Wired UK – September 2019

082

Ultimate.ai

SAP, MTV and Finnair are

among the companies

using Ultimate.ai, a chat

app architecture that

combines AI and human

interaction. Founded in

2016 by Jaakko Pasanen,

Markus Rautio and Reetu

Kainulainen, it prompts

human support staff with

reply suggestions based

on proprietary natural

language processing,

that it claims is 98.6

per cent accurate.

For now, the company

remains focused on

non-English language

markets, gaining $1.3m

in funding from Maki.vc

and Holtzbrinck Ventures

in September 2018 to

expand. ultimate.ai

Dispelix

While working at the

research institute

of Finnish tech

conglomerate VTT,

Antti Sunnari and Juuso

Olkkonen created a way

to cram the complex

optics for AR displays

into ultra-thin lenses.

The pair spun out their

firm with €1.7m of

investment. Several

government grants and a

€12m funding round later,

Dispelix now employs

34 people. “Photonics

is very hard, but luckily,

Finland is the best place

for photonics,” says

Sunnari. dispelix.com

Spinnova

A graduate of the VTT

Technical Research

Centre of Finland

Ltd, sustainable fibre

startup Spinnova

reached an important

milestone at the end

of 2018, three years

after it was founded:

it produced its first

industrial-scale

pilot line of textiles.

Co-founders Janne

Poranen and Juha

Salmela transform

cellulose from FSC-

certified wood into

textile fibre without

using any chemicals.

Spinnova has

attracted €7.5 million

of investment so far.

spinnova.com

Neuro Event Labs

Founded in 2015 by

Kaapo Annala, Neuro

Event Labs monitors

epilepsy patients and

feeds information

back to doctors,

helping them choose

the best treatment

options. Venture

capital fund Maki.vc

ploughed €500,000

into the company

in March 2018,

while the sensors it

has developed for

monitoring epilepsy

are also being used

by Helsinki University

Hospital to investigate

a preponderance

of cerebral

palsy in infants.

neuroeventlabs.com

<

Dispelix co-founder

Antti Sunnari

HELSINKI

‘PHOTONICS IS

VERY HARD, BUT LUCKILY,

FINLAND IS THE BEST

PLACE FOR PHOTONICS’

A N T T I SUNNA R I ,

DISPELIX

WHERE TO EAT

Café Ekberg, Bulevardi 9, 00120

Helsinki’s oldest café opened in

1852, and is as popular as ever,

occupying a prime spot on a street

filled with restaurants and

galleries. Expect top-notch coffee,

pastries and snacks – and

this being Finland, licorice flavour

ice cream. ekberg.fi

09-19-SUstartup01.indd 82 22/07/2019 14:08