Icelandic startups are on a roll lately. The latest news is about Datamarket (here you will find the startup profile that I wrote in 2012), which was acquired by Qlik. Here was the tweet from Qlik team, followed by a tweet by Datamarket:
Hjalmar Gislason
It is exciting to see Icelandic startups starting to really gain traction globally. I also believe that news like this creates more role models and creates a great momentum for individuals to dream and start their own ventures out of Iceland. As much as I like the idea of everyone should have the freedom and liberty to start their own startup, it is a path paved with a lot of twists and turns. I hope all aspiring startup founders do it for the right reasons. The whole reason why I started this blog was to provide a resource and build a community that can support entrepreneurs. It is more like Entrepreneurs helping Entrepreneurs to win.
As we continue to evolve in Iceland and build a vibrant startup community, I sure hope these successful entrepreneurs invest into building the community. I am really happy to see that Hjalmar has done just that. He has invested in a media and publishing company called Kjarninn. I am sure with his experience and funding the team at Kjarninn will do great things going forward. There are so many interesting companies that are being built in Iceland. If you read the link to my startup profile piece about Datamarket, I was skeptical about their original business model, I think Hjalli and the team pivoted. If I read the description about Qlik, it looks like it is a great fit. You can be rest assured, I will be inviting Hjalli to share his story about the acquisition during Startup Iceland 2015.
