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.
Product readiness: 1. Idea
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.
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.
Highrise Ventures focuses on European startups in proptech, smart buildings and adjacent fields. The team was experience both as investors and founders in ecommerce, IoT, real estate, proptech and construction tech startups. Urban tech, greentech, sustainability, urban mobility and energy sources and energy infrastructure are also interesting for them.
They invest mostly in B2B and B2B2C tech companies, especially deep tech. They’re generally not that interested proptech transaction or asset valuation companies. They are very welcoming for diverse teams as well as first-time founders.
They’re also interested in company building and company replication opportunities, and they have a team that is able to support these endeavours. Around a quarter of their portfolio fits these models.
They’re often either the only investor or a co-investor of a round, with leading a round being rare for them.
Honey Badger is angel syndicate of three founders of PipeDrive, a successful SaaS company from Estonia. They are especially happy to help SaaS companies and cleantech ones, but are also looking for other founders they could help succeed.
They’re most often a co-investor instead of a lead one.
Angular Ventures invests into early-stage B2B companies, especially those aiming to sell to big companies. They invest into European and Israeli founders globally, as well as teams based in Europe or Israel.
They prefer software companies, with hardware being ok as long as the main value is in the software side. Marketplaces are also interesting to them, especially if they value-add services to users. They’re interested in both deep and regular tech as long as they’re sellable to enterprise customers and the capital needs are reasonable.
They have an extensive venture partner program of senior experts in companies like Google to help portfolio companies get their offering and processes right for enterprise customers.
They often lead initial rounds but not the follow-on ones.
Indie Investments is the angel investment company of Heikki Nakari. He has a long corporate background in the financial sector and asset management. As an angel investor he’s very selective. Environmental technologies are close to his heart, but the business fundamentals have to always be strong as well.
Due to his strong and varied background in the financial sector, he has the capacity to offer more than just an angel ticket in especially interesting cases.
Startup Norway is a private organization, offering multiple acceleration programs for Nordic startups and investment opportunities for angel investors. In addition to pitching events, they offer a training program for angel investors. Their startup programs include generalistic fundraising for early-stage startups, as well as ones focused on fields like travel, fashion, sustainability.
They prefer startups have at least a working prototype. They also have some programs for Norwegian startups where an idea can also suffice.
Valuatum is a company making credit risk asssessment with AI. They also make angel-type investments into early-stage companies in technology, especially B2B SaaS and energy, and traditional fields as well, such as machinery.
Their contact person for investments is Esa Mäkeläinen.