Kasvun Roihu’s Grow to USA Program Paves the Way for Finnish Companies in the US

Last week, 9 Finnish companies arrived in New York in order to take part in Kasvun Roihu’s Grow to USA 2018 program. The week in the frames of Grow to USA was filled with pitching opportunities, workshops, and meetings with potential business partners and well-known investors. “Our aim is to help Finnish companies to grow and enter international markets”, tells Anni Hintikka from Kasvun Roihu, the company behind Grow to USA program.

Kasvun roihu Kasvun Roihu’s representatives who were interviewed for this article (from the left) Satu Haka, Anna-Mari Blek, Lassi Starck, Anni Hintikka and Janne Roiha

“Internationalizing a business is not an easy task, and that is why Kasvun Roihu is here to help Finnish growth-hungry companies to find the right business partners and to get their foot between the doors in the US”, continues Anna-Mari Blek from Kasvun Roihu.

Through the weeklong program, participating Finnish companies receive valuable advice from partners and investors who act a bit as mentors to them, but sometimes it leads to funding opportunities as well. Finding like-minded partners or interested investors might thus be crucial for the successful growth. For this reason, Kasvun Roihu wants to find the most inspiring and wisest experts and to provide channels where Finnish companies can meet and connect with the right people.

Grow to USA 2018 is one of the 150 sparring events that Kasvun Roihu organizes this year. In addition, to Grow to USA program, Kasvun Roihu also organizes Grow to Market programs in Sweden and China. During the Grow to USA 2018 program, the participating companies not only developed their pitching skills but also clarified their growth plans and met important partners from the field. “Some of the participating companies already found preliminary business partners”, says Janne Roiha from Kasvun Roihu stating that this is the best news Kasvun Roihu can hear. Finding the right partners is naturally essential for Kasvun Roihu as well. Close and trustful relationships with the partners enable Kasvun Roihu to focus on helping Finnish companies as deeply and as genuinely as possible. Working together as a team thus benefits the whole sparring process.

For the future, Kasvun Roihu has clear goals. The company aims to increase the number of its programs from four to seven and to expand its programs to new market fields during the next year. The possibility of expanding their digital content has also been taken into consideration. With content creation, the company aims to share Finnish companies’ success stories and inspire new companies to enter global markets. “Being a part of the birth and development of new Finnish success stories is truly at the heart of Kasvun Roihu for now and for the future”, Janne Roiha continues.

Grow to USA 2018 program is targeted to Finnish companies who aim to grow and enter USA’s business markets. For one week, the representatives of the participating companies come to New York to practice their pitching skills, participate in workshops, and meet potential business partners and well-known investors. After this year’s weeklong program, the audience voted for the best Finnish company according to their 3-minute pitches. The result was a tie and both Graphic Concrete(Link to another website.) and Yepzon(Link to another website.) won 2-month office space at Nordic Innovation House.

As a tip for any growth-hungry companies, Kasvun Roihu advices not to try to do everything by yourself, but to make partners and ask help from others. Of course, a really good and easy way to do is to participate in Kasvun Roihu’s events and programs next year. (https://www.roihu.com/(Link to another website.))

Partners of Kasvun Roihu’s Grow to USA program:

Consulate General of Finland, Business Finland, Nasdaq, Crowe, Boardman Grow, Marsh, Capteeni, San Francisco, Innovestor, Genbu

For more information contact:

Anna-Mari Blek

+358 40 7576 434

[email protected]