Mahindra Group invests in Finland start-up

The Mahindra Group today announced an investment of 200,000 euros in a Finnish start-up which won a competition run by the Indian conglomerate in search for the next big idea.
Medixine, which has a suite of cloud software programs that provide e-services to patients and help them become active players in their own care instead of being passive targets, won the Mahindra Groups 'Avatar Hunt'.
Medixine won the funding from seven shortlisted entrepreneurs from a variety of industries, including education, healthcare, analytics and finance, who presented their unique business ideas to a jury comprising of young leaders from within the Mahindra Group.

"Finland is a strategic part of our global footprint and our significant presence in the country is testimony to the important position it holds in our business plans, said Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group.
"A combination of public R&D funding and focus on skill development has resulted in Finlands consistently high rankings in global innovation surveys. Our intent is to leverage the strengths of this unique eco-system to help us discover the next big ideas and business models which will help us leverage the forces of disruption to create new opportunities for the Group in the future," he said.

Finpro, Finlands trade promotion agency, helped Mahindra identify and shortlist innovative start-ups from across the country for the competition.

"Finland is a major tech hub and fast-rising start-up nation ideal for open innovation, offering great business opportunities for forward-looking corporations such as the Mahindra Group," saidMarkus Suomi, CEO, Finpro.
"Avatar Huntprovided us with the ideal platform to introduce Finnish companies to Mahindra Group executives and give them a sense of what the country has to offer, said Suomi.
Avatar Hunt formed part of the Groups annual Senior Leaders Conference, held in Helsinki this week.