Northzone VC on Startup Reykjavik companies: "I will have at least two follow-up calls immediately"

“Absolutely. From the pitches, I will have at least two follow-up calls immediately,” said Marta Sjögren, Principal at Northzone Ventures, when Norðurskautið asked if she was planning on taking meetings with any of the companies that were pitching today.

“Their ability to communicate their bigger vision was great, and also not to oversell where they are. And that’s really rare, so I had a great time,” she added.

Today was Startup Reykjavik Investor Day, where the participants of Startup Reykjavik 2016 pitched their companies to a room of investors and startup people. This time around, the Arion bank conference room was almost completely full. Marta Sjögerd, Principal at Northzone Ventures, gave a talk on the Nordic startup scene.

Nordic region disproportionately large part of EU Startup scene, from @martasjogren at @startuprvk pic.twitter.com/vPrFfsahHM

— Kiddi (@kiddiarni) August 26, 2016

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Marta’s comments, as well as a general consensus on that the pitches this year around have never been better, strongly suggest that experience and know-how is being built up at Startup Reykjavik. The fact that an international VC is reaching out to companies after the pitches is a massive improvement, especially considering that last year’s guest didn’t think the companies were optimal VC cases.

If Northzone invests in any of the companies, it would be the first company in Iceland that Northzone invests in. “My mission is, while I’m here in Iceland, to make sure I understand the market, and make Northzone visible,” Marta said. “We want people to know when to reach out to us, and that we’re fairly easily reachable. Our interest is to support ecosystems around the Nordics and Europe.”

Also, just for fun, a video of a man pouring 1300°C hot lava onto ice, courtesy of Icelandic Lava Show (they were pitching).