😉What do Mercedes-Benz, IKEA and our portfolio company Telescope (Former Ei Solutions) have in common?

All three of them have had first-hand experience with the importance of cross-cultural brand naming!🌏

🚘 When Mercedes-Benz first entered the Chinese market, their brand name was initially translated as 奔死 (bēn sǐ), which unfortunately meant "rush to die". Realizing this was not an ideal message for a car brand, they quickly changed it to 奔驰 (bēn chí), meaning "to run quickly (as if flying)".

🛋️ IKEA, known for its Swedish product names, released a workbench called "FARTFULL" in 2005. While the name made sense in Swedish, with "fart" meaning "speed" or "fast", it had an unfortunate connotation in English. The product was eventually removed from the market.

🌱 Telescope, our Norwegian portfolio startup helping companies to navigate sustainability risk in real estate finance, began its journey under the brand name EiSolutions (Eiendom translates to property/ real estate in Norwegian). In German however, "Ei" translates to "egg" and even more ironically, at last year's Slush conference in Finland, Marit and Gustav introduced themselves as "NoSolutions".

💡Curious about Telescope? check out their new branding in action here: https://www.telescope.eco