Source:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/06\/13\/nordic-vc-voima-ventures-launches-e90m-fund-for-deep-tech-startups\/<\/a><\/br>
\nNordic VC Voima Ventures launches \u20ac90M fund for deep tech startups<\/br>
\n2023-06-13 22:08:16<\/br><\/p>\n

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Nordic VC firm Voima Ventures<\/a> today announced its third fund with an initial closing of \u20ac90 million and a final target of \u20ac120 million, focusing on early-stage \u201cdeep tech\u201d startups from across the science sphere.<\/p>\n

Founded out of Helsinki, Finland, in 2019, Voima Ventures targets companies at the pre- and seed-stage, mostly involving startups emerging from university labs and related research institutions. Voima also occasionally delves into later stage investments where it involves existing portfolio companies, and its typical areas include companies working on sustainability, life science and health, and other \u201cgroundbreaking\u201d technologies such as quantum computing.<\/p>\n

Voima\u2019s first two funds were launched back in 2019. Its \u20ac20 million Fund I was essentially the spin-off portfolio of state-owned technical research center VTT<\/a> which remains one of the fund\u2019s limited partners (LPs) today, while the second \u20ac60 million fund was announced simultaneously alongside the new Voima Ventures brand and a swathe of additional LPs. The first two funds have backed some 30 companies, including the likes of Solar Foods<\/a>, Dispelix<\/a>, Betolar<\/a>\u00a0and MVision<\/a>, and it has a handful of exits to its name including Minima, which was snapped up by Bosch last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Voima\u2019s latest fund includes capital from the European Investment Fund (EIF<\/a>), Finland\u2019s Tesi<\/a>, VTT, Sweden\u2019s Saminvest<\/a>, and a handful of pension funds, foundations and family offices.<\/p>\n

Bright and early<\/h2>\n

Europe has been ripe for fresh early-stage VC funds lately. In the past few months alone, we\u2019ve seen the U.K.\u2019s Amadeus Capital partner with Austria\u2019s Apex Ventures<\/a> for a \u20ac80 million ($86 million) deep tech fund, similar to IQ Capital which launched a new $200 million fund<\/a> for early-stage deep tech startups. Moonfire VC, meanwhile, closed its second fund<\/a> at $115 million; Playfair Capital closed a $70 million<\/a> pre-seed fund; Ireland\u2019s Elkstone closed its first formal VC fund<\/a> at $108 million; Finland\u2019s Lifeline Ventures closed a $163 million fund; and in France Emblem<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ovni Capital both announced<\/a> new \u20ac50 million ($54 million) funds.<\/p>\n

As with its previous funds, Voima\u2019s third pot is focused firmly on Nordic and Baltic countries, though it occasionally dips into other countries across Northern Europe, and it\u2019s aiming for ticket sizes ranging from \u20ac200,000 to \u20ac3 million spread across roughly 25 companies.<\/p>\n

A core defining characteristic of Voima\u2019s fund is that in addition to its collaboration with VTT, which is among Europe\u2019s largest research institutes, it actively collaborates with universities from across Northern Europe. Voima founding partner Inka Mero says that nearly three-quarters of its portfolio hail from the academic world, including quantum chip startup Semiqon<\/a>, which VTT recently spun out<\/a> as an independent entity, and Cellfion<\/a>, a clean energy materials company that emerged from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Link\u00f6ping University (LIU) in Sweden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actively collaborate with all the Nordic and Baltic universities \u2014 we do this by visiting science teams and teams in incubation on a regular basis, hosting workshops, and coaching the most potential teams on a regular basis,\u201d Mero told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n

And while much has changed in the world since Voima first arrived on the scene some four years ago, from the global pandemic to major economic headwinds among other macroeconomic factors, Mero says it\u2019s mostly business as usual in terms of what they\u2019re looking for in startups and they\u2019re approach to investing.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur investment strategy has remained the same \u2014 we continue investing in science-based and deep tech in the Nordics and Baltics,\u201d Mero said. \u201cWith Fund III we are even more thesis-driven, and invest in companies tackling pressing global challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Science, Tech, Technology<\/br>
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\nSource:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/06\/13\/nordic-vc-voima-ventures-launches-e90m-fund-for-deep-tech-startups\/<\/a><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/06\/13\/nordic-vc-voima-ventures-launches-e90m-fund-for-deep-tech-startups\/ Nordic VC Voima Ventures launches \u20ac90M fund for deep tech startups 2023-06-13 22:08:16 Nordic VC firm Voima Ventures today announced its third fund with an initial closing of \u20ac90 million and a final target of \u20ac120 million, focusing on early-stage \u201cdeep tech\u201d startups from across the science sphere. Founded out of Helsinki, Finland, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,17,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-tech","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n