Foreign venture capitalists interested in Finnish growth companies

A large group of international venture capitalists visit Enterprise Finland Venture Forum and get to know Finland’s most promising growth companies.

Finnish Industry Investment, Tekes and Finnvera, in co-operation with Technopolis, are organizing an international venture capital daytoday in Espoo in Finland. Enterprise Finland Venture Forum aims to bring together the most promising Finnish technology companies,as well as Finnish and international venture capital companies. During the event the companies make pitches to the investors, and continue discussions with interested investors after the event.

“The purpose of the event is to open up doors for Finnish growth companies to the international investors’ radar screen. This target seems to be very well accomplishedsince we have more foreign investors present today than ever before in a similar event in Finland”, says Finnish Industry Investment’s Henri Grundstén, Chairman of the organizing committee.

The presenting companies attracted investors for instance from the UK and the other Nordic countries. Paul Murray from DFJ Esprit in Londonfirmly believesin Finnish technology know-how: “Finland, with its 500+ start-ups, is an early adopter market for new technologies and a naturally exciting country to look for investment opportunities. The partners at DFJ Esprit have a long standing interest and affiliation with the Finnish venture market which reaches back over 10 years. Events like the Venture Forum provide an ideal opportunity to meet dozens of exciting new technology companies in one day, and one location”.

Also the Swedish Creandumhas had Finnish companies in its portfolio for many years now. Daniel Blomquist from Creandum comments: “Finland has recently produced a number of interesting companies, including Sulake, Rovio and Applifier. We are constantly looking for investment opportunities in the Finnish market andwe are therefore attending the event in order to meet interesting entrepreneurs and exciting investment opportunities”.

The key-note speakers at the event include Tapio Korjus from the National Elite Sport Development Committee and Ville Heijari from Rovio. The speakers will discuss the similarities between athletics and technology entrepreneurship, as well as the Angry Birds global success story.

Enterprise Finland Venture Forum is a part of the Enterprise Finland service concept. There are 25 Finnish companies attending the event, and 37 venture capitalists, of which 18 are foreign.

For more information (incl. the list of the presenting companies), please visit http://www.efvf.fi/.

For further information, please contact:
Henri Grundstén, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd. tel: +358 50 431 0840,
e-mail: henri.grundsten(a)industryinvestment.com

Finnish Industry InvestmentLtd is a government-owned investment company whose mission is to promote and stimulate Finnish business, employment and economic growth through capital investment. Finnish Industry Investment invests in funds and directly in growth companies. Capital investments are needed for financing growth, and for internationalisation, spin-offs, major industrial investments, and both sectoral and corporate restructurings. The company co-invests with private investors, limiting its investment to at most half the capital invested and ownership. The investments of Finnish Industry Investment amount to MEUR 660.
http://www.industryinvestment.com/

Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation is the main public funding organisation for research and development (R&D) in Finland. Tekes funds industrial projects as well as projects in research organisations, and especially promotes innovative, risk-intensive projects. Tekes offers partners from abroad a gateway to the key technology players in Finland. http://www.tekes.fi/

Finnvera provides financing for the start, growth and internationalisation of enterprise operations and for hedging against export risks. We strengthen the operating potential and competitiveness of Finnish enterprises by offering loans, domestic guarantees, venture capital investments and export credit guarantees. Risks included in financing are shared between Finnvera and other providers of financing. Finnvera is a specialised financing company owned by the State of Finland and it has an official Export Credit Agency (ECA) status. http://www.finnvera.fi/

TechnopolisPlc provides business environments and services for knowledge-intensive companies and organizations. The service portfolio ranges from comprehensive business and development services to modern premises. Currently, close to 1,300 companies with 19,000 employees operate in the Technopolis centers located in Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lappeenranta, Oulu, Tampere and Vantaa in Finland, St. Petersburg in Russia and Tallinn in Estonia. TechnopolisPlc is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. www.technopolis.com