About Oinride

• Oinride develops robotic solutions aimed at revolutionizing underground mining operations. The robots are equipped with sensors, navigation systems, and AI capabilities, allowing to navigate hazardous environments such as underground mines. In addition, these robots can communicate with other systems to enhance coordination and productivity.
• Oinride’s technology is also suitable for various rough terrain environments, including security and defense, nuclear waste management, and other challenging conditions.
• Recently, the company participated in the Startupbootcamp Renewable Energy & Net-Zero 2023 accelerator in Amsterdam. During the accelerator, Oinride has been supported by Fleur Engelberts, Joey Moreau, Aref Ghazvini, Natasha Amaral, Jeroen van der Lugt, Zahira R., and Tessa Landkroon.

Investment details

The fresh €345,000 pre-seed round also includes a €200,000 from Berlin-based EIT RawMaterials, an Innovation Community within the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). This financial boost will enable Oinride to accelerate the development and deployment of its mobile robotics designed to enhance safety and productivity in the mining industry’s harsh environments.

“This is a massive leap forward for us, propelling our mission to innovate and enhance the mining industry with our state-of-the-art mobile robotics solutions. This incredible achievement marks the beginning of an exciting journey ahead,” Oinride’s team commented.

Oinride also plans to launch a pilot project in the USA, expand its team, and refine their products for a broader market launch.

About Onego Bio

• Founded in 2022 as a spinoff from VTT (Technical Research Center of Finland), by Maija Itkonen (CEO) and Christopher Landowski (CTO). Onego Bio develops and commercializes Bioalbumen, an animal-free egg-white. The production process equals a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 95% decrease in land use (Nature Food 2021).
• Now, Onego works with major food companies on product formulation in a wide range of products, from baked goods, confectionery, snacks, sauces, pasta, meat alternatives, and more. As a US-Finnish company, Onego is commercializing in North America, where the regulatory landscape allows a faster market entry.

The new funding and immense support from our investors demonstrates their confidence in our vision and the potential of innovations like Bioalbumen® to build a more sustainable system. It also shows that the EU recognizes precision fermentation as a solution to address sustainability issues and enhance food security in Europe and worldwide. However, to remain competitive and fully capture the potential of exceptional European research and innovation, the regulatory approval process must be accelerated, as the EU currently lags behind other regions in this area, — Maija Itkonen, CEO & co-founder of Onego Bio said.

The fresh investment:

Onego Bio was selected for EIC funding from a competitive pool of 969 applicants, of which 347 companies were interviewed by juries of investors and entrepreneurs, with only 68 receiving funding. EIC Accelerator offers startups and SMEs grants of up to €2.5 million combined with equity investments through the EIC Fund ranging from €0.5 to €15 million or more. In addition to financial support, all projects benefit from a wide range of Business Acceleration Services that provide access to expertise, corporates, investors, and ecosystem actors.

The company aims to submit a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notice to the FDA this year, with hope of receiving a “no questions” letter from the FDA in 2025. The newly received EIC funding will fuel its go-to-market plan also in the EU, including securing regulatory approval from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). 

About Valo.ai

• Founded in 2023 in San Francisco by veterans of Salesforce and cybersecurity, Valo.ai is a software development company developing an AI-native tool for Salesforce that uses automation in SaaS services to identify and remedy misconfigurations at their root.
• Valo.ai aims to help CIOs, IT teams, and business owners to optimize their business needs, while maintaining security and monitoring connected applications.

Investment details

• The funding round was led by Inventure, a venture capital with offices in Helsinki and Stockholm that focuses on investments across Nordics and Baltics. Spintop Ventures from Stockholm, and cybersecurity experts Mikko Hypponen and Henri Lindberf also participated in the financing.

“Many SaaS security posture management solutions are broad in scope, but Valo is purpose-built for Salesforce, allowing administrators to adopt a proactive and automated approach. Tasks that typically take weeks for Salesforce administrators can now be accomplished in minutes with Valo,”

Jari Salomaa, CEO and co-founder of Valo, said.

• Although neither the startup nor the investors disclosed the deal’s amount, Inventure’s average ticket size ranges from €1 million to €3 million, while the lowest ticket is at least €300,000. And according to Spintop Ventures, its ticket size ranges from €500,000 to €1,5 million.
• Thanks to the fresh funding, Valo will be able to achieve its goal of significantly enhancing Salesforce administrators’ productivity while mitigating risks.

This is the second investment by Inventure announced this month. In July 2024, Inventure co-led a €4 million seed round for the Swedish startup Steep.

• Founded by Nathan King and Tiya Gordon, itselectric aims to pave the way for sustainable transportation with its approach to EV charging stations in cities by revenue sharing with building partners which install charging stations. Recently, itselectric won a $1.5 million federal grant from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation as part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Reduction Act, bringing its pre-seed funding to $3.7 million.

• The fresh round was led by Uber and Failup Ventures, a Finnish-American venture capital fund based in New York and Helsinki. Its typical initial investment is $200,000-$1 million with the capability to follow up with larger tickets. Recently, Failup also led a €1.5 million in a pre-seed funding for the Finnish AI startup ConfidentialMind.

Halogen Ventures, Partnership for New York City, Pulse Fund, Newlab, Gratitude Railroad, Tale Venture Partners, The Equity Alliance, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) Impact Fund, and The Helm, also participated.

itselectric has designed an innovative public charging solution that addresses the infrastructural barriers that cities face in the deployment of electric vehicle curbside charging. Their thoughtfully designed chargers are a highly scalable solution that will rapidly bring curbside charging to the millions of city drivers who park on the street and contribute to the nationwide adoption of electric vehicles,

Topias Soininen, general partner at Failup Ventures, said.

itselectric will use the investment to support its deployments across seven cities in the United States in 2024, including Boston, Los Angeles, Detroit, Jersey City, and San Francisco. It will also help itselectric’s curbside charging infrastructure will also help support Uber’s goal of helping rideshare drivers go electric

• Based in Helsinki, Finland, with operations in Europe and North America, Silo AI specializes in end-to-end AI-driven solutions that help customers integrate AI into their products, services and operations. Their work spans diverse markets, with customers including Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce and Unilever. Silo AI also creates state-of-the-art open source multilingual LLMs, such as Poro and Viking, on AMD platforms in addition to its SiloGen model platform.

Silo AI has been a pioneer in scaling large language model training on LUMI, Europe’s fastest supercomputer powered by over 12,000 AMD Instinct MI250X GPUs. Together with university collaborators, they have trained state-of-the-art open-source models for EU languages, such as the Nordic Poro and Viking models. We have collaborated extensively with the team in optimizing the software layer, allowing for efficient training of AI models on LUMI,

said Dr. Pekka Manninen, Director of Science and Technology at CSC-IT Center for Science, Finland. “

• Founded in 1969 as a Silicon Valley startup, AMD works on high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies. The acquisition marks the latest step from AMD in a series of moves aimed at expanding its footprint in the AI landscape. Last year, the company acquired AI software firms Mipsology and Nod.ai and has invested more than $125 million across a dozen AI companies over the last 12 months.

Silo AI’s CEO and co-founder Peter Sarlin will continue to lead the unit as part of the AMD Artificial Intelligence Group, AMD said. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2024.

• Tietoevry Create is an international IT company that specializes in providing digital services and software solutions to a wide range of industries. The company is headquartered in Finland and operates in 23 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America, employing approximately 10,000 people globally.
• Tietoevry Create focuses on various sectors, including healthcare, banking, energy, and public services, delivering advanced IT solutions such as cloud services, data-driven insights, and enterprise applications. The company’s mission is to support its clients in their digital transformation journeys by leveraging cutting-edge technology and industry expertise.

The decision was made due to a transition to a new operating model, which involves the integration of three previously independent subsidiaries: MentorMate, EVRY India, and Ukraine’s Infopulse. These processes are planned to be completed by the end of the Q4 2024.

Operational simplification leads to the potential reduction of some non-billable roles in administration and management,

the company reports.

Accroding to DOU, these changes are prompting Infopulse to reduce 70 specialists in Ukraine. The company states that this concerns only administrative and managerial positions and will not affect the bench and developers. Those affected by the reduction will be offered support.

• Launched in 2018, Cluby provides a platform through which restaurants and other venues can connect with their customers, manage their customer registers, sell digital products like monthly subscriptions, tickets and VIP passes, offer member benefits, develop personalized loyalty programs, and create marketing campaigns to encourage repeat business.
• The startup’s founding team includes entrepreneurs Kalle Ek, Joel Leino, and Pekka Koskinen. It has 12 employees and has raised a total of €3.2 million in funding. In 2023, Cluby’s yearly growth rate was over 5x, and there are already over 500 restaurants in Cluby and over 100,000 users who have downloaded the app, according to the company.

We launched the first prototype in the summer of 2019. But then COVID hit the restaurant industry, and therefore us, really hard. For 3 years, we kept our team small and improved our product in a close relationship with hand-selected restaurants. In the beginning of 2023, we decided it was time to start scaling, and since then we’ve grown both our restaurant and our user base month-to-month. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved with our team so far, and we’re excited to finally expand Cluby to other countries in Europe,

Kalle Ek, co-founder and CEO at Cluby, says.

• The investment round was led by Vendep Capital, the Oslo-based VC firm backing early-stage SaaS software entrepreneurs in the Nordics and Baltics. Its first ticket usually ranges from €100,000 to €3 million.
• Cluby co-founder Pekka Koskinen and Wolt co-founder Elias Aalto also joined the funding round.

Cluby will use the fresh costs to expand its services throughout Europe, help restaurants convert casual visitors into regular patrons by offering tools for customer management, digital product sales, and loyalty programs.

• Steep is a Swedish startup aiming to simplify analytics work. It was founded in 2021 by Johan Baltzar and Nino Höglund, former leaders in Analytics and Design at Spotify, iZettle, PayPal, and Kry.
• Steep enables a few data experts to serve a large organization effectively, facilitating self-service among all users and promoting real-life collaboration within teams. This approach allows users at all levels to engage with metrics, discuss changes, and align on a unified view of the business, making data analysis more accessible and efficient across the organization.

Steep has already made a big impact at Voi. Using metrics instead of dashboards is definitely a mindset shift, but the benefits are worth it. It’s helping all our users to do much more on their own and allows our data team to work smarter and move faster,

Magnus Dahlbäck, Sr Director in Voi, which is already using Steep, said about the startup.

• The fresh round was co-led by the London-based VC firm Connect Ventures, investing in product-led companies in Europe at seed stages in consumer, health, fintech, SaaS fields, and Inventure, an early-stage VC with over 90 companies from deep tech to consumer internet brands, across Nordics and Baltics, with offices in Helsinki and Stockholm.
• Nordic Alliance VC, a Singapore-based Antler, and Greens also joined the investment round.

This new funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand the team and reach more companies globally. The startup also announced the beta release of Steep’s new AI-enabled interface.

• Founded in 2017 by Martim Gois, Vertti Sarimaa, Aleksi Jokela, and Matti Parkkila, Valpas offers smart anti-bedbug bed legs that trap bedbugs during the first night a guest stays in a room, preventing infestation. The technology attracts bedbugs using CO2 emitted by sleeping humans and uses a unique material design to trap them. The system is supported by an IoT and AI-enabled mobile app that provides image recognition for pest identification and disposal.
• Earlier, Valpas team claims it has already worked with over 300 hotels including Accor Hotels, The Luxury Collection, Design Hotels, ARP-Hansen and Bob W in over 40 destinations across Europe, Mexico and Japan.

No travel or home insurance covers the cost and pain of a bed bug infestation at home. Nearly every infestation at home comes after a night in a hotel or rental bed. By staying at a Valpas affiliated hotel, travellers know the room they get is clean and no matter where they go around town the hotel keeps them safe,

Martim Gois, CEO and co-founder of Valpas, commented.

• Zenith VC, a Swedish VC firm investing in post-revenue businesses focused on solving real-world business problems across Nordics, led the funding round.
• Icebreaker VC, Finnish Industry Investment, Canon Marketing Japan MIRAI Fund, Activum SG Ventures, Houghton Street Ventures, Rockaway Ventures, and Morrow Ventures, also participated in the financing.

Valpas will use the fresh investment to ramp up the production of its bedbug prevention technology and build strategic partnerships with travel booking agents and platforms. According to the startup, this will make it easier for travelers to identify and choose bedbug-safe hotels.

About LiveEO

• Founded in 2018 by Daniel Seidel and Sven Przywarra, LiveEO is a provider of earth observation technologies and solutions which provide actionable insights for businesses, resulting in increased safety, efficiency, and sustainability. The startup’s team consists of 130 people.
• The startup has customers around the world, including North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Among them are Europe’s largest railway operator, Deutsche Bahn to safeguard its assets, helps a Nigerian pipeline operator tackle oil theft and reduce million-dollar losses and helps to curb illegal logging in Moldova. Other notable customers include E.ON, Iberdrola, and Network Rail.

Investment details

• The leading investor in the fresh round is NordicNinja, the largest Japanese VC based in Europe backing companies tackling the world’s carbon footprint with a focus on climate tech, deeptech, and digital society. LiveEO is also its first investment in Germany.
• Other investor in the round also included DeepTech & Climate Fonds, a new German investment fund supporting support deep tech and climate tech companies on their long-term growth path.

The funding will be used to scale LiveEO AI-powered satellite data for actionable insights to help critical infrastructure operators manage climate risks.

In March 2024, NordicNinja also co-led $24 million round for Griffin, UK’s banking platform.

In the Startup of the Day column, Otso Laakkonen, Varpu Laakkonen, and Terho Laakkonen, the founding team of Maire, share the details about the startup’s idea, its product, and future plans.

The Startup of the Day column on AIN is dedicated to tech projects from all sectors that originate from the CEE countries. If you would like to introduce your project, please fill in the questionnaire.

Tell us about your startup. How does it work?

We turn online demands into an on-demand offering through predictive insights. By analyzing online search demand, we build a real-time, continuously updating view of the relevant demand forecast for up to 24 months ahead for large B2C customers.

How did you come up with the startup’s idea? What was the reason/motivation behind it?

Our grandparents from our dad’s side, Maire and Veikko, owned a shop and ran their own business in North Carelia back in the mid 20th century. We spent a lot of childhood summers running through the shop-turned-storage hallways. Maire was a kind and strong woman and without her, Veikko wouldn’t have been able to do what he did.

Our grandparents from our mother’s side, Maire and Lasse, were also entrepreneurs. Lasse was a silversmith, and together they ran a small shop in Töölö, Helsinki around the same time. Maire was gentle and supportive, and never played favourites.

Later, Otso has started several businesses from underwater logging to software automation consultancy. Terho has always had a side hustle or two while working for exciting startups. Varpu always dreamt of running her own design business and took that leap a few years back, and Touko has been working in prominent startups in various growth roles.

The three of us started to develop the product through our own unique perspecitves. One through customer acquisition, another through visual experience and the third from an engineering viewpoint.

How long did it take to reach the prototype or MVP? What did you encounter?

It took about a year to find our sweet spot. Initially, we started with marketing department but quickly realized that the market is crowded and the budgets are small.

Moreover, we understood that the data we can gather is more valuable than gold. It was quite staggering to notice that the marketing department was the only one utilizing this precious data.

From the very beginning, our own approach has been highly strategic, so it was a natural progression to refocus our efforts higher up in the value chain — where the budgets are larger and where our data can truly be utilized,

Marketing works with the existing offering, but Maire is utilized where the offering is decided. Now, we are selling to CEOs instead of SEO’s.

When exactly did you launch your product? Or when the launch is planned?

We are currently only taking in selected customers that are a strategic fit for us.

Tell us about the startup’s business model. How do you monetize your product?

Our SaaS model is structured such that the customer selects the number of categories they wish to track, and pricing is adjusted accordingly.

What are your target markets and consumers?

Our market has been global from the very beginning. Our customers are large B2C retailers and brands. We are experiencing the positive challenge of generating interest across various industries.

If the startup has already launched the product, what are the results: metrics, income, or any clear indicators that can be evaluated.

Our Q1 revenue surpassed our total revenue for 2023, and our revenue in May exceeded that of Q1. We anticipate reaching cash-flow positivity by the end of the year.

What about your team? How many people are working in the startup? If you’re looking for new employees, indicate whom exactly.

We are currently a team of five and looking to expand with the addition of predictive analytics expert, preferably those with PhD. We only hire based on real need, and at the moment, we are able to achieve everything we want with our current personnel.

Fun fact: We are a family business that needed a CDO and CTO when starting out, and amusingly, the best ones available turned out to be my siblings.

Have you already raised any investments? Provide us with more details on each funding round: the amount, investors, the purpose of the investment.

We raised an angel round of €450,000 to get ourselves off the ground. Investors include notable names such as Smartly’s founder Tuomo Riekki, Hoxhunt’s founder Karri Kurunmäki, and the former CEO of Dextra, Leena Niemistö

What’s next? Tell us about your future plans.

We are building what is as close as it gets to a crystal ball for large B2C companies, and in many respects, it already fulfills this vision. Everything we build or do is expected to be at the world’s best level, and we see no reason why we shouldn’t become the world’s number one prediction tool for B2C.

About ConfidentialMind

• Founded in 2023 by Markku Räsänen (CEO), Severi Tikkala (CTO), and Esko Vähämäki (Chief Architect), ConfidentialMind is a startup building a generative AI platform for on-premises and private cloud environments. The startup claims, its standalone microservices gen AI software infrastructure stack enables customers to deploy and develop complex gen AI systems on valuable data.
• ConfidentialMind’s technology supports various data types and sources, facilitating the creation of complex pipelines, closed-loop internal co-pilots, and process automations without the need for extensive bespoke engineering work. The startup’s platform aims to become an essential tool for enterprises and governments maintaining control over their sensitive data.

The systems that enable AI in data centers are traditionally difficult to build and maintain. We make development and deployment of generative AI models and applications in enterprise and government data centers as easy, or in some cases even easier, than in the cloud,

Markku Räsänen, CEO and co-founder of ConfidentialMind, said.

Investment details

• The fresh investment is a combination of equity funding and a loan from the Finnish Government. It was spearheaded by Failup Ventures, a Finnish-American venture capital fund based in New York and Helsinki. The fund invests in early-stage startups, its typical initial investment is $200,000 – $1 million.
• The Angel CoFund, managed by Innovestor and Founder’s Edge, and several angel investors including Ilkka Hiidenheimo, Jonathan Scudder, Daniel Fried, also participated in the financing

Thanks to the fresh capital injection, ConfidentialMind plans to expand its sales, marketing, and engineering teams across Europe. As the startup continues to grow, it aims to offer a comprehensive platform equipped with all the necessary tools for building generative AI applications.

About Droppe

• Founded in 2020 by Johannes Salmisaari and Henrik Helenius, Droppe develops a source-to-order platform for buyers. The startup claims the platform helps to source, order, and manage the products any business can rely on.
• According to the company, over 1,500 businesses use its solution today. Additionally, Droppe adds that more than 200 brands have chosen Droppe as part of their distribution strategy to expand their market share and enter new markets.

Investment details

• The fresh round was led by OpenOcean, a pan-European early-stage Venture Capital investor with offices in Helsinki and London. Its investment strategy focuses on leading or co-leading Series A investments with initial ticket sizes up to €5 million in European companies driving the data economy, including B2B platforms and Enterprise Software technology.
• Lifeline Ventures, Illusian Family Office, together with Miki Kuusi, co-founder of Wolt, Ilkka Paananen, co-founder of Supercell, Robert Gentz, co-founder of Zalando, Marianne Vikkula, COO of Wolt, and Mikko Silventola, also participated in the financing.

For brands, Droppe offers more than just an online distribution channel. It provides a scalable order management system and a powerful data engine that delivers actionable insights on matching demand with supply, helping brands understand how to expand their market share and enter new markets across Europe — putting them back in the driver’s seat of their success,

OpenOcean’s team commented on its LinkedIn page.

The fresh capital injection will help the startup to further develop its platform to provide the most efficient way for businesses to source and order their supplies.

About Wolt and finmid

• Wolt is a company known primarily for its food delivery platform. Founded in Helsinki in 2014 by Miki Kuusi, Juhani Mykkänen, Elias Aalto, and Oskari Petas, Wolt operates an app-based platform that connects users with restaurants for food delivery and takeaway services. Users can browse menus, place orders, and track deliveries in real-time through the app.
• In 2022 Wolt joined forces with DoorDash, which operates in 29 countries today, 25 of which are with the Wolt product and brand.
• Founded in 2021, finmid is headquartered in Berlin. It is a financial infrastructure provider to B2B platforms. The company claims it enables any B2B software platform to offer financing to their customers at scale, driving revenue and customer retention. The finmid API also allows B2B software platforms to build financing solutions with best-in-class user experience.
• The Berlin-based fintech company recently secured €35 million to expand and enhance its services across Europe. This funding was also aimed at supporting the scaleup of embedded financing services like Wolt Capital​.

Wolt Capital

In 2023, Wolt partnered with finmid to introduce Wolt Capital as a financial service designed to address the issue of lack of financing for small merchants the company partnered with. Initially, the solution was launched in Finland, where it demonstrated its great potential. Later the solution scale to Denmark and Sweden.

After embedding the product into the Wolt interface, the service also launched in Poland, aiming to scale across more markets soon. This expansion ensured that Wolt can continue to support its merchant partners, helping them overcome financial barriers and achieve sustainable growth.

One of finmid’s key strengths is our ability to adapt to the diverse needs of platforms and merchants alike. We believe that all merchants should have easy access to financing through the tools they use daily. Partnering with Wolt enables us to provide this vital support to thousands of restaurants,

Max Schertel, co-founder of finmid, said.

Since the launch in Finland, over 80 NPS with hundreds of live merchants used Wolt Capital’s solution.

About Profilence

• Founded in 2014 by Sami Utriainen, Mikko Keskitalo, and Mika Mikkelä, Profilence is an IT company employing over 20 people in Oulu, Finland. The company’s software solutions are designed to analyze and optimize the stability, performance, and energy consumption of Android-based devices.
• Profilence serves various industries, including smart devices, medical devices, and automotive sectors, providing real-time feedback to enhance overall product quality. The company also claims that its approach aims to streamline QA processes and improve software reliability.

Profilence has a strong desire to grow, and we have already demonstrated our capability to succeed beyond the Finnish market. Going forward, we will focus even more on international expansion, especially in the automotive and smart devices segments. We would like to thank our previous investors and warmly welcome Nordic Option, a partner from Oulu that aligns perfectly with our team’s deep regional roots,

Sami Utriainen, CEO of Profilence, said.

Investment details

• Nordic Option is the investor this round. It is a venture capital fund investing in growth companies in Northern Finland, with major shareholders including Arvo Investment Cooperative, Partnera Plc, and the City of Oulu. The firm aims to provide a northern alternative to enable growth and internationalization for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Profilence is an award-winning growth company that has been systematically built step by step. The company possesses a clever technology solution and an excellent team. In its new strategy, the company has set a goal for stronger international growth, and it is both an honor and a pleasure for Nordic Option to be involved in this effort,

Teemu Puumalainen, Investment Director at Nordic Option, commented.

• Profilence’s early-stage investors who were involved in the initial phases are exiting the company following this investment round. Although the press release doesn’t disclose the names of these investors, according to Crunchbase Butterfly Ventures is one of them.
• The exact amount of the investment deal remained undisclosed.

Profilence plans to use the funding to accelerate its international expansion, to enhance its technology, and drive further growth.

About Distance Technologies

• Founded by Urho Konttori and Jussi Makinen, Distance uses a computer-generated 3D light field that seamlessly mixes with the real world to offers flawless per-pixel depth covering the entire field of view for maximum immersion. This XR content can include a wide range of situational analyses and information to that location or geospatial coordinate.
• Distance Technologies is designed to also tie-in to a wide range of AI language models and search engines as the means to produce true “Contextual AI” and represents the next generation of XR experience available to a mainstream audience.

Investment details

• The fresh round was co-led by Maki.vc and FOV Ventures.
  • Founded in 2018 by Ilkka Kivimaki and Pirkka Palomäki, Maki.vc focuses mainly on deeptech, commercial products, commercial services, consumer food products, healthcare technology systems, AI, ML, and technology sectors. 
  • FOV Ventures is Helsinki-based venture capital fund investing in startups building the Metaverse at pre-seed and seed stages of their development.
•  Business Finland and David Helgason’s Foobar.vc also joined the financing round.

This team is absolutely brilliant and their timing couldn’t be better as the automotive and mobility space is experiencing a true renaissance. Distance’s execution speed is already extraordinary and we have 100% confidence in their ability to revolutionize the XR industry with their groundbreaking technology. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, and we’re excited to support their journey to new heights,

Ilkka Kivimäki from Maki.vc commented.

Distance Technologies will apply the fresh capital for the development of its glasses-free extended reality app.

About Flow Computing

• Founded by Timo Valtonen, CEO, Martti Forsell, CTO, Jussi Roivainen, Chief Designer, the company develops a Parallel Processing Unit (PPU) licensable architecture and compiler ecosystem. According Flow Computing, its enables developers to choose their preferred ratio of raw performance for new apps vs. maintaining legacy code and application compatibility when required.
• Flow’s architecture also turbocharges embedded systems and data centers, for uses such as edge and cloud computing, AI clouds, multimedia codecs across 5G/6G, autonomous vehicle systems, military-grade computing, and more.

A new era in CPU performance has become a necessity in order to meet the continuously increasing demand for more computing performance, driven to large extent by needs in AI, as well as edge and cloud computing. Flow intends to lead the SuperCPU revolution through its radical new Parallel Performance Unit (PPU) architecture, enabling up to 100X the performance of any CPU, regardless of architecture and with full backwards software compatibility,

Timo Valtonen, co-founder and CEO of Flow Computing, said.

• Flow Computer has been part of VTT LaunchPad, a science-based spin-off incubator, where VTT researchers and technology are brought together with investors out there to renew industries. VTT LaunchPad supports incubator teams to develop VTT-owned IPR into fundable spin-off companies.

Investment details

• The fresh investment led by the Finland-based VC firm Butterfly Ventures. FOV Ventures, Sarsia, Stephen Industries, Superhero Capital, and Business Finland also participated.
• As a spinout from the VTT, it maintains an equity stake in Flow Computing and all the patented IP developed over several years during this period has been officially transferred to Flow Computing.

The funding will help to advance product development, secure additional patents, and expand initial discussions with major semiconductor vendor.

About CeLLife

• CeLLife Technologies was co-founded by Marko Tulonen and Roni Luhtala as a spin-off of the University of Tampere in August 2022. It is a deep technology company specializing in advanced diagnostics, measurement, and quality control for the battery industry.
• Using a cloud-connected measurement platform, CeLLife conducts batteries’ quality tests by analyzing more than 2000 data points within only 2 seconds. According to CeLLife Technologies, its technology helps battery recycling companies better determine which cells to reuse more efficiently, reducing the amount of costly and often unnecessary battery waste.

I believe that the European battery cell manufacturing and recycling industry will gain a significant competitive advantage by adopting CeLLife’s technology. With the new resources, we will be able to better serve our current and new customers and significantly help reduce manufacturing waste (“scrap”) in the battery industry,

Roni Luhtala, CeLLife’s founder and CEO, said.

Investment details

• The investment was led by Ventech, a global early-stage venture capital firm with a digital focus. Founded in 1998, Ventech has dual structure platform, and has dedicated funds for Europe (Paris, Munich, Berlin, Helsinki & Stockholm) and Asia (Shanghai and Hong Kong). 
• Since its inception, Ventech has raised nearly €1 billion, realized over 220 investments, and concluded over 90 exits.
• CeLLife’s original investors, Grid.VC and several angel investors also participated in the funding. 

The fresh capital will support CeLLife’s expansion into the Swedish and German markets, as well as further development of its cloud-based SaaS model. 

Double Tap starts operations in Finland on June 7. The start will be at the DEFINE ecosystem event.

What is the reason behind the decision?

The fund explained that the decision based on Ukraine’s rapid development in defense innovation. Ukrainian startups are developing revolutionary technologies in areas such as mine clearance, artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, and advanced weaponry.

The company emphasized that Ukrainian startups have demonstrated ingenuity and resilience by developing solutions that address both local and global security challenges.

What are the key objectives?

• A key objective of the investment shift is to accelerate the development and deployment of revolutionary technologies that can improve security around the world.
• The company aims to help Ukrainian entrepreneurs scale their businesses and achieve long-term success through financial support, mentorship, and access to a global network.
• Double Tap will facilitate partnerships between Ukrainian startups and prominent defense companies around the world, particularly through knowledge sharing and joint development efforts.

About Double Tap Investments

Double Tap Investments specializes in transformative technology sectors, including defense, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. With a focus on high-return investments, Double Tap partners with innovative startups to drive growth and create long-term value.

Earlier in June, Angels for Ukraine launched a new investment fund to support early-stage startups in Ukraine. Read more about the fund below:

About Audicin

• Founded in 2022, Audicin develops an audio treatments designed for nervous system regulation. Its approach combines scientific research and music composition to create audio experiences that promote mental and physiological well-being.
• The team of Audicin claims its app offers a range of curated musical journeys aimed at enhancing focus, creativity, relaxation, mood, and sleep. By integrating these treatments into everyday activities, Audicin helps users combat stress, insomnia, and productivity challenges without the need for traditional mindfulness practices or training.

Investment details

• The funding round was co-led by Petteri Lahtela and Virpi Tuomivaara, founders of ŌURA Health, a Finnish health technology company, known for the Oura Ring, a smart ring used to track sleep and physical activity.

A year ago, in 2023, Siena Secondary Fund acquired a stake in Ōura Ring. Additionally, other angel investors also participated in the fresh investment.

It is amazing how the Audicin team combines a deeply scientific approach with the way of composing music to create real masterpieces that have transformative effects on both physiological and mental level. I have used the Oura ring to measure my body responses when using Audicin on different occasions. It has been absolutely amazing to see how it enables me to focus while working and to significantly increase the depth of relaxation while resting during the day. The HRV increase during naps and relaxation has been by far the biggest with Audicin compared to any other method,

Petteri Lahtela, co-founder at Oura Health, Audicin investor, commented.

After piloting experiences on the US market, Audicin plans to use the funds to accelerate its go-to-market activities, focusing on revenue growth and scalability.

• Founded in 2019, Claimlane provides an end-to-end Returns Management System (RMS) that streamlines the returns and claims process for retailers and brands. The startup focuses on optimising complex back-office workflows that serve both B2B and B2C requirements, different return types, and all channels and markets.
• According to Claimlane, it addresses a pain point in the industry: the reliance on spreadsheets and emails to manage returns, faulty products, and delivery issues. It also aim to automate communication and processes throughout the entire value chain.

Investment details

• The round was led by the Espoo-based Vendep Capital, a B2B SaaS specialist VC operating in Nordics and Baltics. It backs early-stage software entrepreneurs. In March 2023, Vendep Capital invested a €2 million in another Danish startup, PatentRenewal. 

After seeing what the Claimlane team has achieved in Denmark, we are excited to support them in their global expansion. Customer-centricity and ambition are driving forces in this team, so we look forward to seeing their vision for the B2B return handling space come to life,

Timo Felin, Investment Director at Vendep Capital, commented.

The funding will support Claimlane’s plans for international expansion, particularly across Europe and the UK. Claimlane has already opened a new office and secured its first UK clients, including FFX, The Hut Group, and Cult Furniture. The funding will also deepen the integration of the platform into brands’ back-end systems, further automating processes and enhancing efficiency.

• Established in 2019 by Tage Johansson, Fiberwood is a wood fiber-based insulation and packaging material developer and manufacturer. The startup obtains sheet materials from wood pulp and mechanical wood industry residual fibers utilizing a new form of foam-forming technology.

• Fiberwood is committed to advancing sustainable and ecological construction and packaging. The company has developed a technology and production process to produce circular, fossil-free insulation and packaging materials from forestry side streams and other natural fibres.
• In the spring of 2023, Fiberwood received €3 million in funding for development work.

Our products offer eco-friendly, recyclable and resource-efficient alternatives to traditional mineral wool-based insulation and cellular plastic-based packaging cushioning. Additionally, we enable the use of sustainable products in entirely new applications,

Fiberwood’s CEO, Tage Johansson, says.

• The fresh growth funding was co-led by existing investors Metsä Spring, an Espoo-based innovation company that develops new businesses related to wood-based value chains, and Stephen Industries, a family owned investment company based in Helsinki, focusing on healthtech, deeptech and greentech solutions. Several public financiers also participated.

With a fresh investment, Fiberwood will strengthen its position as a pioneer in materials technology sector and accelerate its international expansion.

About Enifer

• Established in 2020, Enifer develops a food-grade ingredient based on PEKILO technology. PEKILO mycoprotein is produced by cultivating a specific species of fungus in a fermentation process that is not too distinct from brewing beer or making soy sauce.
• The produced PEKILO mycoprotein powder contains a lot of high-quality protein and fiber. It is also neutral in color and taste, making it an excellent source of nutrition in the most diverse food applications.

Investment details

• The freshly closed funding package comprises a €15 million Series B equity funding round led by the Finnish private equity fund Taaleri Bioindustry Fund I, with follow-on investments from existing shareholders Nordic Foodtech VC, Voima Ventures, and Valio.
• The fresh funding also includes a €7 million capital loan from the Finnish Climate Fund and a €2 million climate and environmental loan provided by Finnvera.
• Additionally, in January this year Enifer secured a €12 million grant from Business Finland that was also included in the round.

At Enifer, we’re extremely excited to announce the kick-off of our first factory investment project. I would like to thank our new investors, in particular Taaleri Bioindustry and the Finnish Climate Fund, for joining us in our mission. Mycoprotein is the missing ingredient for a more sustainable food chain – the facility in Kantvik serves as a key steppingstone on our path to making mycoprotein a cornerstone of protein supply, with several future factories already being planned,

Simo Ellilä, CEO and co-founder of Enifer, says.

• Enifer plans to build its factory as a brownfield project within an existing industrial building in Kantvik, Kirkkonummi, Finland. The company will file for Novel Foods approval of the novel ingredient in 2024 and expects to receive approval during 2026.
• At its core, the factory will harbor a full-sized industrial fermenter, standing more than 12 meters tall and measuring more than 4.5 meters in diameter. The factory will directly employ 15 people. Enifer claims, the factory will produce 500 kilograms of mycoprotein per hour.

About Reactive Technologies

• Reactive Technologies is a grid resilience technology company helping grid operators, electric utilities, and regulators transition to Net Zero and ensure resilient, renewable grids. Reactive claims its products, including the first-of-its-kind GridMetrix technology, bring transparency to grid operations by measuring grid inertia and other functions with 95% accuracy, a vast improvement over the projections and estimates they are replacing.

• The startup is backed by several global sustainability and tech venture and management companies, including M&G, BGF, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Eaton, Toshiba, and Accenture Ventures. Reactive Technologies is a 2022 Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneers winner.

Investment details

This investment from M&G along with our existing investors, BGF and BEV , marks another significant milestone for Reactive Technologies. As we deliver more projects to support the global transition to Net Zero, this backing will empower us to deliver at scale, expand our commercial presence internationally, innovate further, and make a real contribution to a clean energy future,

Marc Borrett, Reactive Technologies’ CEO, stated.

• The fresh funding was led by M&G’s investment from Catalyst, a £5 billion purpose-led private assets. The UK and Ireland growth capital investor BGF and Breakthrough Energy Ventures also participated in the deal as the existing investors. EKTA Partners acted as the financial advisor to Reactive Technologies on this transaction. 

The current funding will support Reactive’s global expansion initiatives and key hiring endeavors, as well as advancing the realization of its projects.

Additionally, Nosto’s founder Juha Valvanne contacted our editorial office stating that: “The information in your article is not either public or correct and is based on non existing source.” Thus, we ask our readers to read this article at your own discretion:

The Danish VC firm Nordic Secondary Fund (N2F) has invested over €7 million in Nosto, a Helsinki-based intelligent Commerce Experience Platform (CXP) for brands and retailers. The investment in Nosto marks the 40th investment of the Nordic Secondary Fund.

• Nosto provides an intelligent Commerce Experience Platform (CXP) that gives brands and retailers intuitively designed tools to increase online revenue through end-to-end commerce experience management. The platform uses AI to help brands enrich and activate customer, product and content data in real-time across personalization, product discovery, and user-generated content to deliver high-performing commerce experiences at scale.
• According to the company, it supports intelligent commerce experiences for more than 1,500 brands, including Kylie Cosmetics, Dermalogica, Belstaff, The Travel Corporation, BYLT Basics, Douglas, MUJI, Flight Center, Lord and Taylor, Vuori, FIGS, and more.

Investment details

• Founded in 2018, N2F acquires secondary stakes in companies that have completed a Series-A capital raising from venture capital or corporate venture. In total, it has invested €93 million in secondaries in The New Nordic region, and 37% in Baltic-founded companies.
• The fresh investment in Nosto marks the 40th investment of the Nordic Secondary Fund.

In September 2023, Nordic Secondary Fund made a €3.5 million investment in Estonian logistics startup Cleveron.

AIN had a great opportunity to talk with Inka Mero, founder at Voima Ventures, about the fund’s recent activities, successes and challenges, as well as discuss the state of the Nordic and Baltic markets.

Tell us more about Voima Ventures.

We are a leading deep tech venture capital firm based in Helsinki, Finland & Stockholm, Sweden, specializing in science-based investments. We were founded in 2019 by (Mrs) Inka Mero, a seasoned and well-known angel and serial entrepreneur in the Nordics. Partners include Jussi Sainiemi, Pontus Stråhlman and Investment Director Jenny Engerfelt, as well as Niko Elers who is our investment manager.

Voima Ventures is driven by a mission to support visionary entrepreneurs working on breakthrough technologies that have the potential to solve global challenges and create significant societal impact. To this end, our latest Fund III is Article 8 compliant, and offers transparency into the environmental impacts of all our investments.

Our investment strategy revolves around backing early-stage startups with cutting-edge science and technologies, global markets, and scalable business models. We find the rare companies that leverage deep technology, usually developed out of years of university research, that address pressing societal and environmental challenges — solutions for the people, planet, and industry — while also demonstrating a strong market potential and a clear path to commercialization.

We currently have close to €200 million in assets under management, with a total of 37 companies in our Portfolio, across three funds.

Let’s talk about numbers. Voima Ventures is turning 5 this year. Can you walk us through the investment deals you consider the most successful throughout those years?

Fund II:

• Kuva Space, €17 million seed round for hyperspectral nanosatellite constellation. 
• Enifer Bio, over €15 million Series A for sidestream-based protein production
• Genomill Health, next gen liquid biopsy technology.

Fund I:

• Solar Foods, feeding HO2 to bacteria to generate novel food
• Infinited Fibre Company, 100% eternal fashion fibre from recycled clothes.Backed  by top global fashion companies.  
• Dispelix, the only independent waveguide player in the AR / VR space. 
• Exits: Focalspec, Minima, and Paptic.

It’s almost a year since the launch of Fund III capped at €120 million. In terms of investment deals and received financing, how many of your plans have been achieved so far?

On average we review and assess approximately 800-1000 cases from the funnel on a yearly basis. 

In March 2024, Sooma Medical announced its €5 million investment round where Voima was the lead investor. How did the deal come to happen and what can you tell us about the startup?

We met with the founding team back on summer 06/2023.

Sooma Medical is a spark of hope for the mental healthcare sector. They have pioneered an innovative solution that will change the lives of individuals battling depression and chronic pain. Founded on a mission of compassion and driven by a commitment to scientific rigour, Sooma’s groundbreaking therapies offer drug free, effective, and non-invasive alternatives to traditional treatments. 

Through the use of neuromodulation, Sooma is alleviating symptoms and restoring hope and vitality to those with mental health challenges. Backed by research, Sooma is set to push the industry benchmarks of this healthcare sector North.

As we know, in September last year, you launched Velocity offering €1 million to science-oriented startups. N-ink managed to win the challenge. How did the challenge go and do you have any plans for “Velocity 2”?

The Velocity Challenge exceeded all our expectations, both in terms of the quality and quantity of applicants we received (83 to be exact!). The event garnered widespread positive feedback from co-investors within our network and sparked numerous fruitful discussions with finalists. While organizing an event of this scale required significant internal resources, it also generated an extraordinary amount of unique deal flow opportunities, we had finalists who were not on the radars of any of the other VC’s at the event. 

This is validation that our deal flow strategy is on point and the relationships we have cultivated with Universities across our region are paying off. As a result, discussions about Velocity 2 have already commenced internally, with a tentative plan for a second round slated for an undecided date in 2025. This year, our focus remains razor-sharp: to seek out and support early-stage Nordic and Baltic companies poised to make meaningful contributions to society, the environment, or industry.

In our 2022 ranking, we included Voima Ventures as one of the most active funds in the Nordics and Baltics. You surely must know a thing or two about these markets. Can you comment a little about the current investment climate in the region.

Finland has laid a solid foundation for financing domestic startups through years of concerted effort, which has been crucial in light of the significant decrease in foreign capital. In response to the tightening market, startups have also taken proactive measures to enhance capital efficiency,

Jussi Sainiemi, Deputy Managing Partner of the venture capital firm Voima Ventures and Chair of FVCA’s Venture Capital Committee, comments.

Many investors are talking about tough times for the market in recent years. Did you experience any difficulties in 2022-2023 and how did you overcome them?

Looking back, we all know the numbers: there was a massive drop from the top years of venture capital investments from 21 to 23. The decrease in venture capital investment volume in the Nordics and Baltics — that’s our home turf — was close to 50%. So, the top year of 2021 was roughly €19 billion and the last year was only around €9 billion. 

What does it mean? Firstly, one of the successes which we recently had was the first closing of Fund III. We were able to raise a fund above our initial target within really tough times. I think we managed to overcome the difficulties by building a unique positioning for Voima Ventures. In this challenging landscape, we are one of the very few science-centric investors with a proven track record from our Fund I and II. The team had grown from Finland to Sweden, so we’re really covering the Nordics and Baltics. And then we also did a very specific thesis-based investment strategy on three core areas we invest in: green transformation, exponential health solution, and game-changing platform technology. 

In short, we managed to overcome such difficulties by doing very thorough work. Then let’s also remember that the work for Fund III had started already when we launched Fund II. So many of the new investors who came along were the LPs we started talking to five years ago. So it’s very long-term work.

Now, how did the fundraising difficulties affect our companies? So, the companies that have been in their later fundraising stages, Series A, B or C — anything from €5 to €10 million or above obviously struggled. So I don’t think any company had an easy time fundraising. And each of the more mature companies that have been in this phase, have been solving those problems very individually. 

Some of them have been focusing more on customer traction, really driving revenues because investors really value revenues. Others may have been also, let’s say, cutting the burn in order to have just more runway to survive through the tougher times, particularly the ones who are in the R&D mode. And that’s obviously a smart thing to do. Thirdly, of course, the most successful companies were raising big rounds, but it just took them longer. So we’ve had a lot of value growth optics in our portfolio. And I think the good lesson learned for any entrepreneur is that even in tough times, you can raise big rounds if you are even more focused. And then, of course, we’ve had some companies that have gone belly up, particularly the ones that come from the Fund I, older vintage companies. 

Sometimes it’s good to have these disruption points like COVID or this financial crisis, following the inflation and the war. As for us, we work with deep tech companies, with 90% of them having some actual concrete innovation, like a diagnostic kit or a factory to generate next generation protein, or a satellite for the next generation of surveillance. All these companies had to go through different challenges than, say, B2B and Travel tech companies. In that respect, our companies were better positioned for this financial crisis. They already knew how to cut burn and focus on customers, going straight ahead with this thesis that the companies need to have a 24 month runway. And that’s why we’ve done better. 

Of course, the 100 million rounds have been non-existent in the Nordics. Only this quarter we’ve started to see a bit more of a positive development in the market. Time will tell how the whole market will evolve from this altogether.

Can you share any predictions about the close future of Startup and VC ecosystem in the CEE region and the Nordics? What should we expect?

Let’s remember these big megatrends are not disappearing anywhere:

• Firstly, we have a massive planetarian crisis. We will see different weather disruptions due to climate change, declining biodiversity, and things like that. But we are also seeing a massive shift, in the B2B side, from the industry to climate neutrality. This will create great opportunities for a lot of science-based and deep tech companies. However, it’s critical to get into scalability, as well as similar cost and pricing to existing solutions. The scalability is becoming really essential, and also the cost of capital. 
• The other megatrend, of course, is exponential technology development: this competition between Asia, Europe, and the US, whether it’s AI or fundamental technologies like semiconductors, optics, photonics, etc. National interests are driving a lot of change in these matters. We see a lot of subsidies even within Europe for technology-intensive core technologies. Doubling down here on the single European market would be really critical. I think it will benefit everyone if we have more semiconductors, optics, photonics, and even dual-tech production in Europe.

Dual-tech, in particular, I think is the only silver lining of this war, if there’s any. Europe will start to invest more into dual-tech, which is a foundation of many consumer and B2B technologies we’re using today. And we shouldn’t shy away from that. We need to be independent in our defence technologies in Europe,

Inka Mero says.

• And then, on these other megatrends, which are now happening, like ageing population, urbanisation, and then, of course, the accelerating pace of the disruptions and the changes — offer a huge room for opportunities. The challenges that the European countries have are more systemic, relating to our innovation ecosystem or our demographics. But I think we have a really solid foundation on these opportunities.

Say, a startup is eager to raise fresh capital from Voima Ventures. What is the best advice you can give the founders?

When seeking funding from Voima Ventures, founders should focus on clearly articulating your startup’s value proposition and aligning it with our investment thesis. 

• We back Nordic-Baltic deep tech startups who are building companies with a societal and environmental impact.
• While the technical complexity of your solution may be difficult to convey, it’s crucial to emphasise the scalability, potential impact, and your team’s expertise on the issue you are trying to solve instead of focusing on the granular details. 
• Prepare a well-defined business plan, outlining your growth strategies, and demonstrate a solid grasp of your market and competitors. 
• Highlight your commitment to innovation, sustainability or societal impact, and remain open to feedback throughout the process. 

As specialists in deeptech investments, we bring extensive expertise in areas like cleantech, life sciences, advanced materials, quantum, and AI. This enables us to offer strategic guidance and valuable network connections tailored to startups in these sectors.

And, in conclusion, do you have any future plans you would like to share with our readers?

• We’re planning to expand our presence in Norway and Denmark, and continue to build our operations in Sweden through recruitment of a Life Sciences Investment Director.
• Double down on our efforts to connect with universities conducting cutting edge research into new technologies.
• Continue to advocate for greater boardroom diversity with our Annual Women to Board initiative, as well as fostering female representation in the STEM fields through proactive investments in female founded Science companies.

About Lola Panda

• Founded in Tampere, Lola Panda is a gaming app that allows children to learn to read, count, solve problems, and develop their logical thinking. The educational applications are being developed by the Finnish game studio BeiZ and have been downloaded more than 40 million times in 12 different language areas.

Learning to read is a challenge, even in countries with a high level of education. For example, in the United States, only 32% of fourth-grade children can read well. The learning model of Lola Panda applications has been adapted to suit different language areas based on learnings from previous Lola Panda applications. Lola Panda’s reading apps have been available in ten languages ​​for years, so the company has been able to develop a solution to this big, global problem,

Mika Heikinheimo, Founder at BeiZ, says.

Investment details

• The fresh investment was led by Gorilla Capital, Finland’s VC fund positions itself as a Nordic industrial Super-angel. The firm invests in early-stage technology companies from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Baltics.

Lola World learning application is in the early stages of the development path, but it is already one of the best solutions and it has already helped thousands of children to read. Now the company must deliver on its promise and offer even larger language areas the most fun way to learn to read,

Risto Rautakorpi, Founding Partner at Gorilla Capital, comments.

• The company will use the investment to further development of its learning games and offer even larger language areas the most fun way to learn to read.

In February this year, Gorilla Capital also supported a €890,000 investment for DealGuru.

• Established in 2017 by Erik Martinsson and Daniel Aili, ArgusEye provides sensor systems based on nanoplasmonic detection for real-time monitoring of biological systems and processes. In 2021, they secured a partnership with industry giant Bayer. During March 2024, the first product in the company’s sensor system platform, Auga, was released.

Investment details

• Voima Ventures, a Nordic early-stage investor that specialises in supporting science-based solutions, is one of the lead investors during this round. In March 2024, Voima Ventures led a €5 million round for the Finnish medtech Sooma Medical.

• Eir Ventures, a Scandinavian life science venture capital fund who followed on to its prior seed investment in the company, is also among the lead investors.

ArgusEye’s technology holds the promise of driving down healthcare costs by improving efficiency in biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes, leading to better health outcomes for more people,

Jenny Engerfelt, Investment Director at Voima Ventures, commented on the funding round.

The investment propels ArgusEye towards their goal of transforming how new biomedicines are developed and produced.

• Maire, a predictive analytics software startup, was founded in 2023 by three siblings, CEO Otso Laakkonen, CDO Varpu Laakkonen, and CTO Terho Laakkonen. Maire develops an online demand analytics platform to provide its customers with predictive insights about their product offering.

Billion dollar B2C companies excel at analysing their historical sales figures. What they don’t see is the market demand beyond their existing offering. This means that missing product lines or categories are almost always a real mystery. In addition, without market demand data it’s hard to validate if growth in a specific category is happening because of the company, or the market,

commented co-founder and CDO of Maire, Varpu Laakkonen.

• Maire’s funding round includes a group of investors, such as a Korpun Siemen, a Finnish joint investment company of private entrepreneurs, family companies and investors, which co-invests in local pre-seed & seed companies, and Tikura Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Lappeenranta, investing in companies operating in business to government, business to business to consumer sectors.
• Finland’s angel investors Leena Niemistö and Tuomo Riekki also participated.

The funding round will be used to further develop the predictive capabilities and expand internationally.

• Founded in 2022 by Felix Wassmann (CEO), Fabian Oberndorfer (CTO), and Isaac Kargar (CIO), RESONIKS redefines quality control processes. Using the power of acoustics and artificial intelligence, RESONIKS has developed solution that detects anomalies in metal components by resonating objects and analyzing their acoustic response. The startup focuses on automotive and maritime.
• Since the first closing in November 2023, the team has already grown from four to fourteen people, including the three founders. RESONIKS’ solution is deployed across multiple factories in Europe, with a focus on Germany.

Investment details

• The investment round was led by Finland’sKvanted, an early-stage investor focusing on industrial technology. Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Helsinki, Kvanted focuses on companies developing new software, hardware, and service solutions for the industrial sector with a mission to build a more sustainable future.
• With their fresh €70 million fund, Kvanted is the first pure-play industrial technology investor in the Nordic region. The founding partners of Kvanted are Eerik Paasikivi, Maria Wasastjerna, and Axel Ahlström.

• Faber, a Lisbon-based VC firm that invests in teams transforming the world with technology, and EIT Manufacturing, a knowledge and innovation community, supported by European Institute of Innovation and Technology, also participated in the investment. Combined with European public funding, the startup closed this round with a total investment amount of €2.65 million. 

The funding will fuel RESONIKS’ mission to revolutionize quality control in manufacturing through AI-powered acoustics and to expand its team. In addition, the startup is set to launch their second product series in May 2024, adding a fully integrated In-Line system to their product portfolio. 

• Kuva Space builds a microsatellite constellation equipped with a hyperspectral camera that can distinguish nearly any material on Earth and its condition through its distinct spectral signature. The company can monitor crop types, plant health and biomass, biodiversity, soil conditions, seaweed growth, algae blooms, and marine chemical pollutants to solve such pressing issues as climate change, food security, safety, and security.
• In November 2023, Kuva Space announced €16.6 million in a Series A round. The investment was backed by Voima Ventures, Nordic Foodtech VC, Earth VC, Springvest, and Business Finland.

Details of the ESA contract

• Within the 3-year R&D program, Kuva Space will test and develop on-board hyperspectral data processing, Sat-to-Sat, and Sat-to-IoT mobile communication, demonstrated with a field study with the Finnish authorities, dedicated to enhancing border surveillance by detecting and rediscovering illegal along the Baltic Sea area between Finland, Estonia, and Sweden.
• Austria, Belgium, Finland, Portugal, and Switzerland under ESA have contributed funding to create SMART-CONNECT, a consortium of various technology actors led by Austrian company Geoville. Under SMART-CONNECT, such companies as Kuva Space, Epic Blue, INOV, Klepsydra, neXat, Sistema and VITO will put their effort to revolutionize crisis communication for swift data exchange and timely provision of actionable information in emergency situations.

Kuva Space’s future plans

Together with the Finnish authorities, Kuva Space will launch the automatic detection of marine vessels using hyperspectral imaging, creating an alert in case of no Automatic Identification Systems signal from the vessel. In addition, Kuva Space will develop calibrated and analytics data products on board to automatically detect wildfires and landslide scarps, as well as provide their coordinates to civil security platforms to the ground station through SMART-CONNECT.

Kuva Space will also launch two hyperspectral satellites and its initial services in 2024. The first one, Hyperfield-1, is scheduled to launch in July 2024, and will consist of up to 100 satellites by 2030.

• Founded in 2016, Buildrz develops a SaaS-based real estate development platform, a one-stop tool for property developers and architects to perform generative design in order to optimize buildable surfaces on any given plots.
• Based on the database of urban plans, Buildrz evaluates land use change, net zero artificialization, views and daylighting, as well as economic value of the projects, enabling customers to identify and qualify sites that offer the best economic opportunities. Currently, Buildz serves around 50 customers across France.

We’re very excited to join forces with Buildrz, and will be working together to bring out new tools that allow reducing cost and carbon emissions of projects starting from the pre-design stage, in France and globally,

Panu Pasanen, founder & CEO of One Click LCA, says.

• One Click is a tech company decarbonizing construction and manufacturing with its automated life-cycle assessment to calculate and reduce the environmental impacts of building, infrastructure, and renovation projects. It also enables manufacturers to generate and publish third-party verified EPDs, and allows assessment of circularity, life-cycle cost, with plans for biodiversity.
• The company’s solution is used in over 170 countries and includes a global database with more than 200,000 LCA datasets. One Click LCA was founded in 2001, and has a team of over 180 people. In November 2023, One Click LCA announced €40 million growth equity from PSG Equity and InfraVia Capital Partners.

Finnish One Click LCA raises €40M of growth investment from PSG and InfraVia

• Together with Buildrz, One Click will bring an integrated feasibility study and cost and carbon analysis powered by a generative AI to its users. The first joint solutions are targeted for the end of the year, and they will be made available to the customers through One Click. Also, an integration of the existing tools is planned.

The amount of the deal was undisclosed. It will help One Click to expand globally, with an enhanced presence in France.

About Angel CoFund

• Angel CoFund is an agnostic fund, with a primary focus on companies promoting green transition and sustainable development. Its goal is to invest in approximately a hundred Finnish seed-stage companies.
• The fund’s initial investments are ranging from €50,000 to €300,000, aligning with the investment amounts of angel investor groups in the first round.

The first two investments

• Hytrade is a Helsinki-based startup that provides a SaaS platform that optimizes electricity for green hydrogen production. The platform tailored for the volatile and fast-paced green hydrogen sector to enhance operational efficiency and reduce production costs.
• Hytrade claims that its helps to make green hydrogen a competitive alternative to fossil fuels, particularly in hard-to-electrify industries like steel and heavy transportation. The startup closed a €190,000 funding round, with €95,000 provided by the Angel CoFund.

Having already gained significant traction among the players in the green hydrogen space, we are now able to speed up the technology development with the help of this pre-seed financing round,

Anne Särkilahti, CEO and co-founder at Hytrade, says.

• Coiniverse is a Helsinki-based startup developing an app for coin collecting, by enabling enthusiasts to join a global community of over 150,000 members, explore a database of over 100,000 coins.
• The app simplifies adding new coins to collections through advanced scanning and search capabilities, and engages with like-minded collectors across the globe. Coiniverse closed a funding round of €290,000, with €115,000 from the Angel CoFund.

We are thrilled to welcome the Angel Co-Fund on board. The whole startup community welcomes this initiative to help early-stage companies to grow faster. With this backing, Coiniverse is ready to accelerate its growth towards the global marketplace and continue presenting innovations in the coin-collecting industry,

Mikko Sievänen, CEO and co-founder of Coiniverse, says.

• Founded in November 2023 by Joose Toiviainen and Ilkka Rosenberg, Daze offers a no-packaging, no-label return service that picks up items directly from consumers’ doorsteps. The startup claims that by partnering with retailers on a B2B2C basis, Daze provides a seamless returns experience for customers, leading to higher average order values, and customer lifetime values for retailers.

Our product addresses the pain points of traditional return processes. Retailers partner with us on a B2B2C basis, to provide the smoothest returns for their customers. By acknowledging the struggles of the end customer, retailers see direct benefits such as higher average order values, which translates to elevated customer lifetime values. On the supply side, inventory turnover is remarkably higher and consolidated return shipping brings instant cost savings,

Ilkka Rosenberg, co-founder of Daze, said.

• The fresh investment was co-led by Antler, a global community of investors with offices in 27 cities, including Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney. Since 2018, it has supported more than 1,000 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing over 6,000 by 2030.
• Wave Ventures, the second lead investor this round, is Europe’s student-run VC helping Nordic Gen Z founders on early stages. The exact funding amount of the round was undisclosed.

Daze will use the fresh capital to expand its team, accelerate the product development, and also to boost its vision of becoming the leading Prime Shipping for direct-to-consumer brands.

• HappySignals was co-founded in 2014 by three Finnish IT entrepreneurs, Sami Kallio, Pasi Nikkanen, and Sami Aarnio. The company helps organizations transform their IT and Services to become more human-centric by leveraging employee experience data and AI. The startup allows to make informed decisions and focus on what truly matters.
• In 2020, HappySignals closed a €4.7 million funding with Nauta Capital and Vendep Capital. HappySignals’s solutions has been used by over two million employees in enterprises and businesses, such as Campari Group, Equinor, and Cargotec, across 130 countries. The company also claims that customers of HappySignals have seen a 26% reduction in time lost to IT-related issues.

IT organization’s primary role is enhancing efficiency and satisfaction across the entire organization through effective IT support and tools. Historically, IT has concentrated on technical and process metrics, which essentially measure how IT functions rather than the value it creates or could potentially create.

In IT language, we are talking about moving away from SLAs (service level agreements) and starting to focus on XLAs (experience level agreements). IT should continue to measure the traditional metrics, but the three pillars of IT — People, Process, and Tech — should always be considered in that order,

Sami Kallio, CEO and co-founder of HappySignals, said.

• The lead investor in the company, Mandatum Asset Management’s Growth Equity, is a Nordic growth equity investor which focuses on the scale-up phase of Nordic growth companies. MAM offers discretionary and consultative asset management for institutional investors and manages a variety of investment products within its core areas of credit, private equity, real estate and equity selection.
• Existing investors Nauta, a pan-European venture capital firm investing in early-stage B2B software companies with offices in London and Barcelona, and Vendep Capital, a Finnish venture capital firm investing in early-stage B2B SaaS companies across the Nordics and Baltics also participated in the financing round.

The investment will fuel sales, marketing, and product development for global expansion in the growing IT Experience Management (ITXM) market.

• Founded in 2015 and led by CEO Rafal Modrzewski, ICEYE owns the world’s largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, and provides, near real-time insights, ensuring that customers have access to actionable data, day or night, even in challenging environmental conditions.
• ICEYE delivers intelligence in sectors such as insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, security, maritime monitoring, and finance, enabling decision-making that contributes to community resilience and sustainable development. The company is headquartered in Finland and operates from five international locations, having more than 600 employees. The company finished 2023 with over $100 million in revenue.

As a Finnish heritage company headquartered in Finland, we welcome our newest investor and board member, Solidium. This backing from the domestic and international investment community shows trust in ICEYE’s vision to improve life on Earth by becoming the global source of truth in Earth Observation. It is with great pride that we align with our newest investors in the pursuit of ICEYE leading the global market in SAR technology and its broad applications,

Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and co-founder of ICEYE, commented.

• The Finnish sovereign wealth fund, fully owned by the State of Finland, Solidium Oy led the current funding. Move Capital Fund, a pan-European growth equity fund fostering European B2B tech companies, Blackwells Capital, a New York-based alternative investment manager, Christo Georgiev, and other existing investors also participated in the round.

The company intends to use the funds to further accelerate investment in a large constellation of SAR satellites and expand its portfolio of data and subscription products. The round builds on the Series D round in February 2022, bringing the total amount raised to $438 million.

Additionally, in 2022, ICEYE signed a contract with the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, which provided the Government of Ukraine the ICEYE’s Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imaging capabilities. Here is how these satellites helped save Ukrainian lives:

AIN had the opportunity to talk with Venla Väänänen, Marketing & Platform Manager at Maki.vc, discussing the fund’s activities in 2023 and plans for 2024, as well as talking about the CEE and Finnish market.

Tell us about Maki.vc.

Our founding partners include Ilkka Kivimäki and Pirkka Palomäki. We also have Pauliina Martikainen and Paavo Räisänen as partners. Maki.vc invests in brand-driven and deep tech startups at pre-seed and seed stage. Our portfolio includes for example European quantum leader IQM and sustainable fiber company Spinnova. Additionally, we have €180 million AUM.

Maki.vc partners with deep tech and brand-driven companies obsessed with challenging category norms. The Nordics are our home, but we take on a global front in spotting the unexpected — venture capital investments from B2B to B2C, with a sweet spot for scientific advances, strong IP, and customer understanding that looks beyond convention.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in building Maki.vc, and how have you overcome them?

Macroeconomics affects the venture capital industry in many ways, as it affects how many top notch founders are out there, how much top talent is available and how much financing is available in different stages of a startup.

That being said, having a talented team surrounding me and trusting in the investment & platform process that we have has always carried us through the hurdles!

How is Maki.vc’s performance in Q1 2024: how many investments were closed?

During first 4 months of 2024, we closed a number of investments, adding bright founders and brilliant companies to our esteemed portfolio. While we’re unable to provide specific details at this time, our team excited about the potential these companies hold and look forward to sharing more information as appropriate.

Were there any successful exits yet?

Our portfolio company Ultimate.ai was acquired by Zendesk and Alvar Pet was successfully merged with Kivuton, also bringing aboard a new majority shareholder.

How can you describe the Nordic VC market now, in particular in Finland? 

The Nordic VC market, particularly in Finland, is vibrant and dynamic, with significant potential across various industries. We’re witnessing a diverse range of innovative startups and entrepreneurs emerging, fueled by a robust ecosystem of support and investment.

In Finland specifically, we see a wealth of opportunities across sectors such as technology, healthcare, sustainability, and beyond. The country’s strong tradition of innovation and world-class talent pool continue to attract attention from investors globally,

At Maki.vc, we’re particularly excited about the prospects within the Nordic VC market. We believe in the power of disruptive ideas and are committed to supporting the growth of promising startups that demonstrate potential for scalability, innovation, and impact.

Tell us more about Maki House. Does this community still exist and what is the focus of its activity? 

Yes, and it’s thriving! We strive to be an accessible and yielding powerhouse with a global foothold. Whether building from scratch, fine tuning a product or brand, or navigating new markets, our entire network of investors, LPs and brand partners works side by side with our companies to supercharge their growth. Monthly, we bring global industry pioneers to talk with our founders and executives about a range of topics:

• People Management;
• Product;
• Financial modeling;
• Branding.

Previous speakers have included founders of Wolt, Product lead of Uber/LinkedIn, VP People of Payhawk, and much more.

For a while now, our special emphasis has been ESG related topics. We believe that by keeping ESG at the core of our work, we are able to build truly resilient and remarkable companies that can thrive through the hurdles of reaching sustained business growth,

We integrate ESG practices throughout the investment lifecycle, all the way from due diligence to exit. Our emphasis lies in identifying risks related to our portfolio companies’ operations, as well as approaching ESG as an opportunity to create value in pre-seed and seed stages

Has anything changed in Maki.vc’s approach to investments recently? Did the average ticket size, focus, or geography change in any way?

We continuously evaluate and refine our investment strategy to adapt to evolving market conditions and seize emerging opportunities. While our core principles remain steadfast, we may make adjustments to our average ticket size, focus areas, or geographic scope to best align with our long-term objectives and maximize value for our portfolio companies and investors.

Does Maki.vc experience any effects due to the harsh geopolitical climate, war in Ukraine in particular?

Maki.vc remains vigilant and closely monitor the situation surrounding the war in Ukraine and its potential impact on our investments and the broader market. While geopolitical events can introduce uncertainties and challenges, our diversified portfolio and rigorous risk management practices help mitigate potential risks and ensure resilience in the face of adversity.

Among most recent rounds joined by Maki.vc were Norwegians Databutton and Strise. On a personal note, can you tell us about the specificity of the fintech and deep tech investments made by Maki?

Fintech and deep tech are two areas where we see tremendous potential for innovation and disruption. In fintech, we’re particularly drawn to startups that are leveraging technology to enhance financial services, drive efficiencies, and improve user experiences.

With deep tech, our focus is on companies that are pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation across various industries, from artificial intelligence and machine learning to robotics and quantum computing.

In terms of industry trends, we’ve observed a steady increase in both the volume and number of deals within fintech and deep tech sectors. This growth reflects the expanding opportunities and heightened interest from investors in these areas.

What are your plans for the future growth and development of Maki.vc? 

Our plans for the future growth and development of Maki.vc revolve around positioning ourselves as the foremost Nordic seed VC investor and supercharging our platform offering to provide our founders with the best resources available.

• NPHarvest develops a hardware solution for collection and recycling of nutrients from wastewater. Its process’ modular design, the Nutrient Catcher can scale to different use cases and fit different facilities while keeping the production costs as low as possible.
• NPHarvest’s hardware can catch up to 90% of the excess but valuable nutrients from wastewater. Once the technology has separated the nutrients, they can be taken back to the fertilizer companies. The company claims, its process also uses very little energy, as doesn’t require heating or pressure increase. NPHarvest’s customers are wastewater management plants, biogas plants, and livestock farms.

Our process is much more energy and cost-efficient and easier to operate than the current solutions. Our end product is ammonia salt, which is commonly used in the fertilizer industry. We are very excited about bringing this technology to the market after years of research and development, bringing sustainable and affordable recycled nutrients and fertilizers to the market,

Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen, CEO and founder of NPHarvest, commented to EU-Startups.

• The fresh €2.2 million investment consists of a €1.3 million equity investment and a €900,000 grant from the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and their RAKI program.
• The equity part was led by Nordic Foodtech VC, a vintage early stage venture capital fund located in Helsinki and investing in food and biotech startup across Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden. Stephen Industries and Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry also joined the round.

The funding will be utilized to construct their initial commercially ready Nutrient Catcher. The startup also seeks to enhance business profitability, decrease pollution, and boost food security by offering a sustainable source of recycled nutrients and fertilizers.

About Cozero

• Founded in 2020 by Helen Tacke, Fabian Schwarzer, and Tiago Taveira, Cozero is a provider of carbon management software for enterprises. The company develops the Climate Action Platform (CAP) offering seamless tracking, reduction, and reporting capabilities for corporate and product emissions in one end-to-end SaaS solution.

• According to the company, Cozero empowers enterprises to take control of their environmental footprint and de-carbonization journey. It also helps organizations in high-emission sectors align sustainability performance with financial management for comprehensive decision-making. Among its clients are Maersk, Mammut, Nippon Express Europe (NX Group), Funke, and Vodafone.

Our Climate ERP provides a proven technology that facilitates seamless emissions management and a targeted steering of the company and its resources. This enables businesses to not only meet regulatory reporting requirements but also to transform their value chain and product offerings towards premium, low-carbon alternatives. It sets the necessary foundation for companies in a world where financial and carbon accounting are converging. These two management dimensions are becoming more and more interchangeable anyways with the rise of carbon prices,

Helen Tacke, CEO and сo-founder of Cozero, commented on its product.

Investment details

• The fresh Series A round was co-led by Kvanted Ventures, a Helsinki-based early-stage investor founded by Eerik Paasikivi, Maria Wasastjerna, and Axel Ahlström, and ENV, a German €100 million evergreen setup investing in European startups.
• The Paris-based NewAlpha Asset Management, business angels, and advisors from the logistics, manufacturing, and SaaS industries, including Henrik Larsen, Gero Decker, and existing business angels such as Torben Schreiter, and André Christ, also participated in the investment.

Cozero’s journey is a testament to smart financial management and steady growth. With less than 600k€ in funding since its inception, Cozero has managed to double its ARR over the past year. Across industries, companies face mounting pressures to report emissions, reduce their carbon footprint, and streamline supply chain processes. Cozero’s ability to address these challenges aligns seamlessly with Kvanted’s mission of accelerating industrial transformation. We are genuinely impressed by the team’s ability to build a sustainable business model that delivers real impact,

Maria Wasastjerna, Kvanted’s Founding Partner, stated.

Cozero will use the new round to accelerate its international expansion and advance its emission management software.

Finnish Venture Capital Association has released a study about the startup funding in Finland in 2023. AIN shares the key notes of the study.

Venture capital & venture growth 2023 in Finland

Finnish venture capital funds raised €507 million of funding from their LPs, and €389 million of investments were made by Finnish and foreign VC and growth investors in Finnish startup companies in 2023:

• Of the total amount raised by Finnish startups, €167 million (-32%) came from Finnish and €222 million (-68%) from foreign VCs.
• A total of 185 (-2%) Finnish startups raised VC or growth funding.
• Finnish VC and growth investors invested a total of €258 million (-33%), of which €90 million (-37%) in foreign startups.
• A total of 256 (-10%) startups received funding from Finnish VC and growth investors.

The successful fundraising efforts of Finnish venture capital funds enable Finnish startups to be financed further with domestic resources. However, until the scale of domestic funds matches that of international standards, we remain reliant on foreign investors for large later-stage financing rounds,

Jonne Kuittinen, Deputy Chief Executive of FVCA, comments

New Finnish VC funds

Finnish VC funds raised the second largest amount in history, a total of €507 million, in new funds for future investments:

• In May 2023, Lifeline Ventures announced Finland’s largest venture capital fund totaling €150 million;
• In June 2023, Voima Ventures raised €90 million for Fund III aimed at Nordic and Baltic startups;
• At the end of 2023 IPR.VC, announced the first closing of its €100 million film and television production financing IPR.VC Fund III;
• In November 2023, Gorilla Capital, announced the expansion of its team and the launch of its third fund;
• In February this year, 3TS Capital Partners closed its new Fund IV at €111 million.

Several new players also entered the market as Greencode Ventures, Kvanted, and Failup Ventures launched their first funds.

About Alvar Pet

• Founded in 2020 and led by CEO Ilari Haataja, Alvar Pet is a Finnish pet food brand specializing in individually tailored dog diets. The company prioritizes health, high quality, and sustainability in its product range, aiming to minimize the carbon paw print.
• The company specializes in individually feeding plans, which are developed under the leadership of the company’s co-founder Henna Söderholm. Alvar Pet serves more than 40,000 pet households across the Nordic countries, such as Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.

Investment details

• Verkkokauppa Kivuton was founded in 2006 in Joensuu, Finland, originally as a veterinary clinic with a focus on pet health. Currently, it offers a range of specialty diets for pets. The joint annual sales of Alvar Pet and Kivuton have surpassed €10 million, showing a 60% annual organic growth rate.

Pet owners are showing increased interest in supporting the health and special needs of their pets through nutrition. Products of Alvar Pet are developed under our veterinarian’s guidance, and Kivuton offers the most extensive range of special diets in the country. Together, we aim to make individual and responsible premium pet foods more accessible to pet owners across the Nordics,

Ilari Haataja, co-founder and CEO of Alvar Pet, says.

• The acquisition follows the announcement of the partnership with Juuri Partners, a Finnish growth investor. The team of Juuri Partners manages the private equity funds Juuri Rahasto I Ky and Juuri Rahasto II Ky amounting to approximately €200 million, which finance small- and medium-sized enterprises in Finland. 

The deal amount was undisclosed. According to both teams, Alvar Pet and Kivuton aim to form the largest online store in the Nordics specialized in pet health, offering pet owners a wide range of products and diets individually tailored to pets’ needs.

About Basemark

• Founded in 2015 by Tero Sarkkinen, Basemark specialises in automotive AR (augmented reality) solutions, including AR Navigation and ADAS (Advanced driver-assistance system visualizations) for HUDs and in-car screens. The company’s Rocksolid AR platform offers a visual design studio, software development kit, and optimized running times for automotive environments, facilitating the development of innovative AR applications for vehicles.
• Rocksolid AR enables manufacturers to develop AR solutions themselves by combining an AR development studio with an interconnected AR SDK. It also includes advanced localization and motion tracking mechanisms to ensure AR content is always anchored correctly to real-world objects and appears in the correct position in the driver’s Field of View, regardless of motion or vibration.

• In 2022, Basemark announced that it has significantly contributed to BMW Group’s new iX AR applications. The company also serves some manufacturers and Tier-1 companies as customers from the USA, Germany, France, Italy, and the UK.

Investment details

• The round was a combination of equity, grants, and loans, and was led by the London-based VC firm ETF Partners, with funding also coming from Finnish Industry Investment Tesi, Constructor Capital, a single family office based in Zürich, Business Finland, the European Innovation Council, and several private investors.

We are pleased to welcome new investors Tesi and Constructor Capital onboard, as well as thank our existing investor ETF for their continued support. Constructor Capital’s Founder, Serg Bell, is an exceptional entrepreneur and has founded many companies that offer synergies to Basemark. We’re excited to work together to make driving more safe and enjoyable,

Tero Sarkkinen, founder and CEO of Basemark, says.

• Basemark will use the capital to expand its business with original equipment manufacturers in Europe and the United States and fund its international expansion to Japan, China, and South Korea. Basemark also aims to secure more series production deals and strengthen its Rocksolid AR software development tools.

The startup’s team has also added that it will exhibit a demo version of Rocksolid AR at Embedded World 2024 in Nuremberg, Germany, from April 9th to 11th, 2024. 

• Founded in 2020 Dr. Nélida Leiva Eriksson, Ironic Biotech develops new generation of plant-derived proteins that contain iron, which are highly bioavailable with no side effects. These proteins are produced through precision fermentation and may be used as ingredients in food or food supplements.
• The startup addresses the problem of iron deficiency, which may affect up to 25% of the world’s population. Lack of iron leads to several symptoms like severe exhaustion, fatigue, heart palpitations, learning disabilities, and anemia. Thus, iron supplements may help prevent the diseases associated with the deficiency, however they can also cause extensive side effects. Ironic Biotech claims its solution doesn’t have any.

New ingredients like this enable the food industry to tackle a global health problem with new products. Worries about iron uptake are also a significant barrier to reducing the use of red meat in the Western diet. Putting a fundamental innovation like this to work takes effort, talent, and a bit of time. As an early investor, we work tightly with the team to build a solid foundation for success,

Louise Heiberg, Investment Director at Nordic Foodtech VC, says.

• Nordic Foodtech VC is the lead investor in the round. It is a Helsinki-based venture capital fund investing in early-stage companies aiming to radically renew the food system. The fund was launched in 2020 and has €42 million to invest in approximately 20 companies in the Nordics and Baltics.

The startup will use the funds to further ramp up work, expanding its patent portfolio, and optimizing the production process. The team is now looking for partners in the food and food supplement industry to work with.

• Founded in 2018 by Tommi Eronen and Markku Ylönen, Polar Night Energy designs and manufactures high temperature thermal energy storages. The Sand Battery developed by the company enables a significant increase in wind and solar energy production while reducing the use of fossil fuels.

We’re thrilled with the results of this round, especially given the current challenges in the financing environment. There’s been considerable interest in our work, with investors recognizing our potential. This has helped us finding the right and most supportive investors. We’re excited to enter a new phase of growth and innovation,

Markku Ylönen, Polar Night Energy’s Co-Founder, says.

• The investment round was led by Jonathan Oppenheimer, a South African businessman, social impact investor, and conservationist, and co-led by Finnish investment companies Stephen Industries, Holdix, and Turret
• Swedish family-owned investment company PC Rettig & Co. Impact and a group of existing investors also participated in the round. Apart from the capital, the news investors will also provide invaluable strategic insights and industrial expertise, strengthening our strategic efforts and bringing fresh perspectives to the company.

Polar Night Energy will use the funds for several key purposes, including growing sales and R&D teams to better cater to our customers’ needs, and advancing our capabilities in converting stored heat back to electricity.

• Onego Bio was founded in 2022 as a spin-off from VTT (Technical Research Center of Finland) by Maija Itkonen (CEO) and Christopher Landowski (CTO). Through cellular agriculture, Onego Bio develops and commercializes Bioalbumen, an animal-free egg-white. The production process equals a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 95% decrease in land use (Nature Food 2021).

• According to the startup founders, their egg protein produced without chickens also provides a sustainable and stable supply of one of the most used protein sources by the food industry. It also demonstrated industrial production potential of 120 g/L in 250 000 L fermentation vessels allowing to reach competitive price points with the conventional way of making egg protein. 

Egg protein remains one of nature’s most perfect foods; this single ingredient supplies more than 20 different functional benefits from aeration to emulsification and gelation. While it may sound scientific, the value is in our mouths every day with velvety cake structures, silky-smooth mayonnaises, crispy nugget batterings, or those chewy-fluffy nougat fillings, just to mention few,

Maija Itkonen, сo-founder and CEO of Onego Bio, says.

• The investment was led by the Finnish-Japanese VC firm NordicNinja, which invests in companies within sustainability and digital society. The fresh round also included equity investments from Tesi, a Finnish state-owned market-driven investment company, and EIT Food, a knowledge and innovation community dedicated to making a food system more sustainable. 
• Existing investors such as Agronomics, Maki.vc, Holdix, Turret, and certain strategic partners also participated in the round. The Series A round also includes a $10 million non-dilutive funding from Business Finland, a public organization under the Finnish Government.

The company will use its recent funding to fuel its North American go-to-market strategy, including scaling up to industrial-level production and expanding its US commercial team. Onego Bio also plans to receive self-affirmed GRAS status for Bioalbumen this year, with a no objections letter expected from the FDA in 2025.

• Founded in 2022 by Erno Tauriainen, Benjamin develops an app allowing consumers to generate cash rewards – called Benjamin Money Moments — on a broad range of everyday activities including purchases, mobile gaming, and viewing ads. Customers can earn cash rewards by completing daily tasks in mobile games.
• Since coming out of beta in October, the Benjamin app already has over 250,000 installs and 155,000 monthly active users. The company claims that many users are already earning over $100 per month; some are over $1,000 per month in earnings. Since October 2023, revenue growth are above 40%.

We are delivering audience to these game companies where they go so deep into playing their games. And they’re willing to pay a lot of money for that. We also reward these people for their everyday purchases, like when they go to Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts,

Erno Tauriainen, founder of Benjamin Capital Partners, said.

• The funding came from Play Ventures, a Singapore-based VC firm investing globally in game studios, technology, and services around games, as well as games-inspired consumer products.
• F4 Fund, a VC fund investing in products across consumer tech, communications, and interactive media, also participated in the round. Other investors include the business angel Anton Gauffin (founder of social gaming company Huuuge).

Fresh funds will help the company grow its Benjamin cash rewards app and to accelerate funding product development. The funding coincides the company’s plans to release of an enhanced version of the app as well as the hiring of Benjamin’s first CEO, Lon Otremba.

• Founded in 2016 by Carlos del Corral, Johanna Sinkkonen, and Suvi Lindfors, Lumoa is a developer of customer experience management platform based on generative AI solutions, headquartered in Helsinki. Backed by Icebreaker, Lumoa helps customers in more than 20 countries. In 2023, 74 million customer votes were analyzed using the Lumoa platform.
• The startup claims that it automates the analysis and highlights the items to help companies to work with not only see a spike in the numbers they track and to continue growing their business. Today, Lumoa serves companies in 14 countries.

Joining forces with Netigate accelerates our mission to empower every employee to make the right decision based on the voice of their customers. Together, we can now broaden the focus from customer experience to total experience while also leading the way in data security and privacy committing to all European regulations and guaranteeing your data will not be transferred or processed outside of the European Union,

Carlos Del Corral, CEO and co-founder of Lumoa, said.

• Netigate was founded in 2015. Now it has over 1500 subscribing customers, comprises a team of over 150 employees, and is headquartered in Stockholm, with offices in Berlin, Frankfurt, Warsaw, and Oslo. Since 2022, the private equity fund GRO Capital has been the majority shareholder of the company.
• Netigate is a SaaS company offering a experience management solution for organisations and businesses. The company combines AI and machine learning technologies with a insight consultants.

The deal amount was not disclosed. The companies claim that their union marks the birth of a new European experience management powerhouse aiming to change how businesses harness the power of feedback.

• Launched in 2023 as a spin-out company from VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, Steady Energy aims to de-carbonize the energy-intensive heating industry, starting with residential and district heating. The company specializes in delivering carbon-neutral heat to homes, offices, and industrial applications through its nuclear engineering solutions, particularly its LDR-50 nuclear reactor, which operates at low temperatures and pressures.
• According to Steady Energy, its technology ensures safe, emission-free heat production at lower temperatures and pressures compared to traditional nuclear reactors. Additionally, the company’s compact and secure plants can be located near urban areas, offering a solution for heating needs.

Our visionary approach combines the efficiency of the manufacturing industry with advanced nuclear engineering solutions, enabling us to bring zero-carbon heating plants to the market at a highly competitive price. We stand out with our robust and simplified technology,

Tommi Nyman, CEO of Steady Energy, says.

• Lifeline Ventures, a Helsinki-based early-stage VC fund, and Yes VC, a US-based fund focusing on pre-seed and seed stages, co-led the fresh funding round. Before that, in June 2023, Steady Energy raised €2 million in seed capital.

The current investment will enable Steady Energy to further develop its technology, accelerate its research and development efforts, and expand it on new markets. By 2030, the company plans to start the first plant and scale up to industrial production.

About Perfat Technologies

• Perfat Technologies is a health-based technology company that develops fat-management applications based on healthy vegetable oils. Its technology enables broader use of healthy vegetable oils, such as rapeseed or sunflower oil, previously limited in food production by their lack of techno-functionalities.
• Additionally, it offers a healthier and more sustainable alternative to traditional solid fats such as butter, palm oil and coconut oil, promising to enhance the nutritional and sensory qualities of food products. The startup also claims that its solution enables food products to retain their familiar taste and texture profiles while significantly improving their health profile.

Investment details

• Finland’s Nordic Science Investments, a capital investment fund specializing in university spin-out companies during pre-seed, seed, and Series A funding rounds, led the current round. Recently, it announced the first closing round for the €60 million fund for deeptech spin-out startups from universities across the Nordics.

Perfat is opening a new frontier in healthy and sustainable food, building on its groundbreaking technology and team comprised of seasoned experts with a shared passion for revolutionizing the food industry. Nordic Science Investments is proud to embark on this journey with Perfat, which fits perfectly to our newly launched fund’s mission to impact daily lives meaningfully via transformative science,

Matti Hautsalo, Founding Partner at Nordic Science Investments, says.

• The investment was also supported by Helsinki University Funds, Big Idea Ventures, and other existing investors.

Perfat Technologies will use the fresh funds to accelerate its R&D and bolster the industrial scaling of its technology.

This year, eight CEE companies, hailing from Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Finland, and Czechia made it to the list. AIN shares the details on the soonicorns.

The list of CEE’s next unicorns

• Bitrise is a Hungarian mobile DevOps platform built to adress mobile’s challenges, empowering mobile teams to deliver their best work.
• Brainly is a Polish web-based learning platform where kids and parents seek homework and study assistance from peers and professionals. In 2020, the company raised $80 million in Series D funding.
• Headway is a Ukrainian EdTech startup that creates microlearning products, helping 80M+ private and corporate users worldwide achieve their goals. In June 2023, the edtech company secured a place in Top 50 European startups, nearing its unicorn status.
• Mews is a Czech-founded cloud-based hotel property management system that helps simplify hotel operations so properties can focus on their guests. Only recently, the company managed to raise $110 million in funding, indeed becoming Czechia’s third unicorn.
• PlanRadar is an Austrian company offering a SaaS solution for documentation and communication in construction and real estate projects.
• Preply is a Ukrainian online tutoring platform, aiming to help students achieve their learning goals and prepare them to speak confidently. Throughout 2023, the scale-up managed to secure a $70 million investment, open US office, and undergo a redesign.
• SEON is a Hungarian online fraud prevention platform that detects and stops fraud in real-time through transactional data analysis. In 2023, the company acquired Complytron, an AML/KYC screening tools provider.
• Supermetrics is a Finnish B2B software company that pulls data from various sources to use for web analytics, social media, and online marketing. In September 2020, the company raised a $47 million funding round.

Methodology

The list was compiled in partnership with investment bank GP Bullhound and through contributions from four global investment funds: Accel, Eurazeo, NorthZone and Partech.

The list is based on the following criteria:

• Current and potential growth;
• Total amount of involved investments;
• Increase in the number of personnel;
• Geographic distribution;
• Positive impact on society.