Nordic/Baltic highlights from this year’s awards included iZettle (winner of Best Commerce, Finance or Payments Startup), Podio (winner of Best Business or Enterprise Startup) and Endomondo (winner of Best Sports, Leisure or Health Startup). Rovio’s flock of Angry Birds took home The Europas Hero Award for “kicking ass globally from Europe”. Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss of SoundCloud (originally from Sweden) were also named the best founders/co-founders of the year. The Grand Prix Award went to UK-based Peer Index.
Congratulations to all the Nordic and Baltic finalists, especially Endomondo, iZettle, Podio and Rovio!
Here’s a rundown of all the “arctic” finalists:
Best Business or Enterprise Startup
Winner: Podio (DNK)
Highly commended: 23 Video (DNK), iZettle (SWE)
Finalist: Pipedrive (EST)
Best Advertising or Marketing Startup
Finalists: Campalyst (Baltic), Thinglink (FIN)
Best Startup Tool For Startups
Highly commended: BusyFlow (LTU)
Finalists: Appharbor (DNK)
Best Entertainment, Audio, Video, Music Startup
Finalists: Miivies (FIN), Flowd (FIN), TuneRights (SWE)
Best Gaming or Social Games Startup
Highly commended: Shadow Cities / Grey Area (FIN)
Best Social Platform or Networking Startup
Finalists: Flirtic (EST), Zerply (SWE & EST)
Best Commerce, Finance or Payments Startup
Winner: iZettle (SWE)
Highly commended: Flattr (SWE)
Finalists: Holvi (FIN), Transferwise (EST)
Best Sport, Leisure or Health Startup
Winner: Endomondo (DNK)
Highly commended: Sportlyzer (EST)
Best Transport, Travel or Environmental Startup
Highly commended: Tripbirds (SWE)
Best Service Provider to Startups (Legal, Financial, PR etc)
Highly commended: 2Pears (SWE)
Best European Startup Accelerator
Finalists: Garage48 (EST), Startup Sauna (FIN)
Best VC of the Year
Finalists: Creandum (Nordic), Fast Lane Ventures (RUS), Kite Ventures (RUS), Northzone Ventures (Nordic)
Best Exit 2011
Finalists: Slando (RUS), Yandex (RUS)
Best Angel or Seed Investor of the Year
Finalists: Lifeline Ventures (FIN), Morten Lund (DNK), Thomas Madsen-Mygdal (DNK)
Best Startup Advisor/Mentor of the Year
Highly commended: Tine Thygesen / Everplaces (DNK)
Finalists: Ksenia Yolkina / Yandex (RUS)
Best VC Partner of the Year
Finalists: Mattias Ljungman (SWE), Niklas Zennström (SWE)
Best Startup Founder / Co-founders
Winner: Alexander Ljung & Eric Wahlforss / SoundCloud (orig. from SWE)
Finalist: Christian Lanng / Tradeshift (DNK)
The Europas Hero Award – Kicking Ass Globally From Europe
Winner: Rovio (FIN)
Highly commended: Tradeshift (DNK)
Finalists: Bambuser (SWE), Habbo Hotel (FIN), KupiVIP (RUS), SoundCloud (orig. from SWE)