Wired names Helsinki as one of Europe’s hottest startup capitals

Helsinki has been named as one of the hottest startup capitals in Europe by Wired magazine, in its November 2013 issue.

Wired magazine also lists online banking company Holvi, mobile phone and software company Jolla and bookmarking company Kippt amongst the 100 companies causing the greatest buzz. In total, the magazine lists 10 Finnish startups from gaming companies to location services.

Finnish startup Supercell is an amazing example as the value of Supercell grew from zero to $3 Billion in 3 years.

Read more about hottest Finnish startups at the moment.

Source: Goodnewsfromfinland.com

Sin Cos Tan - Limbo

Sin Cos Tan is a duo comprised of producer Jori Hulkkonen and the singer from Villa Nah, Juho Paalosmaa. New album Afterlife has been released only 10 months after the debut. The first single from the second album is Limbo.

The debut album of Solina Records artists got three nominations in Emma-awards, the Finnish equivalent of Grammy Awards. The debut album of Sin Cos Tan have been nominated for Critics Choice of Album of The Year.

Kinetic Stories: The Interactive Storybook Series

Finnish digital app Kinetic Stories, a children’s book series have been recognised in an international e-content competition. The award is granted by the World Summit Award (WSA).

Kinetic Stories is an interactive book series based on motion tracking and speech recognition that is aimed at kids.

More info:
www.kineticstories.com

Wood City is an urban quarter rising in Helsinki

 (Image by SRV)

Wood City is an eight-storey wooden urban quarter rising in the Jätkäsaari district of Helsinki. It will be the largest wooden quarter of its type in Finland, throbbing with residential, working and hotel life around its courtyard. On completion, Wood City will be a masterpiece of the latest wooden construction that will raise expertise in this field in Finland to international level.

More info: www.woodcity.fi

Showroom Helsinki opens a new gallery - Telakkaranta

(Photo by Showroom Helsinki)

After five successful years Showroom Helsinki is proud to announce that it soon will be opening it's second gallery in Helsinki, Finland. The over 500m2 gallery is located at the former dock area Telakkaranta, in the western harbour district in Hietalahti. The grand opening of the new premises will be held in August with a group exhibition showcasing Jani Leinonen, Aurora Reinhard, Jiri Geller and Mari Keto.

Jani Leinonen, Aurora Reinhard, Jiri Geller & Mari Keto
Group exhibition
August - September 2013 

Showroom Helsinki - Telakkaranta
Telakkakatu 6
00150 Helsinki
Finland

Happy End?

Happy End? is by far the best summer exhibition at the Helsinki Art Museum for many years.

On the museum’s lower floor, nine Finnish and international artists explore the depths of the human psyche and the chasms between luxury and everyday life. The highlights gallery of the exhibition consists definitely of Jani Leinonen’s works from the series of Assanisation. Also Duncan Butt Juvonen's installation which utters 7000 apologies from the wallpaper and Kim Simonsson’s sculptures installations are impressive.

The upper floor of the museum is taken over by AES+F (Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky + Vladimir Fridkes), a Russian art collective who have garnered acclaim across the world with their photographs, videos and artworks that merge mythology with harsh contemporary reality.

Happy End?
19 Jun – 25 Aug 2013 Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace

Culinary arts continue to boom in Helsinki

Despite the recession the restaurant scene in Helsinki area continues to offer new places of culinary arts. Try these newcomers for something special: Spis, Ask, Pure bistro, Glogatan 4, Pastis, Trattoria Sogno, Muru or Patrona.

And do not forget to have the late night drinks at Liberty or Death and Fafa´s late night pitas for finalizing the perfect experience of Helsinki culinary arts :-)

Starting at the end of August 2013, the current premises of Michelin starred restaurant OLO (Olo will move to Pohjoisesplanadi 5) will house a new restaurant, EMO, where, in addition to the actual restaurant, the all-new Gastrobaari will also be located. According to owners of Olo the restaurant EMO will bring Helsinki an interesting combination of Finnish traditions and high-quality European ingredients. The adjacent Gastrobaari will be a place for guests to come and enjoy good wines along with delicious small dishes.

Zebra and Snake - Sweetest treasure

Zebra and Snake’s debut album "Healing Music" which was released in 2012 by British 100% Records. Check out the "Money in Heaven" (Official video) on Youtube also.

Hottest Finnish startups at the moment

It seems the latest efforts to Finnish startups are starting to show up it's results. Thanks to organizations like Startup sauna, Tekes, ArcticStartup and Aalto Start-up Center, events like Helsinki Startup Weekend are getting more and more popular. Also more funding and investments are pouring to Finland at the moment, for example game industry is growing very fast. The total value of the Finnish game industry is estimated to reach EUR 600–800 million this year (compared to EUR 105 million in 2011).

Check out the hottest startups in Finland at the moment:

Business Insider: "These 12 startups prove Angry Birds isn't the only hot tech product to come out of Finland."

Red Herring Europe: 12 Finnish companies tops to Top100 list in 2013.

And talking about the Angry Birds. Their latest achivement is the Angry Birds Toons channel: The animated series following the adventures of the birds and the pigs debuted in March 2013, has been a huge hit. By the end of June 2013, the Toons channel has gathered over 400 million views across their games, and has been a big hit with their TV partners across the world.

Bicycle film festival Helsinki 2013

Bicycle Film Festival - BFF Helsinki 2013 is on August 30 – 31! Program coming in July.
In Finnish the preliminary program is available already.

The uprising of the bicycle culture has created funny things around the bicycling in Finland. Or what do you think of these? A pianist on wheels (see the video) or library bikes in Helsinki.