According to the SME Business Barometer published in this fall by The Federation of Finnish Enterprises already 24% of Finnish small and medium sized companies are doing business internationally. We need to support this” internationalization trend” among SMEs because it is crucial for our companies’ and whole economy’s success and growth.
”Not every entrepreneur has the guts to find out how much growth potential their business could have abroad. Luckily the situation is now changing, little by little. We are encountering more and more companies that have operated on the global markets since their founding or that were not originally started in Finland. It has been delightful to notice this” Think Big” trend growing more popular in Finland.” tells the Business Director of Grow to Market Anna-Mari Blek.
Even though the number of SMEs operating in international scale is increasing steadily, according to the SME business barometer companies’ investments to the internationalization are decreasing. However, succeeding in highly competitive global markets requires both qualitative and quantitative investments.
But how to know where to start, what kind investments to make? To help this work we have gathered the best growth and internationalization partners to our network. In Kasvu Open growth companies get help for developing their business from many perspectives but also tools and confidence to enter global markets. This work is continued at Grow to Market programs which are efficient and effective way to take the next step toward global markets. In this fall Kasvu Open received the Internationalization Award of the President of the Republic and European Enterprise Promotion Award for supporting the internationalization of businesses.
In Spring we are heading to New York, Shanghai and Stockholm together with three Grow to Market groups. These programs are made possible by our partners who have also selected the growth companies to the programs. Grow to USA program partner team includes Crowe, Boardman Grow, Nasdaq, Marsh, NewCo Helsinki, Team Finland, Business Finland, Innovestor, Finnish American Chamber of Commerce and Nordic Innovation House. In Grow to China program the partners are Haier Hai Chuanghui,FinChi, Kolster, Boardman Grow, NewCo Helsinki, Export Maker, Business Finland , Lingo Languages and Innovestor. And Grow to Sweden program is made possible by Crowe, Nasdaq, NewCo Helsinki, Export Maker, Boardman Grow, Business Finland and Innovestor.
From below you can find the 21 companies that have decided to find out how much growth potential their solutions’ have abroad and boost their international business operations.
For those of you who are thinking why our company isn’t on that list, it’s not too late. Together with our partners we are inviting more companies to the programs during January. If you are interested contact us (you can find our contact information from here.)
Companies attending Grow to Market programs in Spring 2019
Chic Mini Me (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
Children’s clothing online store.
Citynomadi (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
IoT based location services. The app guiding through f.ex. museums or cities.
Dustshelter (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
DS Product is the global cleantech market leader in sheltering wall structures for building sites.
Flowhaven(Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
Flowhaven is the most intuitive brand licensing software. Their platform helps brands from creative industries to achieve incremental licensing growth.
Granite Partners (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
Granite is a cloud service for the development of business risk management, cyber security and privacy and occupational safety and health.
Miradore (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
A software company specializing in effective, cloud-based device management solutions.
Raisoft (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
Smart Break is a cloud-based workplace wellness solution designed by specialists. The key is to build movement variety into the normal workday through smart activity breaks.
Safera (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
With Safera’s intelligent stove guard, you practically eliminate cooking fires that are the No. 1 cause of home fires.
StepOne Tech (Grow to USA Companies Spring 2019)
eFlexFuel is a disruptive technology that enables regular gasoline and hybrid cars to run on renewable bioethanol instead of fossil fuel.
IndoorAtlas (Grow to China Companies Spring 2019)
The company is serving app developers by helping them to build amazing location-based apps and giving them the freedom and scale they deserve.
Fourdeg (Grow to China Companies Spring 2019)
Fourdeg is a service company that uses AI for heating optimization. Service improves indoor comfort and saves in heating costs.
L7 Drive (Grow to China Companies Spring 2019)
One device solution range, to seamlessly connect battery cells and electric motors
Ekolet (Grow to China Companies Spring 2019)
Composting Ekolet Dry Toilets are odorless, and very easy to install and maintain.
ionSign (Grow to China Companies Spring 2019)
ionSign escorts the manufacturers of B-to-B investment products to the smart and connected world by providing solutions combining monitoring and control electronics with connectivity.
Superson (Grow to China Companies Spring 2019)
Superson is a marketing communications agency where all creative work is done by our carefully selected trusted freelancers of various expertise backgrounds.
Mirror Line (Grow to Sweden Companies Spring 2019)
High quality, tailored sliding doors and closets
Houston Analytics (Grow to Sweden Companies Spring 2019)
An analytics company, which sole purpose is to help clients to utilize data and analytics to enable effective decision-making in everyday business.
Raisoft (Grow to Sweden Companies Spring 2019)
Smart Break is a cloud-based workplace wellness solution designed by specialists. The key is to build movement variety into the normal workday through smart activity breaks.
Innorent Production (Grow to Sweden Companies Spring 2019)
Innorent offers leased halls, which are a real-time engineering solution for temporary spatial requirements.
U-Cont (Grow to Sweden Companies Spring 2019)
U-Cont’s process involves the whole factory or distribution systems facility implementation of the business: smart green solutions to liquid distribution, storage and energy production.
Parkkisähkö (Grow to Sweden Companies Spring 2019)
Parking Energy provides electric car charging in real estate environment.