The sixth edition of Media Honeypot, held on February 14, 2019 at the Sofia Future Farm on Sofiankatu in Helsinki, provided a comprehensive view of the European media start-up landscape, and its investors, in a full day of sessions, pitches, and speed-meetings. The value of having major European media houses, from Axel Springer to Bonnier and Schibsted, and leaders of the mobile gaming scene, including Small Giant Games’ Timo Soininen and Next Games’ Teemu Huutanen, as well as ventures from Belarus to London, is clear: the next big thing in media innovation is more likely to emanate from Europe than from North America.
I led a panel, ‘AI in Media,’ that featured panelists from various sides of the AI media spectrum: blockchain media distribution (Cedric Monier, CEO of iKAST.io); media curation (Romain Eude, CEO of Utelly), and AI service provisioning (Laura Avonius, founder, Fragity). The discussion of how AI can enable new services demonstrated the depth of European media start-up leadership in AI.
As always, Media Honeypot founder Heikki Rotko created an atmosphere of congenial spirit, capping the day off with a sauna session at Löyly, followed by a late-night session at the famous Kaarle nightclub.
Chris Pfaff, Heikki Rotko, chairman/founder of Media Honeypot, and Vinay Solanki, head of Channel 4 Ventures, at Löyly, Helsinki
Chris Pfaff listens to a pitch from holler.live founding partner Iva Sakarova in the Media Honeypot Deal Room
Two views of a selfie: Romain Eude, Utelly; Cedric Monier, iKAST.io; Chris Pfaff, and Laura Avonius, Fragity, after the ‘AI in Media’ panel
Cedric Monier (center), CEO of iKAST.io, discusses the implementation of AI with blockchain media distribution on the ‘AI in Media’ panel
Romain Eude (left), CEO of Utelly, discusses Utelly’s use of AI for media curation on the ‘AI in Media’ panel
Laura Avonius, CEO of Fragity, discusses media firm’s use of AI for data refining, on the ‘AI in Media’ panel
Two long views of the ‘AI in Media’ panel
Chris Pfaff (right) discusses the ‘AI arms race’ in the media industry on the ‘AI in Media’ panel
Credentials and coffee at Media Honeypot 2019
