By SUSAN LAHEY
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

OSLO, NORWAY: Despite a remarkable collection of Nordic startups, the surprising winner of the 100 Pitches competition at Oslo Innovation Week, which included two outliers from London and Austin, was the London company: Skin Analytics. The device attaches to a smart phone and when people upload photos of moles that concern them, uses the same criteria physicians would use to analyze the moles for possible melanoma without having to go to the doctor. Founder Neil Daly is from Australia, the country that has the highest risk of melanoma, followed closely by Norway. When caught early, the chances of recovery are high, but caught later, it is often fatal.

Skin Analytics won the prize of 300,000 Norwegian Kroners—about $37,000—and help to launch the company globally. Pitches were held in Austin, London, and all over the Nordics, with semi-finals in Oslo and the final competition at Startup Lab at the Oslo Science Park. Fred Schmidt, Capital Factory’s international director, was master of ceremonies for the finale which drew about 200 people.

Earlier Thursday, Daniel Senyard, COO of the Austin company TripChamp had pitched. TripChamp uses a proprietary “normalizer” to access and identify travel deals from myriad sources, from discounts generally only offered to group travel outfitters to rates offered by specialist travel agencies to public rates. It can often get big discounts for its business customers. As winner of the Austin pitch competition, he was flown to Oslo—all expenses paid—to participate in the semi-finals.

Unlike pitches in the U.S. which are often high pressure and not particularly friendly, pitches at the Startup Lab in Oslo were downright warm and fuzzy. The moderator coached the audience to be supportive during the pitches because entrepreneurs were likely nervous. And when the time was up, the audience was cued by a sign to applaud, thereby both silencing and encouraging the pitching entrepreneur.

Companies pitching included everything from Vio, which unbundles magazine articles and lets consumers read content from dozens of publications according to their interests—like Spotify or Netflix—to Poop Time, a very early stage wearable company that puts a reusable sensor in a baby’s diaper to alert the parent about number one or two or whether the child is dehydrated or has a fever.

RSM Imagineering had built a fracking pump that it hopes will go 1,000 hours without servicing unlike current pumps which last about six. There was a company with a silicone spray that’s harder than others, for industrial uses and a company called FilmGrail that would aggregate all sources of television shows and movies into another Spotify-type streaming service that allows people to “follow” others for recommendations and social interaction. There was also a parking app that would let private individuals rent driveways for parking and help drivers find parking places, either private or public.

“Even though it was disappointing not to have made it to the finals,” Senyard said, “getting to the semi-finals of an international pitch contest is a great result and experience for TripChamp. “Culturally it’s been really amazing. I’ve never been to this part of the world…the startup scene seems to be very willing to introduce you the right people. I did find it very interesting…the companies that made it through to the finals were much earlier stage. It’s a younger startup scene.”

In the edtech world, he said, he saw several companies that had traction in several countries and tens of thousands of users. But the companies that competed in the finals largely didn’t.

Senyard also pointed out some of the differences between Norwegian and U.S. competitions of this type. Catered meals were provided for all participants, free. “People weren’t jumping in to capitalize on the situation and make money.” Also, after the pitches in the U.S., investors and startups either lunge for or away from one another. At Oslo Innovation Week, once the pitches were done, they were done. There were no hasty meetings to get a piece of the action. One of the five of them actually had a product released. If you’ve got a young scene makes sense.

Judges for the pitch competition included Bård Stranheim (Innovasjon Norge), Sean Percival (500 startups), Tellef Thorleifsson (Northzone), Ekaterina Gianelli (Inventure), Kristin Riise (DNB) and Jeanne Sullivan (Sullivan Adventures, StarVest.

Schmidt launched the program with a clip from Norwegian television where he had been targeted by a comedian who hid inside a building, quickly threw on a costume like passers-by and then followed the stranger until they noticed. He happened to have a skullcap, goatee and leather jacket to pull off a full-on Fred Schmidt.

Editor’s note: Lahey’s trip was sponsored by Oslo Business Region, which puts on Oslo Innovation Week and the Norwegian Consulate in Houston.

NASA has selected Firefly Space Systems, based in Cedar Park, for a $5.5 million contract to demonstrate a CubeSat launch by March of 2018, according to a news release.

Firefly, a private aerospace firm founded in 2014, plans to launch small to medium sized satellites to orbit.

NASA awarded the contract as part of its “Venture Class Launch Services” which represents “NASA’s investment in the future of the commercial launch industry for SmallSats,” said Mark Wiese, chief of the FLight Projects Office for NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center.

CubeSats are small satellites, the size of a cube. They have opened up space research for NASA since the CubeSats can be launched from missions at different altitudes and in unique orbits not currently available from payload missions or launches from the International Space Station.

“The tiny, box-shaped spacecraft have emerged in the last 16 years as a quick viable way to test components and techniques that, if proven, can be applied to much larger missions where the stakes are far greater than a simple, 4-inch cube,” according to NASA. “The price tag for each mission is one-tenth the cost of the least-expensive traditional launcher.”

Firefly’s mission is to reduce the costs involved in launching satellites to space. Its first rocket, Firefly Alpha, “will be capable of lifting 400kg to a 400km equatorial orbit or 200kg to a 500km Sun-synchronous orbit.

“Being recognized by NASA with a VCLS contract is a tremendous honor for the Firefly team. We have worked tirelessly during the last 18 months to develop Firefly Alpha, a vehicle that will be different from anything that has come before it. NASA’s vote of confidence in our technology and team is a significant boost to our efforts of ‘Making Space For Everyone’,” Thomas Markusic, Firefly’s CEO, said in a news statement.

NASA also awarded a $6.95 million contract to Rocket Lab and $4.7 million to Virgin Galactic for CubSat launches.

By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

Atlas Wearables officially launched sales of its new $249 Atlas Wristband fitness tracker at a party Tuesday night.

After two years in development, the Austin-based startup is now shipping the devices to its customers and taking orders on its website, said Peter Li, CEO and co-founder.

The company, with 12 employees, participated in Techstars Austin’s inaugural class in 2013. Mike Kasparian is a co-founder along with Li. Its device is designed in Austin and manufactured in China.

The party, which received more than 300 RSVPs, held at Vuka Studios, celebrated the launch with food, drinks, a photo booth, DJ and fitness demonstrations with the device. Partygoers were encouraged to tweet with the hashtag #TheMagicisReal.

The Atlas fitness tracker, worn on the wrist during workouts, tracks calories burned and heart rate but it also collects data on metrics such as power, stability, efficiency and more, Li said. It also features a coach mode with workout programs, he said. The fitness tracker syncs its data via Bluetooth with the Atlas Wearables app on a smartphone. It’s available on both iOS and Android devices. The Atlas tracker features a touchscreen, which makes it easy to navigate the controls, and it is also water resistant.

Atlas’ fitness tracker distinguishes itself from other devices on the market like Fitbit and Jawbone, by tracking more than just steps. It’s geared to people who work out a few times a week. It can track a wide range of activities including weightlifting, push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, burpees, squats and lunges.

The company launched an IndieGoGo campaign in early 2014 and exceeded its goal by 503 percent to raise $637,282. It’s now shipping those units to customers, Li said. It is also doing direct sales from its website.

Atlas, founded in 2013, has raised $2.8 million in funding so far and it will probably seek additional funding later this year or next year, Li said. It’s focused on marketing right now, he said.

By SUSAN LAHEY
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

OSLO, NORWAY – At SXSW 2015, Austin and Oslo announced a memorandum of understanding to forge a Creative Cities Alliance. At the time, Oslo had its own SX lounge and Norwegian company Kahoot!, which has most of its customers in Texas, announced that it would office in Capital Factory. Now, at Oslo Innovation Week, the relationship is getting deeper, with three more Oslo companies planning to come to Austin and a possible Entrepreneur-in-Residence program for early-stage Oslo startups at Capital Factory.

So…why? At first blush, the two cities seem like total opposites. They’re 5,000 miles apart. Oslo gets very cold; Austin very hot. Oslo is an ancient city, founded in the 11th century; Austin, by comparison, is an infant. Oslo is Nordic: Northern lights, Vikings, lots of fish. Austin is Texas: Western vistas, cowboys, barbecue. But…both cities come from economies that have relied on oil and gas for their prosperity. Both are centers of culture and innovation—vibrant startup scenes. Both are live music capitals. Both have great universities where they’re working on med tech, as well as incubators and accelerators for ed tech, clean tech and space tech. Both believe in a form of cultural democracy—Oslo’s is institutionalized whereas Austin’s is implied. Both have an East Side that’s in the midst of a redo.

And much like SXSW, Oslo Innovation Week is an opportunity for Norway to showcase its technology to the world.

At Cutting Edge 2015, an event at Oslo Science Park at the University of Oslo, companies demonstrated everything from robots that perform construction jobs like drilling holes in concrete ceilings to a hybrid rocket engine to software for virtual reality games. One booth showed a product similar to Spot on Science’s HemaSpot—part of its offerings as a chemical analysis contract lab.

Another booth had a solar kitchen that can be taken on camping trips and barbecues, but One Earth Designs’ Chief Marketing Officer Even Haug Larsen said that’s only the beginning. The solar concentrator is seven times more efficient than PV panels. The material the solar collector is made of is seven layers thick, lightweight and has withstood years of testing in desert sandstorms as well as cold Nordic winters. But eighty percent of the company’s sales actually are in the U.S.; Texas is one of its top four states. The Norwegian founders met Wellesley and Harvard graduate Caitlin Powers of Boston when visiting the city a few years ago and they decided their technologies would work best together.

For Norwegians, building companies with American partners has the obvious advantage of accessing a huge market. But they’re not the only ones that benefit. The World Economic Forum ranks Norway’s higher education and technological readiness six out of a possible seven. Its innovation, though possibly held back by a more conservative European culture, is still at five out of seven—though the U.S. only ranks about five and a half out of seven. The country is rich with engineers, a leader in healthcare and social and gender equality. And they’re early adopters.

“We identified a lot of places with shared interests like music, art, film, technology,” said Hege Tollerud, communications executive for the Oslo Business District. “They’re both compact cities. They’re small, not just geographically but hierarchically. If you Tweet a VC you can meet them an hour later for coffee. They’re both fast growing. Oslo is the fastest growing capital city in Europe.”

And while Austin’s getting a lot of attention, Tollerud said maybe Oslo has the freedom it has because “No one’s paying attention. There aren’t expectations. We have the freedom to create without anybody looking.”

To some degree, they’ve never sought an audience. Norwegian culture is all about being understated and humble. Tooting your horn is looked down upon and it’s far preferable to give credit to everyone else in your organization. Everyone, including the Crown Prince and the successful CEO of a major company are approachable by everyone. Sometimes, Norwegians say, they go too far with the humility. It hinders their ability to promote their companies.

By contrast, Austin may be too used to getting attention said Fred Schmidt, head of international for Capital Factory. He’s promoting international startup collaboration not just for Capital Factory but for educational institutions, other incubators, the whole city.

“After seven years of winning the number one best of everything awards we’re getting very complacent and full of ourselves and we’re not trying as hard,” Schmidt said. “We’re not showing up…. Austin is still thinking small: ‘Why should we travel around the world? We’re number one! Everyone’s coming to us!”

Though he credits Austin Mayor Steve Adler with having an international mindset, he said that other countries spend tens of thousands to bring delegations to create partnerships with Austin and Austin is rarely willing to spend $1,000.

“That just shows me Austin’s got some growing up to do when it comes to the international landscape and responding to those overtures at a more professional level,” Schmidt said. “We’re not looking like the serious aspiring city of the future that we want to be.”

Austin is, in many ways in the U.S. landscape, where some of our partners such as Dublin, Oslo, and Hackney are in Europe’s. They’re not the first cities people think of but they’re vibrant cities full of smart people and “there’s a lot going on.” Just as it’s easier to get attention for your idea in Austin than in Silicon Valley, it may be easier for U.S. companies to find entry into Europe through these less competitive portals.

“Norway has a stated and purposeful intent to become a world leader in certain categories…,” Schmidt said. “Sometimes the underdogs of different markets join forces and become the new competitive strength.”

Editor’s note: Lahey’s trip was sponsored by Oslo Business Region, which puts on Oslo Innovation Week and the Norwegian Consulate in Houston.

By SUSAN LAHEY
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

OSLO, NORWAY – Just as the event got underway, master of ceremonies Torgny Amdam—among whose credits are as a singer in a hardcore band—announced: “Let’s all stand for the Crown Prince Haakon!” The crowd of about 200 people stood, the prince came forward, and the rap song “I’m On A Boat” started blasting over the speakers. Amdam high fived the Prince just as rapper T-Pain was chanting “Take a good hard look at the motherfuckin’ boat (boat, yeah).” The man in the seat beside me turned with a grin and said “Welcome to Norway!” That was the start of Oslo Innovation Week.

As it turns out, the boat song referred to a controversy about money spent on a boat involving the prince and was a goodhearted joke. It set the mood for the rest of the program filled with the promise of Norway’s future as an international center for innovation. One step toward innovation was that, in a field almost completely dominated by men, organizers created a lineup of keynotes done almost exclusively by women. Norway ranks third by the World Economic Forum for gender equality, behind Iceland and Finland.
Among them were the Norwegian ministers for commerce and development (who announced a new government initiative to support entrepreneurship—but they did so in Norwegian), a venture capitalist from New York, some female startup founders from Norway and Israel, and women who had started various programs to empower women in technology.

Israeli entrepreneur Orit Hashai, founder of Brayola and a judge for the 100 Pitches competition that Austin company TripChamp will compete in later this week, spoke about how difficult it was to get investment from male investors. Her company lets women interact online about what bras they love so that women with the same shape, taste and budget can recommend what works to each other. Men, she said, rarely understand the need for this until she gives them this pitch: “Imagine you had to buy a condom in a world where there are a million sizes, shapes, brands and you have to try many of them on, because it’s not just about the size listed. And then comes this guy (showing a picture of a bald man with a measuring tape). He wants to help you measure…. How fast would you replace that with an online store?”

Babou Olengha-Aaby spoke of her crowdfunding platform to support “The Next Billion,” referring to the billion-dollar market of women who are currently underserved. Unlike other crowdfunding efforts, however, hers lets people contribute what they can, whether that’s money, social media support or something else. The point is that contribution doesn’t just come in the form of financial investment and every contribution toward the economic success of women exponentially improves the society where it occurs.

Anita Shjoll Brede, graduate of NASA’s Singularity University in Silicon Valley spoke of her entrepreneurial journey which included dropping out of medical school, starting her first business at the age of 20 doing “theater stuff,” building a racecar and more. Now she’s starting an organization called Iris AI, a technology to read the world’s research, looking for cross-disciplinary solutions to the world’s problems. “Let’s not build any more photo sharing apps until we make sure everyone has enough clean water, make sure the environment doesn’t go to hell….” she said.

In a country that’s made huge, deliberate strides toward equality over the past 20 years, having nearly all the keynote speakers be women was another conscious decision. Norway, which, like Texas, has relied on its oil reserves for economic prosperity is now looking toward becoming Europe’s most innovative country, with Oslo its most innovative city. Having women leading that charge is a big part of that goal.

Editor’s note: Lahey’s trip was sponsored by Oslo Business Region, which puts on Oslo Innovation Week and the Norwegian Consulate in Houston.

ROIKOI taps into the wisdom of employees to rate their online networks of friends and associates to help companies find the best employees.

The Austin-based startup has helped its customers, HomeAway, Zenoss, Intouch Solutions and Squareroot recruit employees. The company, founded in 2013, has also raised $1.7 million from angel investors like Brett Hurt, Rob Taylor, Jason Story and Andrew Busey and Capital Factory and SocialStarts.

“ROIKOI helped us get over 4,000 passive referrals from 100 employees, saving us hundreds of recruiting hours by not having to meet each employee individually and then hunt down the referrals’ contact information,” Antonio Busalacchi, HomeAway’s recruiting manager, said in a news release.

ROIKOI plans to make its passive referral platform available Tuesday and plans to publicly demonstrate it at the HR Tech conference next week in Las Vegas.

“Employee referrals are easily the best source of hire, but most tools require employees to kee up with all new jobs openings or spam their networks every time a new job opens up,” Andy Wolfe, ROIKOI’s founder and CEO said in a news release. “We capture the idea behind referrals – that your employees are great at identifying other great people – and make it much easier for employees to engage with.”

In one of the largest tech deals ever, Dell announced Monday plans to acquire EMC Corp. for $67 billion.

Dell is partnering with Silver Lake and MSD Partners to complete the deal.

VMware, a cloud computing company in which EMC owns 80 percent, will remain as a publicly-traded company. Dell will remain a private company. Under terms of the deal, EMC shareholders “will receive $24.05 per share in cash in addition to tracking stock linked to a portion of EMC’s economic interest in the VMware business,” according to a news release.
The deal adds servers, storage and security capabilities to Dell, which has been diversifying its business from PCs and Servers into software, data, cloud and cybersecurity in the past decade. A few years ago, Dell took the company private in a deal valued at $25 billion.

“The combination of Dell and EMC creates an enterprise solutions powerhouse bringing our customers industry leading innovation across their entire technology environment,” Dell said in a news release. “Our new company will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next generation IT including digital transformation, software-defined data center, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, mobile and security.”

“I’m tremendously proud of everything we’ve built at EMC – from humble beginnings as a Boston-based startup to a global, world-class technology company with an unyielding dedication to our customers,” Joe Tucci, chairman and chief executive officer of EMC said in a statement. “But the waves of change we now see in our industry are unprecedented and, to navigate this change, we must create a new company for a new era. I truly believe that the combination of EMC and Dell will prove to be a winning combination for our customers, employees, partners and shareholders.”