Iceland is not only an outlier geographically, socially, and demographically – by some measures, the country actually has Europe’s most active ecosystem. Its tech startups have raised more funding per capita than any other European country since 2015, and according to Mind the Bridge, more startups have reached the minimum funding to be classified as scaleups (over $1 million) per capita in Iceland than elsewhere in Europe. Yet, the country’s ecosystem is still in some ways nascent. Though the country showed increasing early stage investments and a record number of investments in 2017, according to Iceland’s main tech publication, Northstack – foreign and late stage investments remain rare.

Gaming seems to be the country’s most successful sector – perhaps due to Iceland’s chilly climate – with names like CCP Games, Plain Vanilla Games, Klang Games, and more below, and VR is also emerging as an Icelandic specialty.

Without further ado, let’s see what interesting startups Iceland has to offer us in 2019:

Monerium is developing as “an asset-backed, regulated, and redeemable e-money provider for blockchains”. Interestingly, the Monerium team is replete with veterans who rebuilt Iceland’s financial services following the 2008 crash. The company’s objective is to make currency accessible, secure, and simple to transact, using blockchains and fiat money featuring Ethereum/ERC20 tokens. The company intends to help “support financial stability by decentralising global finance and offering customers more ways to store and send e-money”. On January 11 Monerium closed a $2 million seed round, and announced that it has applied to become a licensed financial services company in the EEA.

Authenteq – Each day, we are made to prove our identity using codes, passwords, fingerprints, faces, or two-factor authentication. Reykjavik and Berlin-based Authenteq provides a cost-effective way for users to verify their identity without entering any data, while protecting their privacy using blockchain technology. Authenteq offers a 60-second identity verification process – the fastest onboarding process of an identity verification solution on the market. It also offers a user-owned and user-controlled eID that gives users themselves complete control and ownership over their online identity. The startup closed a Series A funding round of €4.4 million in January 2019.

Kara Connect provides a virtual office that allows clients to conduct online video conference sessions with therapists, teachers, and similar consultants. Clients only pay €3 per session, and a small service fee on top of their provider’s service charge. For specialists, Kara Connect provides a calendar and billing tools, and they can use Kara Connect for free for up to three users and ten video sessions per month, while for larger practices Kara offers Team and Enterprise plans starting at €19 per month. Kara Connect currently counts about 100 specialists as clients, mostly working in Iceland, but Kara is also gaining clients in Denmark, England, Norway, and Poland. Founded in Reykjavik in 2015, Kara raised a €1.5 million seed round in 2018.

Source Credit: EU Startups
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