Entries from seikatsu tagged with 'vc'
A few more seats at ArcticEvening
As Jüri announced last week, ArcticStartup.com's ArcticEvening event is coming to Tallinn next Wednesday, Jan 28th, at Von Krahl. In cooperation with OpenCoffee Tallinn and Connect Estonia. As the initially planned 100 seats filled up really quickly, the organizers increased it to 150. And at the time I'm writing this, there are some 28 still left. So sign up now, if you missed from the first batch. I will be there sitting in a panel with Allan and Taneli...
Seedcamp 2008 was fun
Spent a day at London Seedcamp Week's Product and Marketing Day again. Hit quite a jackpot on the mentoring group selection lottery and got to spend time with four out of the total seven winners of this year: Kyko - online multiplayer gaming by the creators of Babuki, with a neat angle of tapping into existing social/IM networks to build their userbase. Stupeflix - French startup generating time-synced video clips out of static images and music. Animoto competitor with...
Seedcamp 2008 - apply fast!
Just a quick reminder that this year's Seedcamp is getting close and the application deadline is already this Sunday, August the 10th. As a reminder: Seedcamp is where Europe's top young founders can come together in one place. From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class network of mentors, we want to provide a catalyst for Europe's next...
Eesti vajab riskivõtjaid
Juunikuu Arvutimaailmas ilmus alltoodud arvamuslugu. Kirjutasin selle kokku ühe varasema siinse postituse ja selle järel kommentaarides tekkinud diskussiooni põhjal, aga kuna mõtet sai parasjagu edasi arendatud ja selle ajakirja täistekste internetist ei leia, on ehk paslik kogu tekst uuesti siia postitada: Õues on küll päikeseline suvealgus, aga õhus on tunda sügisest väsimust. Need, kes on rääkinud eesootavast kriisist ja talunud nii meie valitsejate kui kaaskodanike halvakspanu kui õitseva Eesti „vaenlased“, leiavad nüüd oma möödunudaastastele mõtetele ja ennustustele kuhjuvat kinnitust igast...
Ingenious Motivator for Tech Investments
Had a pleasure to meet Harry Jaako, the Honorary Consul of Estonia in Vancouver, but also the Co-CEO of Discovery Capital, a venture capital firm operating in British Columbia. He shared a very interesting and bold incentive concept that the British Columbia (not even the whole Canada) government has introduced to motivate private investments in small technology startups. Per every dollar invested, the government will pay you 30% back at once. The conditions include holding your investment(s) for five years...
It is scary HOW thin the startup layer really is
Small and medium businesses form a dominant part of any economy. Countries, governments - in some more progressive corners in the world, whole societies - work hard to create fertile environments where new startup companies could spawn from. Just a tiny percentage of them will become the next [insert your favourite global brand here]. But we couldn't live without even those who don't. As a random example, SME's give over 50% of the jobs and turnover of the UK economy...
Notes from Tekes R&D financing seminar
On Monday I was in Helsinki, speaking at a seminar organized by Tekes, Finnish funding agency for tech & innovation. They are launching a new generation of integrated startup financing schemes - which I do not know much about, as my Finnish is below par to fully understand their published materials. But it was a nice half-day event to provide context around their announcements. The guest speakers included Dr Orna Berry who shared the Israeli innovation financing experiences, Quatar Capital's...
Jaanuarikuiselt OpenCoffee'lt
Täna jõudsin lõpuks Tallinna teiselt OpenCoffee'lt ka läbi käia. Kokku oli tulnud meeldivalt eri valdkondade rahvast (nagu kuuldavasti ka esimesel) - tehnolooge, ettevõtjaid, riigiametnikke ja investoreid. Ebaeestaslikult öeldi ka võõrale tere ja kohaloldud aja jooksul vahetati laudu, et uute inimestega juttu ajada. BarCamp Latvia korraldajad olid oma roadshow raames ka Eestist läbi astumas. Suurelt ette võetud, hetkel olla registreerunud 400 inimest ja eeldavad veel paarsada lisaks. Eestist hetkel registreerunud 17. Väiksema ringi vestluste põhjal tundub, et vähemalt ühte Eesti...
OpenCoffee 10. jaanuaril!
Et aidata Jüril inimesi kokku kutsuda: Paluks infot levitada: järjekorras teine tehnoloogiainimeste kokkusaamine OpenCoffee leiab aset sel neljapäeval, 10. jaanuaril 9-11.00, samas kohas kui ennegi: Tallinna Kesklinna Scotland Yardis, Mere pst 6E. Kõik huvilised on oodatud. (vt ka varasemaid OpenCoffee-teemalisi postitusi siin)...
Tallinna esimene OpenCoffee juba homme
Jüri on tänuväärselt võtnud vedada esimese OpenCoffee korraldamise Tallinnas, mida Saul on juba mõnda aega tagasi tagant utsitanud: Juba sel neljapäeval kell 9.00 hommikul toimub esimene mitte-ametlik tehnoloogiaettevõtjate, -investorite, -arendajate ja -huviliste hommikukohvi vormis kokkusaamine OpenCoffee Tallinn. Ürituse eesmärgiks on omavahel paremini kokku viia tehnoloogiavallas tegutsejad, olgu need siis ideede generaatorid, tänased või tulevased ettevõtjad, tänased või potentsiaalsed investorid. Ise ei ole kahjuks Eestis, aga vähemasti Teller ja Parasiil on siin plaaninud Skype'i poolt ürituselt läbi hüpata. Kevadel käisin Londoni...
Alustuseks tasuta kohvi
Palju diskussioone põhjustanud riiklik Arengufond alustas tänase arutelu-hommikusöögiga esmakordselt laiemat dialoogi Eestis juba tegutsevate riskikapitalistide ja ettevõtjatega. Seltskond soliidne, õhkkond tore ja jutt selgelt nihkunud "kas on vaja?" küsimuselt "kuidas teeme?"-le. Mõned üksikud meeldejäävamad mõttekillud: Baltikumi riskikapitali turu maht on 12m EUR, Soomes 700m EUR. Tõsi, viimasest numbrist enamiku moodustavad management buy-out ja buy-in tehingud, spinoffid suurfirmadest jm. Seed stage & startup osakaal on ehk veerand. (Arengufondi värske Investeeringute juht Markku Mäenpää) Arengufondi on palju kahtlustatud plaanis, et see...
Blip.TV Beats YouTube on Quality
PC World has published a comparative review on video sharing sites. With the exception of Korea and France, YouTube still seems to be the #1 global option to get distribution for your flicks. However -- as I've also concluded recently for myself -- there is so much variety of (non-clone!) alternatives out there that beat the YT-behemoth hands down on quality, interesting niche approaches, revenue sharing models and more. I'm especially happy that Blip.tv (a recent ASI investment) has come...
Correction: Estonian entry to Seedcamp
Happy to say that I was just a bit hasty with my posting a few days ago. Apparently the blogged country list was not exhaustive - just learned that RealEyes has sent in an application. Good luck with making it to the Top 20....
Lonely Estonian at Seedcamp
As the Seedcamp key dates are rolling by and the September week in London is getting closer for the lucky 20, Saul has been posting some intermediary updates. My little personal sad news is that among the 260 applications sent in there was no a single one from Estonia. Hope it was not because the spreading the word effort was modest (thanks, guys, for helping on that!) rather because every startup (idea) around here already has enough competence, experience and...
Invitation: spend a week in London to get your startup kickstarted
Saul & the team have softlaunched Seedcamp and the applications for the first event in London in September is now open. Why? Europe has so far under-delivered in terms of globally successful technology startups. From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class network of mentors, we want to provide a catalyst for Europe's next generation of entrepreneurs....
There is hope for European startups
Saul published his slides from the NextWeb conference. We had a good lunch with him a few months ago on the philosophical topic of supporting the seeding European ventures (and OpenCoffee as one of the tools for that). I would have loved to hear him on stage of course, but still the deck provides some pointers for further thought or at least some reassurance against the skeptics out there thinking that there is no chance for tech success outside the...
Museum of Modern Betas
In today's world of the overcrowded communication and overwhelming hype, the MoMB blog really stands out. Get a fulfilling feed of what's up and coming (or "gone into public beta" in tech speak). From fancy web 2.0 social mashup services dreaming of a quick acquisition to geeky experiments on what AJAX can do for transforming applications online. Very few words. Black and white. Small is beautiful....
My first OpenCoffeeClub
I attended today's OpenCoffeeClub event, the one in London. It is a loose framework of entrepreneurial meetup events that Saul Klein recently kicked off, as part of his recent broader initiatives to encourage interaction between and raise the confidence of European entrepreneurs. The 90 minutes I was able to spend at the event included a grande latte and a series of quite interesting talks with several people. As I was wearing a Skype t-shirt, most of the contacts evolved around...
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