Tag: The Memo

An uncommon story: NetApp doubles down in Iceland – interview with Jonsi Stefansson CTO & VP Cloud, NetApp

This post originated in the Memo, our (almost) weekly newsletter. Click here to sign up. This article has been updated with correct information about Novomatic Lottery Solutions/Betware, which didn’t close down shop completely, as the remaining office was acquired by Next Generation Lotteries. On August 4 2017, Silicon Valley based Fortune 500 company NetApp acquired… Read More An uncommon story: NetApp doubles down in Iceland – interview with Jonsi Stefansson CTO & VP Cloud, NetApp

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

Some lackluster numbers for Iceland: Discussing the byFounders dealflow numbers with Eric Lagier

Late in January, the Nordic&Baltic venture capital fund byFounders, sent out a community update which included some interesting statistics on their deal flow and operations. In short, they invested in ~1% of the companies the reviewed – 11 out of 1,000 companies. (Screenshot below) But to me, that wasn’t the interesting part. The interesting part was… Read More Some lackluster numbers for Iceland: Discussing the byFounders dealflow numbers with Eric Lagier

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

Þórdís Kolbrún: “With Kría, we’re providing oxygen” – an interview with the minister of innovation

What follows is an interview I conducted with Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, the minister for innovation and industries, on the biggest policy announcement from last week’s event: Kría, the Icelandic Venture Initiative. This interview was first published in our newsletter, The Memo. Disclaimer: I’ve been consulting with the ministry on this topic and others. Bold… Read More Þórdís Kolbrún: “With Kría, we’re providing oxygen” – an interview with the minister of innovation

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

Movement in the Innovation Committee

Earlier this year, Minister for Innovation and Industry Þórdís Kolbrún announced the creation of a bi-lateral committee on Innovation Strategy for Iceland. This committee would oversee the work of five sub-groups, each focused on a particular area of the innovation strategy. It would be a bi-lateral committee, with all political parties nominating members, as well… Read More Movement in the Innovation Committee

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

The NSA Ventures report: Missing data, depth, and doesn’t address the key questions

Three weeks ago, the Ministry for Industry and Innovation (ANR) released a report on the operations and future of NSA Ventures. The report was written by a working group on the matter announced at the fund’s annual meeting last year. I, and possibly others in the ecosystem, were looking forward to reading the report, which was… Read More The NSA Ventures report: Missing data, depth, and doesn’t address the key questions

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

“Iceland is sold out” and the competition for tech talent

“Iceland is sold out!” That is how Skúli Mogensen, founder of WOW air described our current talent situation at Startup Iceland last week. It refers to the feeling that our talent pool is too small, and tech companies can’t fill the positions they’re trying to. (Note: it’s possibly a fact, but I don’t have the… Read More “Iceland is sold out” and the competition for tech talent

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

How a media personality’s change of jobs might influence the tech industry in Iceland

This post is from the Northstack Memo, our newsletter and commentary on recent happenings in the Icelandic startup ecosystem, written by @kiddiarni. Yesterday, Kjarninn reported that Icelandic media personality Logi Bergmann would be barred from starting a new media job at Árvakur – publisher of Morgunblaðið and owner of K100.5 radio station – for twelve months. The… Read More How a media personality’s change of jobs might influence the tech industry in Iceland

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

Two notes on the funding report (from the Memo)

This post is from the Northstack Memo, our newsletter and commentary on recent happenings in the Icelandic startup ecosystem, written by @kiddiarni. Last week we published our quarterly funding report (read it here) where we looked at investments and exits in Q3 2017. This Memo will be short and sweet. Another top tier VC invests in Iceland… Read More Two notes on the funding report (from the Memo)

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson

Uber, Lyft and Iceland: Will they ever come?

This post is from the Northstack Memo, our newsletter and commentary on recent happenings in the Icelandic startup ecosystem, written by @kiddiarni. Transportation Ministry to look into Uber & Lyft From Vísir: Jón Gunnarsson, minister of transport, will appoint a working group to look into the possibility of ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft operating in… Read More Uber, Lyft and Iceland: Will they ever come?

Kristinn Árni Lár Hróbjartsson