CRF Health Ltd, a Finnish provider of electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePRO) solutions for the Life Sciences industry, has announced changes in company's share ownership. 3i, a venture capital firm, which had invested into the company in three different rounds (2nd, 3rd, 4th), sold their shares to the founders of the company, Timo Ahopelto, Jarkko Joki-Tokola and Jaakko Ollila. The trio negotiated the price to €6 million, which is likely much less than 3i invested into the company. The reason why 3i would agree to such an agreement lies in their strategic decision to exit venture based investements due the downturn in high tech industry.
Other investors, which will remain with the company, are Nordic Venture Partners and SMAC Partners. Click source to read further details.
The Finnish funding agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES) has granted songHi.com - a company making musical games and apps – the YIC Grant.YIC (Young Innovative Companies) grant is only admitted to companies that have remarkable competitive advantage, growth-oriented internationalization strategy and strong R&D operations. Altogether, SongHi has thus became the 52nd company granted the financing in a program which is only aimed at the top-tier of Finnish companies. The YIC funding can reach up to €1 million in total.
SongHi Entertainment Ltd is a fast-growing Music 2.0 company making musical games and apps for the web and mobile platforms. The company was founded by long-term professionals from the music and entertainment industries, combining their strong experience in running a professional recording studio, producing musical content for movies, games, commercials and enterprises as well as managing top-selling artists.
Other companies from the YIC program involve many of the most promising Finnish tech companies like Footbalance, Eniram, Beneq, Oncos and Confidex. Interestingly enough, the history shows that a great portion of YIC companies have managed to attract international venture capital - which is the case with all the five companies mentioned.
Fortum, a leading energy company focusing on the Nordic countries, Russia and the Baltic Rim area, has made a decision to acquire a 40% stake in the Blaiken wind power project while the remaining 60% is held by the Swedish energy company Skellefteå Kraft. The joint venture, Blaiken Vind AB, is planning to start construction of the wind farm in the Blaiken region in northern Sweden. The wind farm will have a maximum of 100 wind turbines with a total capacity of 250 megawatts.
Blaiken will be one of the biggest onshore wind farms in Europe. Its estimated annual production of 600-720 gigawatt-hours is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 150,000 households.
According to the plan, the wind farm will be built in phases, with construction to begin in 2011 and completed in 2015. Preparatory work in the area will begin this autumn. The total investments during the project will amount to a maximum of 400 million euros, of which Fortum's share is 40% and Skellefteå Kraft's 60%.
A national wind study conducted by Uppsala University assessed the Blaiken region as a very good location for wind power production. According to the study, Blaiken's wind conditions are particularly good during the winter months when electricity demand is highest. The hydropower plant in the vicinity enables a cost-efficient connection of the wind power plants to the grid.
"Blaiken offers an interesting opportunity to acquire an interest in one of the biggest onshore wind farms in Europe in an area with very favourable wind conditions and in collaboration with a good partner. These wind conditions and Sweden's market-based Green Certificates -system supporting renewable energy make Blaiken an attractive investment target", explains Matti Ruotsala, Executive Vice President, Fortum's Power Division.
Skellefteå Kraft has been planning the Blaiken project since 2005.
"It has been important for us to find the right partner for the project. Fortum's know-how is very complementary for this project. I believe that our united efforts will lead to a successful implementation of this project", notes Anders Järvelä, Vice President, Elkraft Skellefteå Kraft.
Fennopharma Ltd, a pharmaeucitical company from Kuopio, Finland, has received an investment from Veraventure. The company was founded in 2005 and primarily develops novel medicine and healthcare products for international markets.
The company plans to use the funds to strengthen their channels to international markets and expand their operations. Several licensing and marketing deals have already been signed with European players.
To read the whole story in Finnish, click on the source.
Picosun Ltd, Finland-based global manufacturer of state-of-the-art Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems today announced a 400 % increase in new orders received during its fiscal Q1 (May to July 2010) on a year-on-year basis.
Kustaa Poutiainen, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Picosun, is very content with the trend. “More than being happy about the exceptionally convincing growth I am pleased with the fact that from one year to the next our key figures show absolute consistency. Picosun's revenues continued to grow even during the worst global recession. We have posted a positive annual result four years in a row. The sustained trend in our order books is a steady but steep rise in volume”, he says.
Thus far, the Picosun saga has been one of exceptional qualities. Founded as recently as 2004, the company has developed itself through organic growth, building an impressive portfolio of ALD systems both for research and production use. In June, during the 10th International Conference on ALD in Seoul, Picosun presented its latest technology breakthrough, Picoplatform™ vacuum cluster. Picosun’s vacuum cluster tool continues the unique idea of unique scalability which is inbuilt in all Picosun products. Later in 2010, revolutionary new product launches by Picosun are to be expected.
“We have patiently built a reputation for ourselves. As testified by our customers Picosun represents the greatest of the latest in its own field of technology. Increasingly, people interested in the vast opportunities offered by the use of ALD realize that their only option when investing into this technology is to rely on the absolutely best products. After having come to this conclusion they come to Picosun, as our latest figures so compellingly indicate”, Poutiainen says.
“The whole global Picosun family is to thank for the continuous success. Our staff and partners have grown with the measure of the accomplishment making sure that the current course will, if anything, steadily strengthen itself”, Poutiainen emphasizes.
Intersport Finland has chosen Footbalance as the Supplier of the Year. Footbalance was praised especially for the development of the sales of its custom insoles, reliable delivery, and excellent cooperation.
Finnish based Footbalance started as a supplier with Intersport at the end of 2006, and since then rapidly grown through close cooperation with the chain. The unique Footbalance concept is based on conducting a personal foot analysis and custom-molding insoles on the spot at the store, all this in only 10 minutes. The close cooperation with Intersport has been integral to the development of the Footbalance system, resulting in a global concept, which today is sold in 12 countries.
"Footbalance, together with Intersport, have jointly developed a completely new business for sports retail. Footbalance also supports Intersport's service concept, sales process and the image", Intersport Finland's Managing Director Juha Nurminen sums up.
"The story of Footbalance began from the cooperation with Intersport Finland. Intersport management's support and trust in our product gave us a strong start, which has also helped us get into new markets. Since Intersport Finland is one of the most prestigious members of Intersport Group, and the clear market leader in Finland, it gives this honor a special emphasis", says Antti Pihlakoski, the CEO of Footbalance System.
Cantina West, a restaurant in Helsinki downtown, is pioneering the global Foursquare phenomenon in Finland by offering a 10% discount for a current Foursquare mayor (most check-ins) of the restaurant. Location-based social media service Foursquare has spread like wildfire after its foundation in spring of 2009. Although the service started as a game for users to claim "ownerships" of places by checking-in frequently, soon businesses started to utilize the new opportunity to drive traffic into their stores.
In the United States, it has already become somewhat common place for a restaurant to offer discounts and promotions to the mayors. Other companies have also entered the field, such Gowalla, Twitter and, most recently, Facebook. The key element in any of the consumer focused location-based services is tight integration with social media elements as sharing your locations with friends is the integral driver of the services.
To read the original story in Finnish, click source.
Fruugo Ltd., the Finland-based online store operating in multiple countries, and (DTL), which operates ShoppingBank.com, the largest independent multivendor online store in the UK, are to merge. Under the agreement signed by the two companies, Fruugo will purchase DTL with its own shares and raise long-term financing through a share issue. The merger is expected to be completed in September.
The merged company will continue its operations under the name of Fruugo. The new Fruugo will operate in the merging companies’ existing markets in the UK, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, with additional markets being introduced in 2011. Dominic Allonby, the CEO of DTL, will assume the role of CEO of Fruugo as of August 26, 2010.
The merger was driven by a number of shared goals and several complementing business opportunities. For customers across Europe, the new Fruugo will offer shopping services in a secure, easy, convenient and cost-efficient way. For retailers, the new Fruugo will offer an opportunity to do business in multiple markets with access to millions of new customers. Fruugo and DTL see a great match between the two companies.
“We are very excited to be expanding on our current co-operation with DTL, which has a strong track record in driving traffic to its site. Fruugo will now be able to quickly expand in the UK, where ShoppingBank has a strong customer and merchant base. With this merger, we can combine the assets and skills of the two companies, creating opportunities for much faster growth than the two companies could have achieved on their own”, says Juha Usva, the CEO of Fruugo to date.
“Online shopping continues to be a major trend, so we have every reason to believe in our concept. Fruugo’s IT platform and business model are unique in their multi-country, multi-currency capabilities. Fruugo is already serving customers in a number of markets, with high customer satisfaction rates. As a result of the merger, we will be able to quickly expand our operations to new markets through existing channels built by Fruugo. We believe that together we can offer our customers and retailers a highly attractive and comfortable way of doing business”, says Dominic Allonby, the CEO of DTL.
Fruugo is an online shopping service that makes it simple, safe and fun to buy and sell online across Europe. Its mission is to bring well-known brands sold by Europe’s best retailers to consumers across Europe in one secure and easy-to-use online shop that speaks the customers’ language and offers familiar payment methods. www.fruugo.com is currently open to shoppers in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands and, in addition to these countries, has retailers in the UK.
Directory Technologies Limited (DTL) operates the shopping service www.shoppingbank.com in the UK, offering about one million products from about 1 000 retailers to nearly one million customers. DTL has a long experience in operating a profitable online shopping service and has close relationships with retailers and media companies.
Habbo by Sulake Corporation turns ten years. Wow. This is big - Congratulations! Ten years is a long time for any company but it's definitely almost an eternity for a so called "social media" company - although this term probably did not even exist back in 1999-2000.
One of my favorite quotes is "In any revolutionary technology, the pace of change is overestimated in the short run, and the magnitude of change is underestimated in the long run". This exact same applies to Sulake. Who would have guessed that a simple but engaging technology showase will turn into one of the world's greatest social networking services?
Remember what the world was like ten years ago?
Mobile phone penetration in the US was less than 40% (Palm was the thing back then)
AOL acquired Time Warner (New media vs. old media)
Ms Tarja Halonen was elected as the first female president of Finland (and still is btw)
The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5,048 in March (which still is the all time high. the dot-com bubble started to burst right after this)
The 2000 Summer Olympics close in Sydney, Australia. (Finland got 2 golds, one silver and one bronze;))
George W. Bush beats Al Gore in the US presidential Elections
Huge success story for the guys at Sulake and also for us Finns. We always seem to forget that one of the first & most succesful "social media" services out there was born in Finland and still conquering the world like... ...Chuck Norris (ok, not funny. apologies).
I remember talking to the team when working for the HP Bazaar when the service was called Mobiles Disco, Lumisota (Snowball Fight) and Hotelli Kultalakala (Hotel Goldfish?). We used to joke that one day they will sell more virtual furniture than IKEA does in real life. We were wrong, but for how long? :) Besides Habbo Hotel, Sulake has used its magic to power other world known services like Virtual Magic Kingdom (Disney) and Coke Music (Coka-Cola Company).
You can read more about Habbo, its history and company here and here. Sulake team has also published a nice presentation to celebrate the 10 past years, check it out. It highlights some really interesting stats like:
Microtask Ltd, a Finnish start-up that turns mundane digital work into a commodity, has received a second seed round, which was lead by a Danish venture capital firm Sunstone Capital. A Finnish start-up blog Arctic Startup broke the news this morning in which they provided interesting information on business angles that participated in the round. The angels of the round were as follows:
- Paul Bragiel, Serial entrepreneur from San Francisco, Founder of Meetro, Lefora & I/O Ventures
- Borgar Ljosland, Founder and ex-CEO of Falanx Microsystems, Founder and CEO of FXI Technologies
- Harri Hursti, IT security expert, author of the "Hursti Hack" and recipient of the EFF Pioneer Award
- Ari Hyppönen, ex-CTO and board member at F-Secure Corp
- Kaj Tuomi, co-founder of BitBoys (acquired by ATI in 2006)
- Mika Tuomi, co-founder of BitBoys (acquired by ATI in 2006)
- Petri Nordlund, Principal Engineer at Qualcomm Inc., co-founder of BitBoys (acquired by ATI in 2006)
- Pekka Pättiniemi, CEO of Banco Santander in Finland
The size of the round was not disclosed, but according to the company they should have enough financing to carry them through the summer of 2011.
CRF Health Ltd, a Finnish provider of electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePRO) solutions for the Life Sciences industry, has announced changes in company's share ownership. 3i, a venture capital firm, which had invested into the company in three different rounds (2nd, 3rd, 4th), sold their shares to
the founders of the company, Timo Ahopelto, Jarkko Joki-Tokola and Jaakko Ollila. The trio negotiated the price to €6 million, which is likely much less than 3i invested into the company. The reason why 3i would agree to such an agreement lies in their strategic decision to exit venture based investements due the downturn in high tech industry.
Fortum, a leading energy company focusing on the Nordic countries, Russia and the Baltic Rim area, has made a decision to acquire a 40% stake in the Blaiken wind power project while the remaining 60% is held by the Swedish energy company Skellefteå Kraft. The joint venture, Blaiken Vind AB, is planning to start construction of the wind farm in the Blaiken region in northern Sweden. The wind farm will have a maximum of 100 wind turbines with a total capacity of 250 megawatts.
Fennopharma Ltd, a pharmaeucitical company from Kuopio, Finland, has received an investment from Veraventure. The company was founded in 2005 and primarily develops novel medicine and healthcare products for international markets. 
Picosun Ltd, Finland-based global manufacturer of state-of-the-art Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems today announced a 400 % increase in new orders received during its fiscal Q1 (May to July 2010) on a year-on-year basis.
Conference on ALD in Seoul, Picosun presented its latest technology breakthrough, Picoplatform™ vacuum cluster. Picosun’s vacuum cluster tool continues the unique idea of unique scalability which is inbuilt in all Picosun products. Later in 2010, revolutionary new product launches by Picosun are to be expected.
utes. The close cooperation with Intersport has been integral to the development of the Footbalance system, resulting in a global concept, which today is sold in 12 countries.
Fruugo is already serving customers in a number of markets, with high customer satisfaction rates. As a result of the merger, we will be able to quickly expand our operations to new markets through existing channels built by Fruugo. We believe that together we can offer our customers and retailers a highly attractive and comfortable way of doing business”, says Dominic Allonby, the CEO of DTL.
