A Visit To Greater Helsinki

Startup Activity in Helsinki is So Much More than Angry Birds

In September, I had the pleasure of visiting Helsinki, Finland. Hosted by Santtu von Bruun with the City and Marja-Liisa Niinikoski of Helsinki Business Hub, I spoke to a gathering of entrepreneurs, investors, and other ecosystem supporters. We met at Maria01, which was originally the first public hospital in Helsinki and now houses startups, meeting space, and a restaurant named (of course) Starter.

What You Should Know about the Greater Helsinki Startup Ecosystem

(1) The region is small in size but outperforms larger ecosystems: in our Ecosystem Lifecycle, Greater Helsinki has moved to the Globalization phase and continues to grow. This has been driven in no small part high levels of Global Connectedness and Global Market Reach.

(2) Greater Helsinki ranks #1 in the world in Local Connectedness, as highlighted in the 2018 Global Startup Ecosystem Report. Founders there build lots of relationships with each other and the Sense of Community — the culture of giving and receiving help — is quite strong.

(3) And, yes, Greater Helsinki is known for its gaming startups, but the region boasts a strong and growing Artificial Intelligence sub-sector, too. By our estimates, there are more AI than gaming startups in Helsinki, and AI has attracted more funding than other sub-sectors.

Three Things We Learned about Greater Helsinki

(1) It’s a delightful city to visit. (I knew this already, since I had the pleasure to visit last year, too.) Walking around different parts of the city is so enjoyable. I saw the massive icebreakers that will soon be plowing through the frozen Baltic and visited the national gallery of art. Oh, and by the harbor there is an OUTDOOR POOL THAT WAS OPEN. It was barely 50 degrees. Disappointingly, I did not have a swimsuit.

(2) Despite success and growth, questions still remain for the startup ecosystem. Startups in Greater Helsinki sell beyond Finland, but there is scope for reaching markets outside Europe. It’s not a huge place (1.4 million people), and Startup Density is already high at more than twice the Globalization phase average. Can more local resources be activated to support the creation of more startups? Elinor from Icebreaker.vc suggested that there is “great untapped potential in those working in large corporations” and they need to be more involved in the startup ecosystem.

(3) During open discussion at Maria01, other concerns were raised by participants:

• Helsinki has a lower presence of foreign talent than other ecosystems, and several people highlighted this is a challenge but also an opportunity. At least one person, however, thought this was a “pipe dream.”
• There is too much red tape facing entrepreneurs, said another attendee, and cultural challenges that still deter people from taking the startup leap.

We’ll soon launch our next round of data collection in Helsinki, so help us ensure we can collect the right data to address these questions. I’m looking forward to my next visit to Helsinki!