Accelerace VC invests into very early stage Nordic-Baltic tech startups. They’re agnostic regarding industry and many other factors. Their value-add includes supporting founders not just by their investment managers, but also by the alumni of their portfolio companies.
Participation type: The only investor in a round
SGS is a Swiss inspection company with worldwide operations. They seek startups to collaborate with and/or buy, which could help their inspection operations.
They’re especially interested in AI, machine vision, target recognition, IoT (e.g. humidity measurements), 3D mapping of bulk cargo, 3D modeling of buildings and construction sites, safety regulation management software – in general anything that helps make inspections faster, with lower manpower costs, and with more evidence of what was inspected.
Verge HealthTech Fund invests globally into startups building global next-generation health solutions. They seek health tech companies with commercial or at least clinical validation.
The fund’s partners are health tech founders and operators, with experience in building and scaling companies internationally.
As a global fund, they prefer to partner with local partners on investments, either as a lead or follow investor, but they have also made solo investments as well.
They typically seek a board or at least a board observer seat.
ByFounders is a Nordic fund, investing into both Nordic and Baltic startups. They’re focusing on being a founder-friendly fund that the founders, and their term sheet is available on their website. For example they invest into common shares instead of preferred ones and with limited downside protection, similar to founders themselves.
They invest mostly into software companies, but have also invested into hardware-only companies in exceptionally strong cases. They’re industry agnostic, but have a preference for impact.
The founders of the fund have a background in building, growing and selling tech companies, with experience from companies like Skype and Tradeshift. Their investors include founders from many other very successful tech companies as well, such as ZenDesk, Vivino and TrustPilot, supporting portfolio companies.
The companies they invest into don’t have to be located in Nordics or Baltics, but a strong connection (such as founder being originally from the New Nordics) is required.
Tikura Ventures is the angel fund of Antti Pellinen from Finland. He has been building and investing into ventures in multiple sectors, with a focus on B2B solutions, both industrial and otherwise. He has invested in both hardware and software companies.
His focus is on Nordics and Baltics. Startups from elsewhere can be interesting as well in exceptional cases.
Curiosity VC invests into AI/ML companies in the Nordics, Baltics and Benelux countries.
They are a community-driven fund, sharing a part of the carry with the companies they invest in.
They prefer companies to seek a runway of at least 18 months.
They have a group of LPs co-investing with them during follow-on investment rounds.
* AI = Artificial intelligence
* ML = Machine learning
* Carry = Carried interest = The profits a fund generates at the end of its cycle
* LP = Limited partner (investor in a fund)
WiseInvest is the angel investing office of Nikolai Angelov from Estonia. He is entrepreneur, investing into early-stage startups. He has done more than 300 investments into many fields, including but not limited to proptech, fintech, greentech, medtech, and real estate.
Specialist VC invests into companies based in, or founders from the Baltics, Finland and Ukraine. They focus on B2B software companies, marketplaces, and software-enabled hardware companies. They have also invested in some B2C and hardware companies through their previous fund, United Angels VC.
The fund’s partners have built companies like Civitta and Fortumo, followed by a decade of angel investing. Their network also includes many advisors, including a scientific advisor in biotech.
For SaaS companies they seek initial traction, e.g. €10k MRR. For deep tech companies this is not as much of a requirement.
They often co-invest, occasionally also lead. They haven’t done any solo investments so far.
They have supported some portfolio companies through participating in their boards, but this has not been a requirement to invest.
They also do secondary investments, where early employees and investors sell some of their shares and receive the money to themselves, as opposed to the company issuing new shares.
Runa Capital is a US-European software fund focused on helping European companies enter the US market and vice versa. They focus on deep tech, B2B SaaS, and regulated industries, like fintech, education and digital health.
The founders of Runa Capital are serial tech entrepreneurs. Before their work as investors, the founders of Runa Capital built companies like Acronis, that raised their last round of $250M at a $3.5B valuation, as well as Parallels and Acumatica, also very successful software companies.
They mostly invest B2B and B2B2C. They rarely do invest in exceptional B2C companies as well.
Invests as solo, lead or follow. More likely to be a follow investor at earlier stages, and lead in the later stages. They typically join the company boards in later stage investments.
Superangel is a Nordic-Baltic fund investing in tech startups that are changing the world. They are able to invest around the globe, but focus on their home region.
All the partners are founders, making this a founders-to-founders fund. Their backgrounds are in building and growing tech startups.
They have a long-term support program to help startups get to the next level. It includes expert coaches, team culture development to be ready for scaling, basecamps, helping set up company management structure (which aspects to focus on and follow monthly) and so on.