 beta invites for Dazzboard here. Go check it out!

LinkoTec Oy, dazzboard is the universal media manager, web application that connects mobile devices, PC and the Web and manages media between those dazzboard is like open iTunes, supporting all portable devices,... More on ArcticIndex.com

The deal was shortly after the announcement confirmed by TPB, whereby Peter Sunde, the spokesperson of TPB, turned off his phone having too many people calling. According to him the 20 million users of TPB shouldn’t we worried. It is merely time to pass TPB on to secure it’s further development and future. To quote: “Don’t worry, be happy!”

The company GGF presents itself as having the biggest network of Internet cafés and gaming centers in the world. It provides advertisers, software publishers and service providers with an unprecedented access to the large group of tourists and the large gamer community that visit these centers.

“We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and
copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site” 

The words are of Hans Pandeya, CEO GGF (Press release in English, PDF). In the press conference held this morning he told the new business models for TPB to consist of optimizing the network traffic, the Internet operators to be paying part of the bill, as well as of advertising. The press conference (in Swedish) was streamed live by SvD and can be found on Bambuser.

Rumors about Global Gaming Factory X

GGF is reported to be short on capital. The company is listed on Aktietorget, which according to Finansinspektionen (FI) ,the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, is not an authorized marketplace since 2007. There are already rumours in the Swedish press about the questionability of the business ethics of the CEO Hans Pandeya, and the probability of TPB transaction to go through.

According to Hans Pandeya the financing is secured by several private investors being very interested in financing the acquisition. He wouldn’t mention any names but told them to be persons living in Stockholm, near to one another.

Peerialism also to be acquired

Peerialism that just couple of months ago was one the finalists to pitch at Mini Seedcamp Helsingborg, was acquired along by GGF for MSEK 100 consisting of at least MSEK 50 in cash and up to the equivalent of MSEK 50 in newly issued shares in GGF. The company develops solutions for data distribution and distributed storage based on the new p2p technology, providing technical solutions to support the new business models of TBP.

Who gets the money

According TPB itself, all the profits from the sale will go into a foundation to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets. Peter Sunde replied on the question whether they will pay the RIAA their “fair” share: “The industry won’t get a cent from the sale. I fucking hate that industry. TPB needs to get competition.”

It sure sounds like an interesting story to be continued, as everything around TPB seems to be. You can catch up on the previous TPB trial here.

Peerialism, Peerialism develops solutions to transport and store data on the Internet. Example solutions are video distribution for content owners and IP traffic optimization for broadband operators. The solutions... More on ArcticIndex.com

Grow VC launches today an invitiation-only private beta of their “Venture Capital 2.0″ service. Grow VC aims to better enable early stage funding for mobile and web 2.0 startup companies by using a community-based approach. The size of investments Grow VC is looking to facilitate ranges from USD $10,000 to $1M. Grow VC has been founded by Finnish serial entrepreneurs Jouko Ahvenainen and Valto Loikkanen.

The problem Grow VC is trying to solve is the traditional venture capital claimed being too locally-focused, and difficult and cumbersome to obtain for many new web and mobile startups. The founders Valto and Jouko state that VC firms do not nowadays need or want to get involved with smaller investments, while web and mobile 2.0 startups do not need big funding in the early stage. Another problem Grow VC is looking to solve is the difficulty of attracting angel investors outside the entrepreneurs’  local network and on the other hand angels’ lack of a structure for global diversification.

The plans for the service are big. Valto Loikkanen, acting as CEO, explains that they want to build the first truly transparent, international, and community-based approach to early stage funding. The service allows entrepreneurs and investors to find and connect with each other globally. It also provides tools for facilitating the process. Information is said to be shared transparently in the community, offering interactive approach to funding instead of the traditional one-sided VC process.

The service seems like a quite normal web community in that entrepreneurs and investors create profiles of themselves and their businesses. Everyone’s profile will be open for community’s comments to allow for reputation building.

During the private Beta one can join free with an invitation, but later on, Grow VC will collect membership fees starting from USD $150, based on the size of the funding sought. Part of the private Beta is already a partner program, in which different local or regional incubators, event organisers, law firms, and similar service providers can make themselves known to the service community. The public launch of Grow VC will follow later in 2009, and is said to include “more innovative investment methods”.

If you want to try out the service, we have 50 invitations for ArcticStartup readers: the code is AS50.

Grow VC International Limited, Grow VC is Venture Capital 2.0, bringing the first truly transparent, international, community-based approach to early stage funding. Grow VC can help mobile and web 2.0 startup stars secure initial... More on ArcticIndex.com

So what’s the catch behind TheVideoBay? The most notable one is the fact that it uses a totally different technology for the media files than other sites out there. TheVideBay aims to take advantage of the new features in HTML5, more notably the <video> and <audio> tags with the ogg/theora video and audio formats.

The site itself is in its very stages of infancy and you cannot really talk about a functioning service just yet. One is able to browse the material there, but once you click on an audio or a video file, the user is prompted for a username and password.

There is no word on the launch schedule of the site or what other features it will have, compared to YouTube for example. Nevertheless, it is great to see some action coming out from ThePirateBay guys even though they must be going through difficult times.

Our sponsors who made it possible for the 16 startups to get their voice out

Our event is made possible by our Sponsors. Do take time to get to know them – they are one of the most interesting organisations in the industry. We hand pick our sponsors to bring value to the evenings – these guys are truly worth your time.

Sombiz

Sombiz is a Social Media Business Network of Finnish social media & Web 2.0 companies, research institutions, and other organisations and individuals operating in the field of social media.

Sombiz provides a network for organisations to collaborate, learn from each other, and create partnerships. By connecting business with research Sombiz is stimulating the creation of new innovations. The ultimate goal for Sombiz is to find new business opportunities and help companies to grow and go international.

Sombiz operates as a thematic network of the Finnish Digibusiness Cluster and is a part of the government funded Centre of Expertise Programme (OSKE). In 2008 the building of the Sombiz network was selected as the national “OSKE Top Project”. The project is funded by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

The background organisation of Sombiz is Technology Centre Hermia Ltd.

Sombiz is a Finnish-based network operating internationally. The strategy of Sombiz is a “BUGC” approach: linking Business, Universities, Government, and Communities in order to build and boost the social media business ecosystem.

Hammarström Puhakka Partners

Hammarström Puhakka Partners, Attorneys Ltd is a law firm specialised in business law. The firm has a good corporate practice with experienced M&A advisers acting constantly for domestic and cross-border clients. Specialists provide M&A services to public and private companies relating to assignments concerning private equity and venture capital transactions. The firm is constantly involved with complex transactions in connection with private equity firms and experienced in advising private equity/venture capital investors in divesting their investments.

Thomas Madsen-Mygdal and Nikolaj Nyholm

Thomas and Nikolaj are among other things angel investors and very active players in the startup market. They want to support the Copenhagen ArcticEvening and create value for the whole industry. You can follow them on twitter or read their blogs.

Thomas twitter.com/mygdal www.bootstrapping.net/

Nikolaj twitter.com/nikolaj radar.oreilly.com/nikolaj/

We had altogether 16 startups presenting, each having 3 minutes to tell how they’re planning on changing the world. And so they did. We filmed all of them and are now busy editing the footage, and will pushed it out to you guys as soon as we have the videos ready. It was a great evening and I had a blast. Thank you Copenhagen!

Before we get the videos out, here are captions that Paula got on film.

Here’s some other coverage of the event that touches the companies that presented by Johan Lange (live report here) and Fredrik Stenbeck (here in Swedish).

Our sponsors who made it possible for the 16 startups to get their voice out

Our event is made possible by our Sponsors. Do take time to get to know them – they are one of the most interesting organisations in the industry. We hand pick our sponsors to bring value to the evenings – these guys are truly worth your time.

Sombiz

Sombiz is a Social Media Business Network of Finnish social media & Web 2.0 companies, research institutions, and other organisations and individuals operating in the field of social media.

Sombiz provides a network for organisations to collaborate, learn from each other, and create partnerships. By connecting business with research Sombiz is stimulating the creation of new innovations. The ultimate goal for Sombiz is to find new business opportunities and help companies to grow and go international.

Sombiz operates as a thematic network of the Finnish Digibusiness Cluster and is a part of the government funded Centre of Expertise Programme (OSKE). In 2008 the building of the Sombiz network was selected as the national “OSKE Top Project”. The project is funded by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

The background organisation of Sombiz is Technology Centre Hermia Ltd.

Sombiz is a Finnish-based network operating internationally. The strategy of Sombiz is a “BUGC” approach: linking Business, Universities, Government, and Communities in order to build and boost the social media business ecosystem.

Hammarström Puhakka Partners

Hammarström Puhakka Partners, Attorneys Ltd is a law firm specialised in business law. The firm has a good corporate practice with experienced M&A advisers acting constantly for domestic and cross-border clients. Specialists provide M&A services to public and private companies relating to assignments concerning private equity and venture capital transactions. The firm is constantly involved with complex transactions in connection with private equity firms and experienced in advising private equity/venture capital investors in divesting their investments.

Thomas Madsen-Mygdal and Nikolaj Nyholm

Thomas and Nikolaj are among other things angel investors and very active players in the startup market. They want to support the Copenhagen ArcticEvening and create value for the whole industry. You can follow them on twitter or read their blogs.

Thomas twitter.com/mygdal www.bootstrapping.net/

Nikolaj twitter.com/nikolaj radar.oreilly.com/nikolaj/

Lapland Studios has been previously providing outsourcing services to advertising agencies, film studios as well as some game developers. They also have two seperate subsidiary companies; Mine Studios and Inaria Interactive. Mine Studios concentrate on mobile games while Inaria Interactive will expand into the console gaming market.

Lapland Studios newest release is Lead the Meerkats, a game of strategy intertwined with storytelling. For the moment it is planned to be released on the Nintendo WiiWare platform, but could later be seen on the DS hand console as well. The development costs for the game are around 250 000 euros, which is very reasonable for a good quality game.

Mine Studios on the other hand is expanding as well. They are currently recruiting developers for the iPhone as they have 5 new games being developed for the platform. This is another sign of how important the iPhone is seen as a platform – Mine Studios do not have plans to grow into the S60 market. Then again, if you look at the devices they are developing for, the Nintendo Wii and iPhone, both have some similarities in the ways they are controlled.

One thing that strikes me is the quotation Lapland Studios CEO Ilkka Immonen says about the Finnish gaming industry, “Finland doesn’t have a strong background in game developement and it shows in lack of experience”. This in my opinion is very contradictory as Finland has been praised many times for its game industry and how it works. For a country of 5,2 million people, I think we’re doing relatively well.

Lapland Studio, Lapland Studio is a 3D graphics creation, post-production and game company headquartered in Northern Finland with site office in Helsinki. Lapland Studio was established in 2004 and is a privately... More on ArcticIndex.com