The Estonian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (EstVCA) has elected Margus Uudam of the investment firm Ambient Sound Investments as the new chairman of its management board.
Other members of the management board elected include Kristjan Kalda of BaltCap, Heidi Kakko of SmartCap, Mart Altvee of Redgate Capital, Ivar Siimar of WNB, Marek Kiisa of Astrec Invest and Sille Pettai of Swedbank Investeerimisfondid.
Uudam (pictured) says Estonia’s venture capital sector trails Europe in terms of its investment volumes, and consequently the main task of EstVCA in coming years is to significantly increase the market activity.
"Our goal is to quadruple the total volumes of the funds managed from Estonia and reach EUR1bn. This ambitious aim relies on strong co-operation between investors, fund managers, entrepreneurs and Estonian state,” he says.
Uudam believes it is important to create an environment where equity investments are uniformly available for entrepreneurs at various stages of development, both in early and growth stages.
“A well-functioning venture capital market has a positive impact on job creation, innovation and growth. Estonia has a great untapped potential in private equity and venture capital," he says.
Founded in 2009, EstVCA unites venture capitalists, private equity and mezzanine fund managers and support service providers for the sector. EstVCA’s main goal is to develop Estonia’s private equity and venture capital industry and support ambitious entrepreneurship in Estonia.
EstVCA members have EUR240m of assets under management; they have 104 portfolio companies headquartered in Estonia as well as in many other countries.
