Financing of a startup company

Only Finnish funding channels are discussed here. A Finnish startup can, of course, look for funding outside the country, from investment companies, angel investors and public sources such as EU funds. At least in the early phases of a startup, it is challenging without having a specific relationships with financiers or strong startup connections to other markets. 

Investment companies


Some of the Finnish companies making startup investments are presented below, with a short description of their investment focus.  Size of the companies varies, some are venture capitalists with sizable funds and some angel investor investment tools. To get more insights on investment philosophies of the companies as well to understand, how to approach them, please contact me. 

Aboa Venture Management:  Small and medium sized companies, growth and early stage, Western and Northern Finland 
Ahlström Capital:  Cleantech 
AJP Holding Oy: Equity investments
Amibient Sound Investments:  Seed financing for technology companies 
AppCampus:   Accelerator, funding and coaching for Windows Phone application developers
Armada Mezzazine Capital:  Enabling company growth, Nordic countries
Bocap: Small and medium sized companies, domestic and international growth 
Booster Investment:  Early and growth stage companies
Butterfly Ventures:  Pre-seed and seed phase companies. special focus Oulu 
Caplia Invest:  High tech or innovative thinking  
Cleantechinvest:  Vigo acclerator, cleantech  
Conor Venture Partners:  Early stage technology companies 
East Wings:  Vigo accelerator in Tampere, Asia opportunities
Folmer Management: No seed phase companies
Fonecta: Investments in firms at every stage, from 50 k€ up
Frontier: Consultant, international expansion to Middle East and Southeast Asian markets
GameFounders:  Games
Gorilla ventures:  Vigo accelerator, seed finanacing and operational business support 
Greenstep:  Sweat equity 
GTW Group:  Hood opportuities in Finland in abroad 
Guida Invest:  Seed phase
Helsinki Ventures: Vigo accelerator, for startups originating from Russia and CIS
Hitseed: Accelerator, intelligent devices enabled by sensors and connectivity 
HLM Advisors:  Consultant, international B2B device and service business
Icebreaker.vc: Invests in angel and seed phase companies
Ingman Group: Long-term value growth
Innofinance:  Business development and growth 
Innovestor: Provides private investors opportunities to invest in growth companies
Inveni Capital:  Lifescience companies in Northern and Central Europe
Inventure:  Innovative high-tech firms in Finland and Scandinavia
Joy Group:  Developing companies and technology innovations 
JSH Capital: Companies with international potential
Koppicatch:  Vigo accelerator, focus media, e-commerce ja analytics 
Korona Invest:  Social services and health firms
Lagoon Capital  Consultant, high growth companies 
Ledi: Consultant, doing business together 
Lifeline Ventures:  Vigo accelerator, health, web, games
Lureco: Spin offs of Lappeenranta University of Technology
Magnolia Ventures:  IT startups with international potential
Media Startup Accelerator: Media companies, joint initiative of YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) and Nestholma
Mediatonic:  Games, tv formats, multimedia products, web services
Midinvest:  Small and medium sized companies, financing growth 
Miston Investment:  Companies with growth and development potential 
Nestholma:  Lahti, seed financing, imaging focus
Newentures:  Research based innovations 
Nexit Ventures:  Mobile focus
Nokia Growth Partners: Mobile, communications, internet 
Nordic Growth:  Companies with growth potential 
Noweco Partners: Growth companies, Western and Northern Finland 
Oakventures:  Consultant, sweat equity 
Open Ocean: Software, cloud services
Opsicon:  Consultant
Optiomi:  Growth companies
Oulun Seudun Hyvinvointirahasto:  Companies seeking growth 
Polte:  Growth companies in all industries 
Pontos Group:  Growth companies, 2-10M€ capital, no specific industry focus 
Profita Group:  Growth companies 
PULS: Lifesciences 
Qpoli:  Consultant, software, mobile and game companies 
Rite Ventures:  Early stage growth companies 
Royal Majestics:  Vigo accelerator, lifestyle, design, consumer markets 
Sanoma Ventures:  Information, entertainment, education, e-commerce 
Sievi Capital:  Good earning logic
Spintop Ventures:  Companies with international opportunities 
StoraEnso Ventures:  Companies with link to StoraEnso core businesses 
Thominvest: No tight industry focus 
Taito Capital Partners:  Developing companies 
Troll Capital:  Early stage and growth companies 
Tutor Invest:  Technology and service companies 
Vanaja Capital:  Hämeenlinna region, new and growing companies 
Vendep:  Vigo accelerator and seed phase investor 
Verdane Capital:  Smaller companies in growth phase 
Veturi Venture Accelerators:  Vigo accelerator. seed financing, strategy, operative support 
Vision Plus:  Applications, games and servce products, investments 50-500 k€ 
VNT Management:  Renewable energy, energy saving 
VTT ventures: VTT based high tech companies with international growth potential
Wallstreet Financial Services:  Invests together with its customers to startup and growth companies

Angel investors


No indinvidual business angel information is published here, but if you want get their contact information and how to approach them, please contact me. These people can be also be contacted e.g. through angel associations below or by participating in various startup events. Some of the investors woth through their investment companies, see above.

Suomen bisnesenkelit , Finnish business angels
Finnish Business Angel Network, FIBAN
Businessangels.fi: Market for startups seeking financing and financiers, utilises PocketVenture crwowdfunding platform.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding companies, operating in Finland. In addition, there are numerous international crowdfunding firms that are available for Finnish companies, too.

Fundedbyme:  Fastest growing crowdfunding platform in Europe 
Fundu: Innovative financing for growth companies
Invesdor:  Crowdfunding in Nordic countries 
Kansalaisrahoitus: Small and medium sized companies, startups, privatee persons, offices in Helsinki and Turku 
Mesenaatti:  Crowdfunding for all 
PocketVenture:  Thousands of private investors all over the world
Vauraus Suomi: Loan based crowdfunding for SME
Venture Bonsai:  European startups and growth companies

Public financing

There are multiple, partly overlapping public financing instruments available for startups in Finland. Besides mostly national instruments listed below, there are also some regional and local ones. And because various instruments have their own specific focus and interests, it is vital to identify the ones that can support a startup in a specific life cycle phase. To get more information on that and to create effective financing applications, please contact me. 

ELY-keskus: E.g. start grants for incubator startups, preparation grants, development projects for internationalization
Business Finland: Capital investments/convertible bonds  (previously Finnvera Venture Capital), Innovaatioseteli for innovation funding, R&D grants and loans as well as financing for new innovative companies
Finnvera:  Entrepreneur loans, small loans and collaterals
Sitra: investments in companies with growth potential
Teollisuussijoitus: Investments in company growth and international operations
Forum Virium: For Helsinki based companies, company growth and internationalization, partial support for selected projects

Financing guides

Guides below are in Finnish.

Fiban guide to look for angel investments
Ohjelmistoyrittäjien ja Teknologiateollisuuden opas
Suomen Pääomasijoitusyhdistyksen opas pääomasijoituksista.
Rahoituskone rahoituksen hakemiseksi Suomessa, Ruotsissa, Norjassa ja Virossa haettavan määrän, yrityksen vaiheen ja toimialan perusteella.


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