Hology Interactive

Business Name
Hology Interactive

Industry/Category
Technology & Innovation – Tech Startups

Location
Sweden

Description

Hology Interactive provides 3D interactive experiences and applications to help those who want memorable and inclusive experiences created to tell their stories. Right now, Hology Interactive is working on a creative engine called Hology Engine, where you can create 3D games and experiences for web, mobile, and VR by using web technologies.

What inspired you to start this business?
I was studying in Sweden, and my major was in sustainability and tourism. One of the hot topics at the time was virtual tourism with web apps and VR devices. However, virtual tourism is not easy to create, as it is expensive to contract a team and oftentimes not a lot of control over the creativity. My co-founder and I were already into video games, and we thought about how can we make game development and VR development more accessible to a larger audience so they could focus on the ideas and experience design instead of being stuck 1 to 2 years learning how to maneuver an application. This way, more people from the tourism, web development, and education sectors can use their existing knowledge and skills with market consumer design tools and quickly start their 3D interactive creation process with others on the team.

What challenges did you face starting a business abroad?
As someone from abroad, the business culture is different in Sweden, where it values more time to build relationships instead of quick business deals. I also faced a language barrier at first until I studied Swedish a bit more. There were also a lot of business laws and administrative reporting that were hard to navigate at first.

What advice would you give to other wanting to start a business?
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, it has to start from somewhere, and if you do not reach out and talk to people, nothing will happen. In Sweden they value long-term relationships, so go listen to people and talk to them.

Any resources or networks that helped you along the way?
At first, when forming the company, I attended webinars hosted by Drivhuset Uppsala, where they explained how to formulate business ideas, how to register for what type of companies, and where to seek free open office hour sessions for any questions. Then, I joined Uppsala Innovation Center, which helped me a lot to understand the local business laws, get support and feedback from collaborating companies, and make new friends with other startups.

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