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Polar Bear Pitching is finally here! Today we host our brave semi-finalists in the first round of the event. 15 participants will take to the Ice-Hole in the hopes of making into tomorrow’s final, joining our Norwegian competition winners: Bookis.

Below you can get to know the start-ups joining us in today’s event. Not only do we have Finnish companies coming to compete, but several international start-ups from all over the world!

This year we have two participants coming all the way from Japan. Funky Jump are developing hands free community relation management software, using voice recognition to ease the process, and O:inc work on an application to help regulate our body’s internal clock.

A joint start-up from both Latvia and the United Kingdom, CakeHR is HR software company that streamlines attendance, performance and recruitment management for customers worldwide.

Joining us from the United States we have TensorFlight. TensorFlight are developing software that makes use of artificial intelligence to analyse satellite, aerial, drone and street view imagery.

From Estonia we have VideoCV, a platform where prospective employees can respond to job offers with a video CV.

From Finland we have a range of participants from many different fields. First up we have PlayGain, a start-up using artificial intelligence to aid in management decisions.

Doerz is an application to link travellers with locals. The aim is to provide a community platform to help tourists experience local culture through the help of local residents.

Zenniz are a Finnish brand working to develop smart tracking technology for use on tennis courts.

New Cable Corporation works to design shielded, flat, flexible cables to save the resources of both their customers and the planet.

AISpotter Oy is creating software to automatically analyse video data from sport events, aiming to help coaches provide fast, efficient feedback for players.

Mealbox provide a healthy online food delivery service. Using fresh ingredients, users can create meals based on their own health goals.

Rat Crew Studios are a Finnish games company developing high-quality role-playing games and transmedia franchises.

Kidday is a mobile application for creating a ‘kid book’ for families to capture important moments in their child’s life.

Simlab are creating a platform that allows organizations to create immersive lessons of their own online and distribute direct to their customers.

Delektre Ltd are bringing an application to noninvasively track body signs within their users, with the aim to help balance their health life.

Today we will see who has the strength – and more importantly the spirit – to make it through the ice-hole’s epic challenge. Join us tomorrow at 6pm to witness the finalists at our free event.

Today our Polar Bear Pitching team took on another Finnish tradition: the Laskiainen sledge races. The event – organised by the Konekilta student guild – saw our volunteers sliding down a hill at Raksila and racing their way back up. Whilst the team wasn’t successful in the race, a good day was had as we hosted our Instagram #Bearfie raffle. The eager spectators had the opportunity to track down our very own Jcub, and get their photo uploaded to Instagram. Five lucky participants will win a student ticket for this year’s event, which includes full access to the Business Unusual Conference and workshops, as well as entry for our pre- and post- parties. If you managed to get your #bearfie but have yet to upload it, be sure to get it submitted quickly (with @PolarBearPitch tagged) before the draw.

Polar Bear Pitching is a competition in which entrepreneurs pitch, or in other words, try sell their business ideas to investors – all while standing in an ice hole! The event is held for the sixth time this year and it brings together the entrepreneurs, investors and the general public. Mia Kemppaala, who is behind the original concept of the event, tells how the idea came to be and what it feels like to stand and speak in the freezing ice hole.

The year was 2013 and Mia Kemppaala was annoyed. Nokia had just left from Oulu and there were constant predictions in the media that the city -which had once leaned heavily on the mobile phone technology- would desolate rapidly. At the time, Kemppaala was working for the city of Oulu and the universities’ shared entrepreneurship hub Business Kitchen, where she helped the recently-jobless ICT experts to launch new careers as entrepreneurs. However, because of the complex terminology the entrepreneurs-to-be used while presenting their business idea, it was really hard to hang on. In October 2013 a brilliant idea struck Kemppaala: what if the entrepreneurs were to speak from an ice hole where the chilly water would force them to crystallize their message to include only the absolute essentials?

Kemppaala presented her crazy idea to her colleagues and manager, and was almost sure it would be dismissed immediately. To her surprise, many were enthusiastic about it and as a result of wide collaboration, the very first Polar Bear Pitching saw the light in the spring 2014. ”It became a snowball effect on the whole city of Oulu”, Kemppaala describes.

Instead of a competition, she defines Polar Bear Pitching as a phenomenon that represents how the Finnish never-give-up attitude of sisu, –which stems from the arctic environment- has helped to turn the harsh circumstances into a success story that has united the whole city. The event drew interest from all around the world right away because of it exoticness and uniqueness, and nowadays there are more participants from abroad than from Finland.

Organizing an event that is dependent of the weather conditions and the amount of ice is just a constant chain of surprises after one another. For example it has been so cold that the ice hole froze over again overnight and the organizers were forced to delay the finals to reopen the ice hole with a chainsaw. ”If it was easy, it wouldn’t be for us! Luckily we have learned to cope with the uncertainty throughout the years,” tells Kemppaala, who currently works for Tellus Innovation Arena.

Kemppaala encourages every Oulu citizen to head to Torinranta in the evening of March 13th regardless of their knowledge about the business world. The Polar Bear Pitching final event is open to the public and free of charge and activities such as reindeer rides and dance performance might interest families with children or arts enthusiasts. There will also be magnificent fireworks at the end of the evening. Maybe you’ll also find some inspiration for a business idea of your own!

But what it is like to pitch from the ice hole? ”It was hard to breath in the ice hole at first and I had to force myself to go on and speak. However, the experience was very positive once I realized that I can do this. Afterwards there was a huge endorphin rush and the feeling of having bettered myself was really awesome,” tells Kemppaala.

According to a study conducted at the university of Oulu, Ice hole swimming has numerous benefits to personal health including stress management, boosting self-confidence and relieving pain.

The study included over 100 ice hole swimmers, who were followed for a month. Their health condition was evaluated before and after swimming regularly in an ice hole. A wide variety of health benefits were found to be related to ice hole swimming.

Ice hole swimming alters blood circulation momentarily so that circulation focuses on the central parts of the body and blood pressure rises for a while. The amount of noradrenaline in blood rises, which is linked to the sense of victory during and after the dip. When ice hole swimming becomes regular, the increase in noradrenaline levels is not as significant anymore but the amount of cold and pain the body can withstand starts to rise.

Regular ice swimming raised the levels of dopamine and endorphin, which are connected to reduced depression and stress. Many participants reported how they felt like they drowned their stress under water. Ice swimmers also reported an increase in self-esteem after they were able to overcome themselves and dip in the freezing water. These health benefits were a result of swimming in an ice hole regularly several times a week.

Ice hole swimming gives also enormous boost to the health startups. In Polar Bear Pitching startups pitch their ideas in an ice hole, carved in the frozen Baltic Sea in front of Oulu market square. The extreme approach of this event has been proven to draw huge international media attention and many companies have multiplied their revenue immediately after climbing up from the ice hole.

The sense of immortality is claimed to be much stronger when pitching from an ice hole compared to regular ice hole swimming. One of the biggest benefits of pitching from an ice hole is that after you survive Polar Bear Pitching, getting on any stage will be a piece of cake compared to what you have done already. The health benefits of Polar Bear Pitching can be seen after only one treatment and long exposure period is not necessarily needed.

Next Polar Bear Pitching will be held on the 12th and 13th of March. The finals at the market square are free and open for audience and a ticket is needed for the day conference and evening parties. 

Take good care of your health and the health of your company!

Katarina Laaksonen, Digital marketing specialist from Kuulu, was once a marketing volunteer in Polar Bear Pitching. Read Katarina’s PBP story where she tells us how she still longs after those adventurous times and what she learned during her time in this high-energy team.

“I have always been an advocate for volunteering. Volunteerism is fun and effective way to enhance and develop both your professional and interpersonal abilities. Volunteering for the right cause will improve your core skills and give you direction – not to mention it will grow your network towards the place where you want to go businesswise. Startups with creative geniuses, financially wise investors and international media in all ears – all this and more swarming in Oulu for one, cool pitching event. You know you want to be part of it, right?

Join the awesome Polar Bear Pitching team 2019! You’re in for a treat and get to create memories which will last for a lifetime. Use your time wisely, expand your network actively and dare to take challenging tasks. Meanwhile you’ll experience first-hand how the world-class event is build. With the Polar Bear Pitching team you’ll learn to succeed in the arctic conditions. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

I warmly recommend volunteering for the Polar Bear Pitching event and joining this high-energy team. I speak from my heart and from my experience. In 2016, I lead the marketing team of approximately 10 people for months prior the event. My crew was from all around the world – it was great to share the knowledge, values, time and work with so different, versatile people. With the team we created graphic design, video stories, photography, managed social media channels and some of us even got to act in the videos! Along the way I gathered lots of experience, fails and successes, confidence for my own work and even people I’m proud to call friends.

I treasure the memories fondly and I must admit still longing to experience the thrill of the live show. Remember, Polar Bear Pitching is Business unusual event – it’s more of an adventure. And after all the skills learned and showed making this world class pitching event- You might land your dream job. I sure did!

So, what are you waiting for? ”

Katarina Laaksonen
Digital marketing specialist / trainer
Marketing manager for Polar Bear Pitching 2016

Still wondering whether to apply for Polar Bear Pitching 2019? Check out an inspiring story from our last year’s winner Laava Tech (Artisun at that time):

Laava Tech journey after the Polar Bear Pitching Competition

It has been 9 months since Laava Tech won the PBP competition. It was the boldest decision to apply and to go and pitch there but it was so worth it. The actual value of winning the PBP, I’ve realized not when we got 10,000 euros as a prize and not even when I got to visit Chinese Silicon Valley (which was a part of the prize), but months later. But let’s see where it all started.

Anyone can pitch when you’re in a warm room and you have all the time in the world, but the icy water aspect makes Polar Bear Pitching a totally different animal. I had read that the longest pitch in previous years was close to five minutes, but luckily I had honed my pitch down to two minutes (still was almost 3 minutes during the final). My biggest fear was that I will stop around 40-50 sec and just run to sauna.

I was scheduled to pitch in the semifinal on the first day of the competition.

About Staff:

When I first arrived at the scene, the organizers were quick to welcome me and handed me a cool red woolly hat (that I still have and proudly wear) and a bath rope. Organizers of the Polar Bear Pitching competition is a really great team, who was supporting us through the whole event, who were replying to our facebook messages with literally any questions immediately and they were there for us whenever anyone needed something. It really meant a lot for me as I was alone from our team in Oulu and I’ve appreciated all the support I could get.

About pitching in avanto:

The freezing water was my biggest concern, and of course I forgot a big part of my pitch during the semifinal. Even though the water was not that bad. I mean it was freezing cold and at some point I needed to stop my pitch for a sec as it felt like someone took the air of my lungs. But in overall – I was really proud that I didn’t jump out in the middle of the pitch. Progressing into the final was already a great achievement, but I really wanted more. I knew that all teams are very strong and they all had great ideas, so I was trying just to be happy that I got to the final and consider going to the freezing water twice as one of my personal biggest achievements.

About final day:  

The day of the final was much crazier with a lot of people in the audience, presenters running around asking questions, and of course there were cameras everywhere, not to mention the long line of judges who’d eventually decide the winner. Though for me the hardest part was live streaming as I knew that my team as well as all my friends are watching me and I just wanted to do my best. The second time going into the water was actually harder for me (mentally as I knew what I signed up for), but there wasn’t much I could do except go in. I’m not very modest, so I will say that by the end of all pitches I just had a feeling that our startup will be in top-3 – our startup is working hard and our idea is really good and I’ve put all my passion about ArtiSun (now Laava Tech) into my pitch. But I would never expect getting the 1st place. I was really happy that I presented ArtiSun at it’s best and of course very happy with all the prizes (money will be used for the research and trip to China and is just an amazing opportunity). The rest of the day and evening was crazy with all the interviews and investors wanting to talk to me. I think I ended up with hundreds of new LinkedIn connections, a bag full of business cards, and an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.

About after PBP – what happened:

After the competition, we got a big increase in traffic on our website and ended up in publications and websites around the world. I’ve seen Polar Bear Pitching and our company in the news in for example China, South-Korea, and many others. The highlight for me was an awesome article in Mashable.com. You can’t really buy that kind of PR.

In a month Laava Tech got to visit MiniSV in Nanjing, China, which is a Chinese Silicon Valley. We were not visiting alone, the 2d place and 3d place startups were travelling as well. China is a completely different world and it was really interesting to have that experience, but we wanted to validate Laava Tech in European and US markets first, before going to Asia.

So we’ve applied to the Alchemist Accelerator – Forbes recognized it as a best B2B accelerator worldwide. And we got in! I think partly it was due to the fact that Laava Tech was so easy to find in the media thanks to PBP. Also a lot of investors from Silicon Valley have heard about the PBP and it’s way easier to get a meeting with them once they know that I’m “that crazy girl” who went into a freezing water for her startup. Now we have a small office in Silicon Valley and trying to concur US market.

And lately Laava Tech won the University Startup World Cup competition in Copenhagen, Denmark. All the jury members did know about the PBP pitching and I think every participant and organizer watched the video of me pitching from the ice hole. That video is a great networking tool – you impress people straight away and they also become really interested in your startup and do listen to what you say.

I still have long lasting relations with half of the startups who took part in the competition – and that’s the best part. All startups who are brave and crazy enough to take part are the ones you should become friends with. They will understand you and will support even a year after.

The PBP gave me friends, insane media coverage for Laava Tech, also ever-lasting recognition by the startup community. But more than that, it helped me to believe in myself. After I’ve pitched from the icy cold water for my startup I knew that I will do anything to make Laava Tech a success. During the PBP I got international validation for Laava Tech.

Apply to Polar Bear Pitching 2019