Are startups in Norway in the shadow of those from Sweden?
Norway is not only known for its stable economy, but also very high GDP per capita. Perhaps you have noticed that in the press or on industry websites devoted to startups it is relatively rare to see a mention of the Norwegian market as conducive to the creation of innovative startups. Is it really?
Some time ago I tried to answer this question. I do not deny that in the context of startups and Scandinavian countries the loudest voices have been talking about Sweden - and in particular Stockholm, which can boast developed entrepreneurship and startups. So I decided to look for "hard" facts and came upon very interesting statistics.
Statistical review
According to the Office of National Statistics, Norway is eighth in the ranking of the best countries for startup development - number two for Scandinavian countries. Sweden is one place higher at seventh and Finland is ninth. The first three places are taken by Germany, the UK and Ireland. This ranking includes factors such as economic health, the cost of doing business, labor force quality and business climate.
Generally, I try to approach this type of rankings with caution. However, it seems to me that this reflects well the potential of the current startup ecosystem in Norway. The very fact of being in the top ten is a big distinction. Norway would obviously like to overtake its neighbor Sweden, with whom it competes directly, but that is not so easy because the Swedish startup ecosystem is doing really well. There are some interesting unicorns there.
In terms of investment among Nordic countries, Norway is also second only behind Sweden. This does not mean that there is a lack of promising startups in Norway for potential investors. I have done deep research and would like to share with you some interesting startups that are worth keeping an eye on.
Most promising Norwegian startups
1. 2Park Technologies was founded in 2013 in Fornebu with the mission to digitize parking. Their product delivers an innovative solution that improves the parking user experience. Their product named Autopay provides functionalities such as parking validation, digital permit management, fleet parking management and others.
Check out the website: https://autopay.io/business/
2. Sanity.io is a Norwegian software startup offering a new, fully customizable, headless CMS. The goal of the product is to help designers, developers and editors effortlessly work with content as structured data. Sanity.io was founded in Oslo in 2015.
Check out the website: https://www.sanity.io/
3. dRofus is a integrated program and data management tool that provides projects with excellent process support from early phase programming to completion – and beyond. It helps plan, manage and document all functions, rooms, equipment, systems and components in a building project. dRofus has been operating on the market for 16 years.
Check out the website: https://www.drofus.no/en/
4. Haive is the AI-company that provides customers with new ways of working. Haive resides in the center of organization as an intelligent oracle gathering, processing, analyzing, presenting and visualizing information. This innovative startup was found in Oslo in 2015.
Check out the website: https://haive.ai/
5. Marketer Technologies is a tool dedicated to perfecting the world's best platform for AI-based marketing. The platform delivers a fully automated and data-driven marketing process for the real estate industry. It provides precisely targeted and personalized ads on channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, LinkedIn and Snapchat, as well as local digital channels.
Check out the website: https://marketer.tech/
6. Moment Team is one of Norway's leading providers of cloud-based administration systems for project-based businesses. It is used for time registration, project planning, resource allocation, and invoicing. The company was born in Oslo in 2011.
Check out the website: https://www.moment.team/
7. Vibbio is a SaaS video creation platform used to easily create videos for many different platforms, goals and audiences. Vibbio helps to significantly cut down the cost and time spend per video and ensure high-quality content. The company is disrupting the traditional agency model for video production, by leveraging technology and offering a full-service cloud-based video solution. The company was founded in 2016 and is located in Oslo.
Check out the website: https://www.vibbio.com/
Is Norway a good place for startups?
Perhaps the Norwegian startup market is not as popular as Sweden, but I think it is developing well and can boast startups with very innovative products. If you are interested in the subject of startups, it is worth further delving into this market. It's definitely worth it.
Do you have your own thoughts about the Norwegian startups ecosystem? Feel free to let me know!
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