Finland is famous for many things: its superior education system, social policies as well as a thriving venture ecosystem! During the year 2022, Finnish startups have gone on to raise €1.8Bn, more than half (61%) of which came from VCs and growth investors.
Now, let's delve into the most dynamic venture capital funds in Finland - they are the ones providing the essential funding required to bring Finnish innovation to life.
Inventure
Geography: Nordics/Baltics
Preferred industries: B2B SaaS, Healthtech, Fintech, Deeptech, Marketplace, Consumer
Investment ticket: €200k to €5M
Company stage: Pre-seed to Series B
The very first on our list, Inventure is among the most mature and renown venture investors on the list. Over the years, the team has backed more than 80 startups to date all the while being the first institutional money in almost 90% of its deals. The fund has a dedicated angel fund which can be deployed into an early-stage startup within time as short as 2 days, as well as growth and the recruitment team to continuously support their portfolio. Some of the names found in Inventure's portfolio include but aren't limited to a food delivery platform Wolt, an autonomous driving solutions startup aiMotive, and an IoT platform Haltian.
Maki.vc
Geography: Global
Preferred industries: Deeptech & "Distinctive Brands"
Investment ticket: €200k - €2M
Company stage: Seed to Series A
The next VC on the list, Maki.vc is a deep tech firm investing all over the globe. When making its bets, Maki.vc looks for either or both the future-proof technological advantage and a distinctive brand identity. The team members can make investment decisions individually and after doing so - back up the startup in venture aspects as wide as strategy, hiring, and finance. Some of the company's investments include quantum dot x-ray detector producer QDI Systems, expense management solution
Zevoy, and a game studio Mainframe.
Tesi
Geography: Finland
Preferred industries: ICT / Industrial Digitalisation, Healthtech, Deeptech and the Circular Economy
Investment ticket: €2M - €15M
Company stage: Series A - C
Tesi is the Finnish stage-owned investment agency to accelerate the development of the country's venture and business environment. The fund typically makes minority investments with co-investors and have a wide business network through their Fund-of-Funds and numerous private equity vehicles. Some of the interesting bets the fund has made include Oura Ring, the mobile biosensing platform Biomensio and an elderly carer marketplace Gubbe,
Icebreaker.vc
Geography: Finland, Estonia and Sweden
Preferred industries: Sector agnostic
Investment ticket: €150k - €800k
Company stage: Early-stage
The next VC on our list, Icebreaker.vc is a Nordic firm backing early-stage teams at the earliest stages of their startup journey. Having an impressive 65% rate on follow-on investments for their investments, icebreaker plays a huge role in getting there. To make it happen, the team has a dedicated value-adding arm supporting growth, hiring, and founder development. Throughout the years, the firm has made a number of interesting bets including cybersecurity platform HoxHunt, insurtech Cachet, and CX quality platfrom Klaus.
OpenOcean
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: B2B platforms and Enterprise Software technology
Investment ticket: €2-6m
Company stage: Series A
The up-and-coming investor on the list, OpenOcean is a thesis-driven fund interested in data-driven solutions for the enterprise and B2B space and the funds' interests date back to the teams' work on MySQL and MariaDB in the 2000s. The VC invests all over Europe and prefers to lead or co-lead Series A rounds with a possibility of making follow-on injections later on. Some of the fund's notable bets include marketing data integration platform Supermetrics, beauty/wellness marketplace unicorn Booksy and payment infrastructure startup kevin..
Innovestor
Geography: Nordics and Baltics
Preferred industries: Therapeutics, Digital Health (with strong IP), Industry 4.0, Novel Materials, Future Food, Digital Commerce, Software & SaaS
Investment ticket: €250k – €2.5M
Company stage: Pre-seed to Series A
The forthcoming fund on the list, Innovestor is an early-stage venture and corporate innovation fund investing in the region's most promising startups. Having over 40 M&A deals to date, the VC is arguably among the most experienced and prominent funds in the Nordics. Given the fund's experience working with corporations, the investments of theirs can have a handsome amount of introductions for pilots and cooperation, as well as an entry into the fund's 12-week accelerator for those deliberating about starting a venture. Some of the interesting investments Innovestor had made include an elderly care platform 9Solutions, pharma developer Forendo Pharma, and robotics system solutions company Ginolis.
NordicNinja
Geography: Nordics and Baltics
Preferred industries: Deeptech
Investment ticket: €1M - €6M
Company stage: Series A-B
The next on our list, NordicNinja is Nordic-Japanese joint venture of BaltCap and Japan Bank for International Cooperation, supported by Japan's largest corporations like Panasonic, Honda, Omron. As one might expect, the fund has a very deep network in both the Nordics and Japan which lends itself extremely fruitful for the portfolio expansion and pilot plans throughout Asia and Nordics. The fund is mainly interested in deeptech and its portfolio spans notable players like Veriff, Starship Technologies and a 3D avatar engine Ready Player Me.
Voima Ventures
Geography: Nordics
Preferred industries: Deeptech
Investment ticket: €150k to €2M
Company stage: Pre-seed to series B
Voima Ventures is an investor in science-intensive startups raising the first funding round. The fund has been established with the active support of the Technical Research Centre of Finland and EIF and thus - has strong expertise and connections in the continent's research networks. The fund mostly invests in the Nordics but is open to considering companies coming from all over Europe and Israel. The startups Voima Ventures has invested in include but aren't limited to sustainable packaging company Paptic, movement disorder technology Adamant Health and energy storage producer Geyser Batteries.
Lifeline Ventures
Geography: Finland
Preferred industries: Sector agnostic
Investment ticket: €500k - €2M
Company stage: Pre-seed to Series A
Lifeline Ventures is a Helsinki-based fund manager investing in the country's most promising entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of development. After making an investment, the VC helps navigate crucial aspects such as funding, sales as well as strategy/operations through the team's firsthand experience of being founders and having various CxO roles. The Lifeline's track record includes names like data infrastructure unicorn Aiven, earth observation unicorn ICEYE and waste recycling robotics solution ZenRobotics.
Butterfly Ventures
Geography: Nordics and Baltics
Preferred industries: Deeptech and Hardware
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed
The up-and-coming VC on the list, Butterfly Ventures is an investor focused on the Finnish and Nordic deep tech scene. The fund tends to invest in pre-revenue seed stage science companies and takes them to a revenue-generating status within a length of 6 month's-time. Some of the names Butterfly has invested in include the likes of brain monitoring solutions company Cerenion, radio solutions provider KNL and e-bike drivetrain producer Revonte.
Vendep Capital
Geography: Nordics and Baltics
Preferred industries: B2B SaaS/Marketplaces
Investment ticket: €100k – €3M
Company stage: Pre-seed to Series A
The next startup on our selection, Vendep Capital is a VC with a sharp focus towards B2B SaaS and/or marketplaces. The fund prides itself on its potential to add value to the portfolio teams and helps with the go-to-market strategy, team development and mentoring on all aspects of SaaS building journey. The fund also features a noteworthy 78% A rounds coming from the Vendep's intros, 85% follow-on funding from its fund I and a somewhat unusual 100% follow-on investments into their portfolio companies. The fund's investments include market intelligence search engine AlphaSense, app review management & ASO platform Appfollow and a lead generation software Leedfeder.
Sisu Game Ventures
Geography: Global
Preferred industries: Gaming
Investment ticket: $100k - $2M
Company stage: Early-stage
Sisu Game Ventures is a VC composed of game industry veterans investing in game studios from all over the globe. The fund strongly focuses on free-to-play mobile games and upon making an investment - the fund prefers to give founders the creative freedom to build and thrive without them ever taking a board seat or pushing the fund's vision. Some of the fund's bets include MMO developer Mainframe, mobile game studio Lightheart Entertainment, and a gaming platform coherence.
Superhero Capital
Geography: Finland and the Baltics
Preferred industries: software
Investment ticket: up to €1M
Company stage: Early-stage
The forthcoming VC on the list, Superhero Capital is a Nordic investor interested in software-based startups. The fund will invest up to €1M in early-stage deals and oftentimes invests either in Finnish or Baltics companies. Some of the fund's investments include companies like a camera-based health diagnostics platform MX Labs, freelance finance management platform DeepFin, and an energy storage system Cactos.
Illusian
Geography: Europe
Preferred industries: Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Early-stage
Illusian is a family office of a Supercell co-founder Ilkka Paananen. The investor supports both for-profit and nonprofit with the goal of raising equality, reducing social exclusion and supporting sustainable investing. Over the years of the Illusian's existence, it has backed brands like a refurbished phone marketplace Swappie, audience engagement platform Hopin as well as the chemtech decarbonization startup Solugen.
Nordic Foodtech VC
Geography: Nordics and Baltics
Preferred industries: Foodtech
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Early-stage
Last but not least, Nordic Foodtech VC is a fund solely and exclusively dedicated towards food innovation. The fund not only invests in food but technologies impacting food production like biotechnology, mobile and technology more generally. The company has backed firms like food fermentation platform Chromologics, designer fats producer Melt&Marble, as well as earth observation platform Kuva Space.
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