Battery startups in Finland

Akkurate – Battery lifetime monitoring and optimization software. Can be run in their cloud or within the customer’s data infrastructure. Allows optimizing battery usage to increase its lifetime, forecasting the needs for maintenance or replacements, as well as evaluating and modeling the risks for insurance, financing and other related services.

AkkuSer – Recycling portable batteries. They extract valuable raw materials and deliver those to metal refineries, serving as material for new batteries and other demanding products. They focus especially on portable lithium-ion batteries. They have operated and grown for over 15 years, and are interested in partnerships to support their expansion.

Bamomas – Battery fleet management and optimization software that supports multiple battery technologies. Their clients include material handling companies, railways and energy utility companies. The solution also works for example for utility vehicles ranging from industrial ones to golf karts; wherever there’s a large and valuable battery fleet. They are able to provide a whole fleet management solution or integrate with existing ones.

BroadBit Batteries – Sodium salt based batteries that are cheaper, safer, more sustainable, and support a broader range of operating temperatures than most currently available batteries. They can also be produced at mass scale almost anywhere on the planet. They build batteries for three types of use cases: high energy (mobile applications: laptops, electric vehicles etc.), high power (drones, car starter batteries, power tools, grid stabilization) and high efficiency (grid storage). They may have room for additional investors.

Geyser Batteries – Power batteries that last over a million charge cycles, are sustainable, can be produced from local materials all around the world, and are safe. Mechanically robust and low to no maintentance, working from -40C to +60C (>85C possible). Minimal total cost of ownership (TCO), operates in harsh conditions, very high CO2 savings over lifetime. Can be discharged to 0V. No thermal runaway. Nonflammable solvent (water): safe transport, installation, operation and recycling with no fire risk. Recyclable, and built 40% of recycled materials. No conflict materials. Fast charge and discharge. 3MW/t cycling power, 10MW/t burst power, <100µs reaction time, low ESR. Low cost for power (€/kW). High recuperation potential.

Teraloop – Their kinetic energy storage increases the utilization and reduces the costs of stationary energy storage. This sustainable solution can increase the utilization of an EV fast charge point by over 400% and reduce the capital cost of the storage by almost 70%. They’re well suited for enhancing distributed energy assets like virtual power plants and industrial process protection. Teraloop is seeking more partners in systems integrators and energy companies looking to enhance their product portfolio, as well as industrial process companies to enhance their processes. They may also have room for an additional investor in their scaling round in 2022.

If you’re interested in learning more, Future Mobility Finland has an article on the use cases and business environment for battery startups in Finland.

Helsinki as a startup client

Health & Wellbeing – Sanna Hartman is the business development advisor of Helsinki social services and health care division, helping startups reach the right people to discuss potential cooperation. Best way to reach her is through the Testbed Helsinki contact form – the form makes sure you’ll get off to the fastest start by providing all the useful info. Current focus areas of the division include digital services (incl. e.g. robotics & AI) and home care services. They manage multiple pilot projects in these and other key areas simultaneously all the time. In addition to social and health care solutions they pilot also solutions for similar facilities and organizations, such as on-site guidance systems.

Port of Helsinki – Manages seven ports in Helsinki and nearby: Katajanokka, South Harbour, West Harbour, Hernesaari and Vuosaari in Helsinki, Kantvik in Kirkkonummi, and a bulk cargo terminal at Loviisa. They’re interested in solutions to improve client experience and efficiency of both cargo and passenger traffic. Sustainability is also one of their focus areas. Their FAQ page describes a broad range of solutions they’re using and seeking. Their preferred way of hearing from new business-ready solutions is through their feedback form.

Stara, Helsinki construction & logistics – Seeking solutions for improving the efficiency of construction, real estate, maintenance, and logistics operations, including solutions like drones, IoT, electric vehicles.

Urban Environment – Urban planning, mobility, construction and maintenance, building supervision, energy efficiency and production, circular economy, air quality, and environmental services. Further interest areas include quality of living and helping citizens and other stakeholders participate in city development. AI, 5G and other digital solutions are very interesting for solving these problems. Saska Lohi and Mikko Martikka are the best contacts to help get your urban solution into real life testing with the City of Helsinki. They read all proposals sent to them via their contact form.

Showrooms in Finland

Elisa 5G Showroom – Video, article, press release #1 and #2.

Nokia –

Huawei? –

Finnish accelerators and incubators

All of these warmly welcome international applicants unless otherwise noted.

Aaltoes Ignite – For students interested in becoming entrepreneurs. In Espoo.

Aalto Startup Center – Home and incubator for many research-based startups at the Otaniemi campus in Espoo, a short metro ride from Helsinki.

Boost Turku – An accelerator and network based in Turku.

Combient Foundry – A group of mostly Nordic corporations looking for startups to serve them as suppliers of next-gen solutions. They open several calls for innovations every year. Corporate headquarters vary, several are in Helsinki.

EIT Food & Beyond – Food & related industries. Part of the European multi-country EIT FAN (food accelerator network). Based in Helsinki and Espoo.

EnergySpin – A group of Nordic energy-related corporations looking for startups with next-gen solutions in energy. Physically located in Vaasa, Finland.

ESA BIC – Incubator for startups using space technology, including GPS. Operating next door from Aalto Startup Center in Espoo.

Founder Institute Helsinki – Part of the global network of Founder Institute and their international mentors. Their acceleration program has a monthly fee.

Haaga-Helia StartUp School – The incubator of Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences.

Health Incubator Helsinki – A no-cost incubation programme and network for health (medtech) startups by the City of Helsinki.

Helsinki Education Hub – A no-cost incubator and network for education (edtech) startups.

Helsinki Incubators – Multiple incubators and accelerators managed by or in cooperation with the Helsinki University.

Helsinki XR Center – An XR (AR/VR) incubator that co-operates with Turbiini.

Kasvu Open / Kasvun Roihu – A Finnish-language nationwide accelerator.

Kiuas – A completely free acceleration program. Their annual program takes place in June-August, and the application period in April-May. Based in Espoo, a short metro ride from Helsinki.

NewCo Accelerator – A completely free acceleration program by NewCo Helsinki, a part of the City of Helsinki. They provide coaching, partnership matchmaking and other services also outside their acceleration program.

Red Brick Accelerator – An accelerator based in Tampere.

Sampo Accelerator – A no-equity program, asking for a contribution back only if your startup makes it big. Run three times a year, starting typically around October, January and April. Based in Espoo.

Turbiini – An incubator coordinated by the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.

Urban Tech Helsinki – A free-of-charge incubator for clean and sustainable urban solutions. They help startups turn business ideas into growth-oriented ones that focus on solving the challenges of modern cities.

Yritystehdas – The new business incubator of Jyväskylä City.


Other lists

https://sifted.eu/articles/400-startup-accelerators-in-europe-listed/

Drone startups in Finland and nearby

Seeking drone companies from Finland or nearby? Here’s a list of those I’ve come across.


Finland

DR1 – Industrial-grade drone solutions, e.g. remotely managed 5G drone swarms. Used for security, firefighting, agriculture, delivery, and monitoring of power lines etc. (Website under construction. Their older webshop of hobby and enterprise drones is at verticalhobby.com.)

Fleetonomy – Developing and managing next generation decision-making systems, including autonomous driving and flying of vehicles, such as drones and cars.

Flyby Guys – Planning and management of large-scale drone operations of up to hundreds of units in the air simultaneously, and consulting on a variety of demanding drone-related topics. They have a wide network of partners, through which they have been able to put together proposals for comprehensive projects in days.

Holtan FlyOne – Building inspections, heat imaging, photogrammetric 3D imagery production etc. Certified and trained personnel. Winner of the building inspection category of world’s first drone olympics in 2019. Website in Finnish.

LAC Camera Systems – Drone camera solutions with automatic following and indoor/rough condition capabilities, even without GPS. Drones avoid obstacles automatically and can be set to fly preplanned routes or controlled manually with very little training. Used for security, monitoring, sports, construction etc.

Mericon – Producing measurements such as high-quality orthophotos and photogrammetric point clouds, tied to the local coordinate system. The end product of the service can be a surface or a 3D-model of the described object in CAD format or a classified point cloud for example in las-format. Rapid mass calculations on large objects or areas.

Robots Expert – Drone experts helping organizations identify value-adding drone use cases and implement them; cities to identify and prepare for the transition to drone-powered transportation as part of their mobility mix; and provide in-depth assistance to drone operators and manufacturers to meet regulatory, airworthiness and organisation requirements.

Skydata – Over 10 years of experience in hardware solutions, pilot training and consulting companies on how to utilize drones efficiently and safely. Ready to offer turnkey solutions, including training, technical support, rental and backup hardware, auditing and development services and insurance covering insurance and responsibilities.

Viasor – 3D modeling of buildings and construction sites. Can be used e.g. for planning and guidance for maintenance, or following the development of construction sites remotely for accurate forecasting and management.


Estonia

Hepta Airborne – Infrastructure inspections. Flies 3,000km/mo for paying customers in over 10 countries. Offering both full service with drones, pilots and software, or modular service, like SaaS for other drone operators.

KrattWorks – An Estonian-British company that combats wildfires with AI-powered drones. They focus on developing advanced technology that can be used in multiple applications, e.g. noiseless automatic surveillance flights.

SKYCORP – Experts of hydrogen & drones. Built Europe’s first hydrogen drone at 2018. In addition to their drone work, they’re also often called on to consult on hydrogen projects beyond drones. Among other projects they’ve been working on combining manned and unmanned drones, and connecting drones to the internet.


If you know any that are missing, please let me know 🙂