Angry Birds is Giving Out Nordic Hugs


    Well, more specifically they gave one big hug to the Helsinki based NordicHug. The company that is making touchscreen wipes out of berries, without using any alcohol. The news was already featured in the Helsinki Sanomat, and we reached out to Dmitry Genin, the CEO of NordicHug for more information.

    The unique selling point of NordicHug is the fact that they use Arctic cloudberry based formula, which allows to clean the screens without using any alcohol. This is supposed to not only get rid of the bacteria but also leave the protective coating intact.

    What ArcticStartup really wanted to know, was how the licensing process went and what it is like to work with Rovio. After all, working under the Angry Birds brand might mean even more for the company that the original innovation that lifted them off the ground.

    The decision to try to get the deal going is based on the fact that representing the Angry Birds brand not only increases sales but also allows you to reach larger chains, easier. For instance Genin told ArcticStartup that “When you go to UK, they dont know who you are. However when you say that you are Angry Birds, they listen to you. Angry Birds is a door opener for us. With Angry Birds we can get into bigger chains.”

    According to Genin, they have been in negotiations since last March but he noted that this was due to the fact that their deal covers quite a large geographical area of the whole of Europe and Russia. Talking about the length of the process, Genin commented: “They [Rovio] are amazing people, but they are very busy. And I can imagine that we are not their largest clients.”

    The deal itself involves a royalty fee to Rovio, the exact amount of which was not disclosed. However whatever it may be, it seems definitely worth it as it is clear that Rovio is ready to help out in order to get the brand recognised.

    For instance they have made several introductions for them and Peter Vesterbacka made sure to tweet about it, which resulted in a number of direct sales for NordicHug.

    Vesterbacka also said about the deal: “We’re proud to have Angry Birds on a product that promotes health and is so clearly a pioneer in the field.” 

    Overall, it is an interesting collaboration between two Finnish startups and we would love to see more of this kind of thing. Would be great to see similar partnerships between industry leaders and startups in other ways as well.