Yet again, Finnish startups are breaking records: a total of 1.2 billion euros has been raised in 2021, which is the largest annual amount to date. In particular, foreign venture capitalists are well represented in the figures. The largest group of investors were private equity investors, who invested a total of EUR 743 million in Finnish startups in 2021. EUR 190 million was raised from Finnish private equity investors and EUR 553 million from foreign private equity investors.

The amount of foreign capital investments in Finnish companies doubled only in a year. A total of 182 Finnish startups received private equity investments.

Other foreign investors, such as foreign companies and individuals, invested a total of EUR 302 million in Finnish startups.

Other groups of Finnish investors each invested about 50 million: Finnish angel investors about 52 million, Finnish crowdfunding about 50 million and other players, such as companies, about 50 million.

The biggest rounds of funding were collected by Wolt, Aiven and Oura. These companies are now unicorned, which means they are startups worth more than $ 1 billion.

By Pia Santavirta, CEO of the Finnish Venture Capital Association (FVCA): ” Finnish success stories also garnered a lot of international funding last year. The share of foreign investment in the total amount invested in startups increased to 71 per cent, to a total of EUR 855 million.

By Janne Holmia, a partner in the international private equity fund Verdane and chairman of the board at FVCA: ” The Finnish startup field has diversified over the past couple of years. In the past, a large proportion of startups served other companies, but recently the best consumer service companies have enjoyed massive growth. Wolt and Swappie are good examples of this type of business.

Record amounts from Finnish private equity investors

The Finnish private equity field has developed and is more ambitious, and it has expanded into foreign markets. In 2021, Finnish private equity investors will have historically invested EUR 294 million in Finnish and foreign startups. In particular, seed-stage startups received a record 52 million in funding, an increase of 79 percent.

According to Santavirta: “The seed stage investments of Finnish private equity investors have almost doubled in a year. These investments create opportunities for new success stories. “

“There is international interest in the expertise of Finnish private equity investors. 36 per cent of Finnish private equity investments were made in foreign startups. Strengthening international networks will also benefit the Finnish startup ecosystem, ” he continues.

Successful fundraising and sectoral funds

In addition to top Finnish companies, Finnish private equity funds have proven to be attractive for international financing. Venture capital funds have traditionally been the target of Finnish fund investors, such as family offices and pension funds. Now they involve fund investors from outside Finland.

Thanks to the successful fundraising of recent years, the assets managed by Finnish private equity investors have risen to almost 2 billion. Although some have already been invested in various startups, EUR 935 million is still available for new investments.

” Successful fundraising can be explained by many factors: the scale of Finnish funds has grown, investment activity has become more international, the fund’s returns have been excellent and we have seen numerous success stories in the technology sector. The success of Finnish private equity funds is attracting more and more fund investors, “Santavirta continues.

In recent years, six Finnish funds have exceeded 100 million, which is only the average fund size in the context of European private equity funds. In addition, newly established sector-specific funds have been established, such as FOV Ventures, which focuses exclusively on metaverse, Nordic FoodTech VC, which focuses on food technology, Sparkminds.vc, which focuses on training technology, and Voima Ventures, which focuses on deep technology.

“Finland has so far raised the $ 10 billion threshold for unicorns. These include Wolt, Aiven, Relex and the latest Oura. Almost all of these companies have had venture capitalists supporting their growth. A larger and more diverse group of investors will no doubt have better who have the potential to grow into future market leaders, ”Santavirta concludes.

Source: Finnish Venture Capital Association