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: 2. Proof of concept
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.
Farvatn Venture is a Norwegian family office, investing into ocean, renewable energy and life science solutions. The team has extensive experience in all of these areas. They seek gender-balanced management teams.
They don’t usually take a board seat. They’re typically a co-investor.
The management team:
Health Founders is the first health tech accelerator in the Baltics, based in Estonia. Their digital-first acceleration program for early-stage startups focuses on helping health tech companies to grow sales, work with the regulatory framework, and everything health-specific about building a business. They seek non-invasive health tech companies with at least a demo version of their solution.
They run 1-2 batches per year, each ending with a demo day for investors and potential clients.
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.
DYNAX Invest is a angel syndicate from Bulgaria that focuses on supporting selected startups through investments, fundraising the rest of the funding round and advisory. They focus on European startups, and have done especially many investments in the CEE region.
They are industry-agnostic. Having a tech element is a plus, but not mandatory. They have a strong preference for startups with traction, either revenue or otherwise. In expectional cases, for example a deep tech startup, could be interesting also before traction.
Their team has extensive experience with M&A and investment banking, including fundraising.
They can help find a lead investor, but are not leading rounds themselves. They normally don’t seek a board seat.
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.
Exerte Partners is a family office from Cyprus. They invest generalistically, but have a slight emphasis on food, biotech, energy and SaaS solutions. Their expertise includes scaling and internationalization, as well as optimizing at scale.
They invest typically as a co-investor, but have occasionally lead rounds in cases they know especially well (e.g. food). They don’t generally do convertible notes.
Vestman Energia looks to invest into scalable solutions in energy, food and forestry. In energy they are most interested in distributed generation and storage.
They are typically a co-investor. They have also been a lead investor in cases where they had special expertise.