Inventure, a Nordic venture capital firm investing in seed and early-stage technology has completed a first closing of Inventure Fund III at EUR110 million. Already at the first closing, the fund is the largest pure early-stage technology fund ever raised in Finland.
The first closing of the fund was led by European Investment Fund (EIF), Finnish Industry Investment (Tesi), Elo, Ilmarinen, Nordea Life Finland and other institutional and private investors. The fundraising continues throughout 2018 towards the target size of EUR135 million.
“Our conviction about the Nordic opportunity is greater today than ever before. By playing our part in building successful tech companies in the Nordics, we hope to contribute to growth and development of the whole region,” says Sami Lampinen, Inventure’s Managing Partner. “Already today, Inventure portfolio companies employ 1350 people. We want to triple this number in the years to come.”
Inventure has been supporting Nordic entrepreneurs over the past twelve years – first, from its headquarters in Helsinki, and lately from the new office in Stockholm. With the new fund, Inventure stays true to its investment strategy of supporting the entrepreneurs as early as possible. The increase in the fund size provides the team with an additional capacity to lead investments not only at seed stage, but all the way through expansion stages.
”In its two previous funds, the Inventure team has proven the ability to create value in dozens of companies and to generate good financial returns for investors. We are excited to be backing the new fund, and we are looking forward to new success stories rising from the portfolio”, says Tapio Passinen, Investment Director at Tesi.
Having the roots in Finland, the team makes big bets on deep tech – artificial intelligence, internet of things, new materials, virtual and augmented reality. New era of connectivity, future mobility, personalized healthcare, and next-generation UX platforms are key areas Inventure continues investing in.
“With its two prior funds Inventure has established its position as one of the leading early stage VCs in the highly innovative and successful Nordic ecosystem. We are pleased to continue backing a strong local investor like Inventure, which can provide close support to the most promising start-ups both operationally as well as financially”, says Juho Aminoff from the European Investment Fund (EIF).
