In October 2008, the Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde announced that Iceland was on the brink of bankruptcy. Normally this would not sound like a good time to launch your start-up. However, in the case of Iceland, the period since the financial crisis has been described as the golden age of the country’s start-up scene. Out of this crisis, Meniga was born.

Recently Sifted of Financial Times reporter Mimi Billings traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland to talk to Meniga’s CHRO & Co-founder Viggó Ásgeirsson and Meniga’s CMO & VP Business Development Bragi Fjalldal about Meniga’s success since it’s founding during the financial crisis in 2008.

But why did the crisis lead to such a thriving environment for innovation?

Read the full article here.

Sifted also mentions other successful Icelandic start-ups that have experienced impressive growth such as digital cash fintech Monerium and anti-money laundering tech company Lucinity.

Sifted is an online publication, backed by The Financial Times, covering European tech, fintech and business news. Sifted deep-dives into Europe’s pools of research and expertise to explore and surface companies in emerging areas of technology. From blockchain to biotech, fintech to factories of the future, we are inspecting these topics from new angles and uncovering innovation wherever there’s a spark.