Kuopio Health Member Spotlight – We are enthusiastic about growth

“In time, I would like to see that we have attracted several major venture rounds from foreign venture capitalists. Of course, we will have to find local investor partners for these international investors.”

– Growth is the word that sets the pace for all our activities, describes Petri Laine, partner at Innovestor Ventures.

Innovestor manages three different venture capital funds that have invested in over 90 Finnish start-up companies representing nearly all technology industries. Nearly one third of these investments have concerned life sciences, health and medtech.

According to Laine, more and more entrepreneurs understand that Finland has a small domestic market and those looking for growth must aim at the international arena. The younger the entrepreneurs, the more active they are in seeking opportunities for collaboration.

– Digitalisation also opens up the competition for companies from more geographically remote areas. I believe that Finnish companies will benefit from all this, and they offer particularly interesting digital health solutions.

Heading to the global market

Innovestor Ventures became a member of Kuopio Health in spring 2020. At this point, the company had already been following the ecosystem activities for some time and had found the community interesting: Despite the inclusion of Kuopio in the ecosystem’s name, the aim is to build nationwide and global networks.

Petri Laine believes that the open innovation ecosystem of Kuopio Health can benefit from Innovestor’s strong international investor networks.

– We can provide visibility to the member companies if we know that some of our European partners are looking for a specific type of enterprise. We are open and wish to help all companies even if they are not in our target business if we get a chance. We believe that good things should be paid forward!

In fact, Laine explains that he has recommended many target companies to join Kuopio Health. On the other hand, no one can be told to do anything, and everyone should be able to see the benefits and additional value brought by the innovation ecosystem for themselves.

From the perspective of Innovestor, the stream of projects, interesting member companies and advancing collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland make Kuopio Health worth finding out more about.

Ambitious goals

In the context of the future, Petri Laine says that development work must be carried out on a long time span. Your short-term expectations should not be excessive, but you should set ambitious long-term goals.

– I want to see Kuopio Health help create several major companies in the health sector. In time, I would also like to see that we have attracted several major venture rounds from foreign venture capitalists. Of course, we will have to find local investor partners for these international investors.

Laine is glad that the regional venture capital company Nostetta Ventures has been established in Kuopio. He explains that this demonstrates how there is intent to invest in growth in the Kuopio economic area.

– Innovestor wants to be part of that buzz!