Another year is quickly coming to a close, 2018 was our 4th full year of operations and saw us achieve a great deal. Explore select highlights and successes from this year in the features below. If you are a co-investor, portfolio company or partner, we would like to say a big THANK YOU! You have made this year another success and we can’t wait to see how much bigger and better next year will be together with you.
Startup investments
This past year, we have in total invested around 18,8 million euros into startups and completed a total of 62 funding rounds (see image below). On our co-investment side, around 270 co-investors have invested together with us this year.
Portfolio with an impact
Our mission is to be a value adding startup investor with portfolio companies that make an impact. At the moment, we have the largest private venture backed portfolio in the Nordics with a little over 100 companies. We estimate that our portfolio companies cumulative turnover this year will exceed 380 milloin euros and will have employed around 2000 people!
Out of our completed exits this year, the acquisition of Spectral Engines stands out as a clear highlight. Spectral Engines is a Finnish sensor technology company from which we made a successful exit in May of this year, 75% of the companies shares were bought by a Germany based photonics company. Read the press release here.
Acceleration programs
In April we aquired 50% of Kasvun Roihu, a Jyväskylä based company whose mission is to be Finland’s most remarkable inspirer for companies to grow, and a window for them to enter the global market. The merger took our ecosystem and operations entirely to a new dimension and makes us all the more unique compared to other Venture Capital investors in Finland.
Together with Kasvun Roihu, we are building platforms where innovative companies can find relevant growth partners. Their most well-known platforms are Kasvu Open, the largest and most effective business coaching program in Finland (and one of the winners of the Finnish Presidents 2018 internationalization award), and Grow to Market, which connects companies with the best partners for a swift and efficient market entry to China, USA and Sweden.
Brand facelift
Over the summer, we seized the opportunity to renew our image and gave our brand, logo and website a much needed revamp.
Team reinforcements
In addition to welcoming the Kasvun Roihu team of 14 into our fold, we also welcomed Sari Matikainen, our Director of Administration, Tomi Asanti, our Director of Properties, and Anna Koponen, our Marketing Manager. In 4 short years, we have grown to a team of 32 working hard towards investing in the best Nordic future success stories and helping startups succeed not only by providing capital, but also valuable know-how and networks.
New Year goals
We have ambitious growth plans for next year. We will be bringing on new team members, creating more valuable content and working closer with key ecosystem players to better share our know-how and networks with the startup ecosystem as a whole. Our business as usual will still revolve around our fund management, Co-investment Platform and Kasvun Roihu’s growth acceleration programs, so watch this space!
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Wishing you Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!
