The companies funded by the Technology Development Fund

Mid-December is an important time for the Icelandic startup community, because the biggest financial supporter of startups announces what companies receive funding. 25 projects will be offered a grant, for a total of 450m ISK (~3.75m). The grants come in several types, Company grants, which can range from 20-70m ISK (~$160K-$580K) over two years, and Marketing grants, up to 10m ISK (~$85k) for marketing purposes.

Sproti (20m ISK / ~$160K over two years)

  • Blásúra  – We don’t know of this project, but the contact is for Sigríður Suman, a chemistry professor at the University of Iceland, which suggests it’s related to research.
  • e1 – Marketplace for electric car charging stations. It allows people and organisations that have charging stations to register their station, to allow other car owners to charge their car and the station owners to make some extra money. More here.
  • Travable – travel companion for those with special accessibility needs. More here.
  • Yellow beetroot snacks – Founder of Crowbar Protein (Búi Bjarmar) wants to create snacks from yellow beetroots.
  • Platome – One of two Startup Reykjavik 2016 companies receiving a grant. Platome creates nourishment for stemcells.
  • Snakerobots – No info on this company.
  • Travelade – Former Linkedin Product Lead, Andri Heiðar, and his travel startup. More here.
  • Chess-app – to train the mind.
  • Wasabi Iceland – Previously raised $380k from private investors, growing Wasabi in the east of Iceland.

Vöxtur (50m ISK / ~$420K over two years)

  • Omega Algae – Optimizing EPA-rich algae-oil.
  • Lauf Forks – The company behind the Lauf Forks bicyle forks is continuing development on their product.
  • Flow VR – Meditation in VR, Startup Reykjavik alum.
  • Aldin Dynamics – VR analytics, to analyse user behavior in virtual reality apps.
  • Frostmark – Creating refrigeration products for fishing boats.
  • IceWind – Developing wind turbines for communication masts.
  • InfoMentor – The company behind edtech solution Mentor receives a grant for what they call IM Insights.
  • Gagarín – Developer of exhibitions and shows, for a project they call Mapexplorer.
  • Sæplast – Creating new transportation vessels for fresh foods.
  • Oculis Pharma – The pharmacompany that raised 500m ISK earlier this year from Brunnur.
  • Valka – Fishing-tech company Valka receives a grant to develop their fish processing automation products.
  • SnapStudy – A team of ex-QuizUp people, including former CRO Vala Halldórsdóttir, receive a grant for SnapStudy.
  • asco Harvester – A “street-sweeper” for the oceans. More here (Icelandic).
  • GeoSilica – Creating health-supplements from silica. More here.

Marketing grants (10m ISK / ~$420K over two years)

  • Handpoint – maker of POS software for mobile devices receives a grant to expand to the USA.
  • TARAMAR – Maker of skincare products from algae, Taramar is expanding to the US.