Where Are Finland's Education Startups?

    Hey, Finland. Where are your education-focused startups? Schools and the education system in Finland has garnered recognition from parents around the world, but entrepreneurs aren’t trying to bleed that Finnish education brand dry, like any group of profit maximizing individuals should be.

    Listen, I realize that Finland’s education value will not translate magically into an app or web service, and that platforms like Kahn Academy and Code Academy may not be the most golden of geese. But parents around the world will drop plenty of money to get the best for their children’s education, and school systems would pay for teaching tools with the Finnish flag on it. Basically anything Finnish would have a head start compared to an identical startup from anywhere else in the world.

    I can think of only one Finnish education startup, really. 10 Monkeys provided us with some news a while ago, and is hitting the 6-10 demographic with their online achievement-based math learning platform. Once they release their mobile app in June, they might make a bigger international splash but I would have thought there should be more than one startup on my radar.

    There’s no real point to this article but to raise the question. If there are any Finnish wantrepreneurs out there, it might be an open market to look at. Why do you think more Finnish entrepreneurs aren’t doing more in education?

    Close up of teenage girls doing homework photo by shutterstock.