Greater Helsinki listed as one of world’s top young startup ecosystems

The San Francisco-based research and policy consultancy called particular attention to the abundant analytics, artificial intelligence, big data and digital health expertise found in the capital region of Finland.

While the ecosystem was valued at 5.8 billion US dollars – notably less than the global average of 10.5 billion – it managed to rake in 511 million US dollars in early-stage funding – almost 20 per cent than the average among the 100 up-and-coming ecosystems examined. Finnish startups, the report highlighted, receive the most venture capital per capita in all of Europe.

Greater Helsinki scored 10 out of 10 for both funding and market reach but excelled also in talent and performance, receiving scores of nine and eight respectively.

“The Greater Helsinki startup ecosystem offers entrepreneurs all the benefits of a Scandinavian lifestyle at a lower cost of living than many other tech hubs in the region. Startups have access to excellent talent at reasonable salary levels, as well as to various government functions,” summarised Startup Genome.

Annamari Soikkeli, a senior advisor at Business Finland, viewed that the Finnish ecosystem is an attractive home for newly established companies also because of its deep-rooted culture of helping.

“Finland is an ideal test market and springboard for startups looking to enter the European and global markets, with ready access to the eurozone and good connections to Asia. Also, Finnish consumers are tech-savvy and interested in trying out new digital solutions,” she listed.

The top spot in the ranking was captured by Mumbai (IN) ahead of Jakarta (ID), Zurich (CH), Greater Helsinki and Guangzhou (CN). The 100 emerging ecosystems represent a total of 49 countries, have a total value of almost 350 billion US dollars and have generated 115 billion dollar startups since 2010, according to Startup Genome.

Good News from Finland is published by Finnfacts, which is part of Business Finland.