Norway’s best archer is a Finn who wants to help others

– This means much more than just winning, said Commu App CEO Karolina Kohanen after coming off the stage.

There she was handed a large check 200,000 Norwegian krone After winning Norway’s largest startup competition “100 degrees” under DNB NXT 2023.

Kohanen was clearly moved when she received the award and stressed that helping others is her ultimate passion, something she also emphasized in both promotional rounds during Thursday’s competition.

Helping others is precisely the basis of all Commu, a marketplace where users can ask for and offer help to others in their immediate area, for example in the neighborhood.

“This is something I care about because I know what it means to need help,” Kohanen said.

Since its establishment in 2021, it has become the largest platform in Finland within its region, with more than 50,000 registered users and more than 10,000 services offered.

And this was precisely one of the things that made the jury finally unanimously choose Finland’s Kohanen as the winner of the final, where she met shooters from startups Tvinn Solutions, Omnimod and Wepost.

– What will the prize money be used for?

-We will definitely hire more. “For this money, I could probably hire two new developers,” Kohanen said.

“100 degrees” And Dnpnxt It was a central part and regular feature of the program below Oslo Innovation Week In many years. Among the winners in previous years He chooses, Evoi And climate.

More than 200 startups were registered this year. Eight of them qualified for the semi-finals, before the four finalists settled for victory on Thursday evening.

Read the full overview of all the finalists and semi-finalists at the bottom of the article!

This year, participants are working to find new solutions to achieve the 17 United Nations sustainability goals, and the competition was organized in cooperation between Denb, Startup lab And Oslo business district.

So the prize money this year was ongoing 200,000 Norwegian krone.

The semi-final match between the eight selected from the quarter-finals was held in Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen earlier in the day.

This year’s judging panel consists of the Director of Innovation and Customer Journeys in the B2B market, i.e DNP Richard Soering And managing partner in Verda gear forand partner in Atomico Aasked Holtmann.

-You feel alive

One of the people who also participated in the second round on Thursday was the CEO of a company Omnimod, Tobias Dragon Rottie.

He doesn’t seem to have lost heart because he didn’t make it to the top in the final:

“This was fun, interesting,” Rutte said after the awards ceremony.

Ruti could tell that there were quite a few in attendance before and during the competition. Although he is used to performing in front of an audience, there has been a great deal of training at home.

-You feel alive and feel your pulse. “There is a lot of pressure because you feel like you represent the whole team,” Rutte said.

-What are the future plans?

“Take over the world,” he joked.

These finalists were:

Twin solutions

A platform for architects that facilitates the reuse of building materials. Data must be retrieved from recycled material suppliers and integrated into the workflow of architects, designers and project teams.

wide Stockland And Haakon Toth The company started in 2021.

He said from the stage:

Omnimod

Developing technology based on artificial intelligence in the field of logistics services. The product is a programmable conveyor belt that can send parcels both vertically and horizontally, and has been described by partner Helthjem as “the sorting facility’s answer to Autostore”.

The goal is to simplify logistics using versatile hardware linked with advanced software.

The company started in 2020 Of, among others Tobias Dragon Rottie And Siva A. Kapov, He lives in Fwild boar.

He said from the stage:

WePost

WePost It has developed an AI-powered subscription-based marketing service designed to help small businesses and startups appear better on social media.

The company is headquartered in Trondheim and was started in 2022 to Wilhelm K. Kelland and Benjamin Pekin.

He said from the stage:

Como application

A Finnish startup founded in 2021 to Karolina Kohanen, Sami Ekmark And Ronnie Negrin.

Como is a Finnish mobile app and marketplace that aims to make it easier to ask for help and help others in nearby areas, such as your neighborhood. It has become the largest platform in Finland within its region with more than 50,000 registered users and more than 10,000 services implemented.

He said from the stage:

They did not qualify from the semi-finals

EQ

Oslo based startup founded in 2022. EQ It is a platform for women’s health. The goal is to facilitate understanding of symptoms and communication between doctor and patient. The first disease the company looked at was endometriosis.

Managing Director and Founder is Catherine Delp.

He said from the stage:

Mary Health Solutions

Start from Cape town In South Africa, which began in 2021 to Sarah Carroll, Moritz Müller And Rowan Spazzoli.

The company works in animal health, marine biotechnology, and primarily in agriculture. Delivering test kits and performing protein biomarker tests that can tell us about the stress level in farmed fish. The goal is to be able to contribute to proactive measures,

He said from the stage:

space

space It has built a huge database containing thousands of documented floor plans. It is combined with AI technology to give architects and designers a tool to help make design more efficient and sustainable. You must have over 70 paying clients from a wide range of countries.

The company is located in FredrikstadAnd the founders are Andre Agee, Franz Forsberg, and Stian Högrem. They started to 2023.

He said from the stage:

Wild

Vilda is a platform from Bergen, connecting banks with homeowners and craftsmen. The goal is to make it easy and profitable for people to make their homes more energy efficient. It takes as a starting point the upcoming EU law that will impose stricter requirements on the energy efficiency of homes. This will affect both the mortgage interest rate and the value of the home.

He reached the semi-finals in the 100 court event by winning the quarter-finals at Demo Day in Bergen recently.

The company was founded by, among others Boria Shaw Larsen in 2021.

He said from the stage: