Microsoft and Venture Capitalists Seek Next Mobile Stars at Finland’s Number 1 Matchmaking Event

November 5, 2009; 06:57 AM

Espoo, Finland – November 5, 2009 – Technopolis is giving international venture capital investors a fast line to meet with Finland’s mobile start-up community. The Money Talks Forum matches the most prominent Finnish start-ups with Finnish and international venture capital investors and corporate venturing organizations.

The biannual Money Talks Forums are the largest and most efficient entrepreneur-investor matchmaking events in Finland. The previous event organized in May 2009 generated over 200 individual meetings in just 2.5 hours.

“Money Talks Forum is a great platform to meet a wide range of influential people in the mobile business,” commented John Nogrady, Director of Business Development for Microsoft's Emerging Business Team and a keynote speaker at the upcoming event. “Finland possesses a high level of technology know-how and we want to meet interesting Finnish mobile and software development companies.”

“We are very happy to have high quality Network Partners participating in the BizSpark program. As a BizSpark Network Partner, Technopolis has already invited 34 start-ups to the program. Globally there are over 20 000 start-ups in the program, 6 500 of them in Europe,” Nogrady added.

The second keynote will focus on the current state and predicted growth of the mobile industry. “2009 has seen a major turnaround in merger and acquisition activity in the mobile sector, with transactions valued at over 400 million Euros, a 77 % increase on 2008. I will explore this trend and look to the future at MoneyTalks Forum”, said the second keynote speaker Sasha Afanasieva, Analyst at GP Bullhound in London and author of the recent report “Mobile Sector Bucking the M&A Trend”.

The Technopolis Money Talks Forum creates quality matches between entrepreneurs and investors. Participants fill in their profiles and interests on line before-hand and Technopolis software suggests meetings based on keywords and other search criteria. The participants can also browse each others’ profiles and directly suggest meetings. Technopolis staff also personally evaluate participant needs and propose potentially interesting matches.

“Organizing and facilitating potentially game-changing encounters is tremendously valuable for start-ups,” says Will Cardwell, Director of Technopolis Development Services. “The opportunity to meet with several interesting companies within a short timeframe is clearly an appealing format to investors as well, as it is often difficult to find the time to meet with all interesting companies individually.”

Notes to Editors:

- Members of the press are welcome to participate in the Money Talks Forum.
- The event takes place at the Technopolis Innopoli 2 building, Tekniikantie 14, Espoo, Finland.
- An up-to-date event program is available at www.moneytalksforum.fi.
- Comments and photos on previous events at www.technopolisventures.fi/moneytalks.
- The event will be relayed via a live video connection to other Technopolis sites.
- Technopolis Online start-up statistics and data are available at www.technopolisonline.com.

For Further Information and Event Registration, Please Contact:

Karita Huotari, Head of Strategic Matchmaking Services, Technopolis
Tel. +358 (0)40 579 8757, email karita.huotari (at) technopolis.fi

Christina Forsgård, Netprofile Tech PR for Technopolis
Tel. +358 (0)9 6812 080 or +358 (0)40 571 9192, email christina (at) netprofile.fi

About Technopolis

Technopolis Plc provides business environments and services for knowledge-intensive companies and organizations. The service portfolio ranges from comprehensive business and development services to modern premises. Currently, close to 1,200 companies with 16,000 employees operate in the Technopolis centers located in Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Lappeenranta, Oulu, Tampere and Vantaa in Finland, and in St. Petersburg in Russia. Technopolis Plc is listed on Nasdaq OMX Helsinki. www.technopolis.fi