Voima Ventures, a Nordic VC firm, unveiled its third Fund today, targeting early-stage “deep tech” entrepreneurs in science.
Voima Ventures, founded in Helsinki, Finland, in 2019, targets pre- and seed-stage firms from university labs and affiliated research institutes. Voima periodically invests in later-stage firms in sustainability, life science, and “groundbreaking” technology like quantum computing.
Voima started two funds in 2019. Its €20 million Fund I was essentially the spin-off portfolio of the state-owned technical research center VTT, which remains one of its limited partners (LPs). In comparison, its €60 million Fund II was announced simultaneously with the new Voima Ventures brand and many more LPs. The first two funds funded 30 firms, including Solar Foods, Dispelix, Betolar, and MVision, and exited Minima, which Bosch bought last year.
The European Investment Fund (EIF), Finland’s Tesi, VTT, Sweden’s Saminvest, and many pension funds, foundations, and family offices invested in Voima’s latest Fund.
Early-stage VC funds have been flocking to Europe. In recent months, Amadeus Capital partnered with Austria’s Apex Ventures for an €80 million ($86 million) deep tech fund, akin to IQ Capital’s $200 million Fund for early-stage deep tech businesses. Moonfire VC, Playfair Capital, Elkstone, Lifeline Ventures, Emblem, and Ovni Capital closed funds.
Voima’s third official Fund targets ticket sizes from €200,000 to €3 million across 25 enterprises in Nordic and Baltic countries, occasionally expanding into other Northern European countries.
Voima’s Fund collaborates with Northern European universities and Europe’s largest research institute, VTT. Voima founding partner Inka Mero says that nearly three-quarters of its portfolio comes from academia, including quantum chip startup Semiqon, which VTT recently spun out as an independent entity, and Cellfion, a Swedish clean energy materials company founded by KTH and LIU.
“We actively collaborate with all Nordic and Baltic universities—we do this by visiting science teams and teams in incubation on a regular basis, hosting workshops, and coaching the most potential teams,” Mero told TechCrunch.
Despite the global pandemic, major economic headwinds, and other macroeconomic factors since Voima’s arrival four years ago, Mero says they’re still looking for startups and investing the same way.
“We continue investing in science-based and deep tech in the Nordics and Baltics,” Mero stated. “Fund III is even more thesis-driven and invests in companies addressing global challenges.”
