For the first of a series of posts we’re doing in cooperation with Tekes Tempo, I had the opportunity to talk with Rami Korhonen of Playmysong about his financing through Tekes. If you’re unfamiliar with Tekes Tempo, you may find a past article we did helpful as some background. In general, Tempo’s goal is to quickly test products out on the market by providing financing as quickly as possible– their aim is to provide financing within one month of a startup’s application. The program’s goal not necessarily to develop a finished product, but rather to gain more knowledge of markets and users.
But back to Rami and Playmysong. We’ve covered PlaymySong in the past, but if you haven’t heard about them, Playmysong is a social jukebox app that lets you control the background music you hear when you’re out at a bar, diner, or similar location. The new version of their iPhone app released last week shows your Facebook photo in the upcoming playlist, and allows you also host your own social stereo on your iPhone.
To get where he is right now, Rami and his co-founder Timo Kaari bootstrapped Playmysong for one year with before they realized their goals were impossible to reach with pure bootstrapping. “We started speaking more publicly about our free social jukebox app in January. We then got really good feedback from our trips to industry events in Europe and USA, which made us realize that we really need to launch Playmysong in bigger markets – especially in the USA.”
To get the traction they needed to quickly seize the larger markets, they got in touch with the Finnish Vigo Accelerators in late Spring and closed the Tekes financing in September. Before receiving the financing, PlayMySong explained their vision and concept to the Tekes experts who guided them on which kind of funding they should seek, and how to start the application process.
It was tough tracking Rami down to talk with us; this week he’s been back an forth between New York City and San Francisco, where he’s been to conferences like the Billboard FutureSound and has expanded Playmysong’s reach to local bars in both cities. Without receiving Tekes financing, PlayMySong would likely have found it harder to do the groundwork needed to expand their reach to both coasts of the United States. Rami says that their Tekes financing is still ongoing, “But so far we have invested in R&D resources, travel, and market research consultation in the USA.”
Rami has positive words about the funding process and says, “The funding has already been instrumental in getting our product to a totally new level and for our onsite US launch preparations.”
Rami’s story is just one of hundreds where Tekes financing has helped develop a business and take it to new markets. If you’re interested in learning more about how Tekes Tempo can help your starup, you can find more details on their website and read more posts on the topic in the coming weeks.
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Hear it from startups
This series of posts is sponsored by Tekes and produced in co-operation with ArcticStartup to share experiences from startups about their funding experiences.
Interested in the fast turnaround of Tekes Tempo?
Find contact details, information on the program, and how to apply on their about page.
