Personal Health Update – all good for now
Today is 3 months since my heart attack. I have had my 6 weeks check with an Echo-Cardiogram. My cardiologist …
eKosh Finance – Decentralized Financial Services Platform in India
Iceland Venture Studio is investing in eKosh Finance a non-banking-technology-first-financial-company that is decentralizing lending to micro-businesses in India.
Mussila – Decentralized Music Education
Iceland Venture Studio is leading an investment syndicate in Mussila, the award winning decentralized music learning app. We are doing a deep dive into showing how we make decisions on a team we chose to back. The Mussila team answered the 7 questions that gives you an idea of how they are thinking and where they plan to take Mussila.
Atherosclerosis and Coronary Heart Disease
Last week was eventful to say the least. I apparently had a heart attack. Had an angioplasty and was in the hospital for 4 days. I had no big pain but the blocks in my arteries were fixed. Looking forward to getting back to rehabilitation and getting fitter and stronger after the first metal installation on the path to being HomoDeus.
FutureCast: Episode 6 Kathryn Gunnarsson founder and CEO of Geko
The 6th episode of Futurecast was a conversation with Kathryn Gunnarsson the CEO and founder of Geko a talent agency. Kathryn has made Iceland her home and we talk about a number of things related to building a diverse team and leadership.
#FutureCast: Episode 5, Thor Sigfusson, Founder of Iceland Ocean Cluster House
The 5th episode of FutureCast is out. I speak to Thor Sigfusson the founder of Iceland Ocean Cluster House. We talk about Circular Economy, utilization of fish a.k.a 100% Fish, innovation in the seafood sector, how this all started. This episode is part of a series of talks we will have about the Circular Economy.
Startup Iceland joins LOOP to inspire the global economy to transition to Circular Economy
Startup Iceland joins LOOP to inspire and transition the global economy to circular economy. LOOP was launched in 2018 by Avanto Ventures, Sitra and Nordic Innovation to take circular economy from strategy to action.
What will happen in 2021
It is good to have a perspective of how the world will evolve when you operate in a world of uncertainty and low data as I do. I am starting a new tradition to write about what will happen in the near future.
FutureCast Episode 4 – David Gunnarsson, CEO of Dohop
The 4th Episode of FutureCast is a conversation with David Gunnarsson the CEO of Dohop the Flight Meta Search company which just closed a $12m round of funding. A Christmas miracle where a travel company raises funding during a pandemic.
A Promised Land
America is an idea of a Promise Land. I always had that image of the country that I enjoyed while I lived there. President Barack Obama shares is path that shows why I always had that feeling. This book is an inspiration and I hope everyone read it.
Investing in Immigrants
Immigration is a hot topic all over the world. I have been an immigrant and I know the challenges of being an immigrant founder. My wife and I are setting up a fund to invest in immigrant founders who want to start in Iceland. We founded Startup Iceland with a vision to build a vibrant startup ecosystem and Founders are at the core of this vision. We know that only diversity of ideas and people can lead to a better world and future.
Starlink
Starlink will decentralize internet access and disrupt the broadband services again. Starlink combined with Greenvolt Nanomaterial Battery can fundamentally change how we think about building infrastructure to support our access to the internet or how we build power infrastructures.
Voice Assisted Personalized Learning/Teaching Assistant
How do we enable anyone to learn anything, anywhere at their own pace? Our education system is not broken it is just evolving. We invested in Atlas Primer to allow learners to take their learning material anywhere and learn at their own pace.
Bring your work to Iceland
The Government of Iceland announced that non-EEA citizens can bring their work to Iceland. They just need to show proof of work and health insurance. This is fantastic news for the Startup Community in Iceland and for Founders.
Decoding the World – How the genetic era will change the world
Arvind Gupta and Po Bronson have written a book on Biology, Technology and Founders solving hard problems that is going to impact all of us. I highly recommend the book – Decoding the World – How the Genetic era will change the world. You will never see biology and human ingenuity the same way again.
Scaling Mentoring
Mentors play a crucial role in helping us achieve our potential. I have been fortunate to have great mentors and we invested in Expertrons to scale mentoring to everyone. Here is my A.I. Videobot Avatar Mentor.
Human Machine Interface – what is wrong with it and how to fix it
Human Machine interface is broken, amputees cannot use a smart phone or any of the devices that now use. 6Degrees has solved this problem and we invested in Miri and Aryeh to build the next human-machine interface device.
The future of Air Travel
The future of air travel is not what we experience today. There are alternatives and one company is working to solve this problem and it looks like they will be successful. Boom is bringing supersonic travel back by building a new aircraft with technological advances from other fields like computing, materials and engineering. Exciting times ahead for air travel
#FutureCast: Episode 2 – Conversation with Hjalmar Gislason
The second episode of #FutureCast – How to build the future from Iceland conversation is with Hjalmar Gislason, the Co-founder …
Startups from Iceland are showing they can solve hard global problems
More than $55m have been raised by startups from Iceland this year. What is interesting is that all the problems that they are solving are massive global problem.
