Northstack Editorial

Northstack Editorial

Iceland has a tech-sector strategy problem

For the last 18 months, as I’ve been writing for Northstack, one thing has become clear. Iceland desperately needs a coherent strategy for its approach to the technology sector. The most recent plans and actions include a wishlist with lots of ideas but lacking strategy, and focused financial reform

Q3 2016 Funding & Exit report

http://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.1.1.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Chart.js/2.3.0/Chart.min.jsThis quarter’s funding report is the fourth we do, which means we now have a full year to compare to. This is exciting news, because we can

Important legal changes happening for Icelandic VC's, and notes on Slush PLAY

This post was originally part of the Northstack Memo, our weekly commentary newsletter. You can sign up here. Iceland doesn’t have venture capital association to lobby on behalf of Icelandic VC’s, which might be one of the reasons an important exemption wasn’t extended. I wrote about this

Northstack is mapping the Icelandic startup scene

Since we started Northstack, we’ve tracked and published data on the Icelandic startup and tech scene. In fact, it is one of the reasons we started doing what we’re doing to begin with. The reason is simple: Iceland has long been a black box when it comes to

Thoughts on Slush Play, 2nd edition

On Friday the second edition of Slush Play came to close, after two days packed with talks and panels about VR and gaming. All in all, it was a great event and the Icelandic Startups team deserves great praise for their work. Iceland’s VR ambitions Over the recent months,

Bullshit taxes and Icelanders abroad

The following post is from The Northstack Memo, our weekly commentary newsletter on everything startups and tech in Iceland. You can sign up here. Bullshit taxes incoming It continues to amaze me how politicians can be bullied by lobby groups that are at the brink of total irrelevancy. The newest

Autodesk in Iceland closing down: Is 2016 the year of “Closing-up-shop”?

Autodesk in Iceland (previously Modio) has laid off all its employees and is closing up shop. Modio was founded in 2014 by Hilmar Gunnarsson, and sold less than 18 months later to 3D printing giant Autodesk. The company created a smartdevice app to build 3D printable toys that was later