Swedish startups making International headlines this week – 20th October
Note: This is a new Sunday format we are going to test – wrapping up all the great international press Swedish startups are getting. Please give us some feedback on Twitter, and of course – if you find a great piece, pass it on! In addition, we are looking to give it a snappy title – any suggestions?
‘Spotify for TV’ Magine terrifies Euro players with smart TV deals
“Magine TV, the Swedish cloud-based OTT service that threatens to blow a hole through European TV, has signed up smart TV makers LG Electronics, Panasonic, and TP Vision (selling Philips TVs). The service, described as “cable in the cloud” and sometimes as “Spotify for TV”, has gained well over 500,000 subscribers in Sweden in under a year since its launch in November 2012 and beta versions are now available in Germany and Spain just ahead of the full launch, with other countries following soon. To date, Magine TV is available as an app on Apple iOS devices and Samsung smart TVs, with Android promised soon, enabling direct live streaming from the cloud without a set top box.”
“Stockholm’s startup community were treated to the opening of the eagerly anticipated SUP46 co-working space last week. Over 300 entrepreneurs, investors, government organisations and more attended the event which was officially opened by Spotify’s Daniel Ek. The name SUP46 comes from ‘Start-up People of Sweden’ – with a notable number of famous Swedish company having a base in London including Spotify and Candy Crush creator King.”
Digital assault: Are video games closer to extinction?
“This is a triumphant time for young Swedish hackers, now all grown up. Beyond the success of DICE, there is Minecraft, which is essentially interactive Legos. Based a few blocks away, Minecraft came out of nowhere to garner tens of millions of dedicated players, many of them children. King.com, whose Candy Crush dethroned Zynga’s FarmVille 2 as the most popular game on Facebook, also has roots here.”
Read the entire article here