The Nordics has grown into one of the most successful startup regions worldwide. Also, it is number one in Europe when it comes to venture capital invested per capita. As per reports, nearly 15% of European unicorns come from the Nordics.
In this region, Finland produces two to four unicorn potential startups each year and Finnish early-stage investor Lifeline Ventures is one of the VCs that has put tremendous effort to truly be part of the growth and development of the Finnish startup ecosystem. Since its debut, the investor that identifies early stages with the potential to become unicorns, has already backed Hyperion Robotics, Oura, and other startups.
Now Finland-based early-stage tech startup VC, Lifeline Ventures is in the news as it has closed its fifth fund of €150 million in one of the biggest funds ever raised in Finland. The VC is looking to fund early-stage companies with the potential of becoming category leaders, with first-time investments ranging from €150K to €2 million.
With the new fund, the Lifeline Ventures team continues to be an integral actor in attracting international capital to the Nordic region by continuing co-investments with the top global funds.
“We have always kept and will continue to keep our focus purely on supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. Through this focus, we’ve worked to gain unique trust among the very best founders – and founders to be. Our humble hope was to be the first investor in every significant startup that comes from Finland, and we’ve been happy to see it succeed many times. With the new fund, we are continuing this work supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs in Finland”, stated Timo Ahopelto, Founding Partner at Lifeline Ventures.
Support next-gen founders and investors
Lifeline Ventures was founded by Timo Ahopelto and Petteri Koponen in 2009. In addition to backing early-stage startups that can become unicorns, Lifeline Ventures has launched initiatives such as Entrepreneur in Residence and Next-Gen Investor with the goal of growing and supporting future investors and founders in-house.
With these initiatives, the VC firm intends to support more next-generation founders and investors. It gives new founders an opportunity to perfect their vision into companies and develop new startup investors via these programs.
One of the first Entrenepeurs in Residence at Lifeline Ventures is Pauliina Meskanen. Pauliina is building a deep-tech climate startup and supports Lifeline Ventures’s portfolio companies in climate tech.
“With the help of the Lifeline team, I have been able to fully focus on validating my startup ideas in battery circularity and industrial decarbonization. The Entrepreneur in Residence program not only provided me with financial support but also valuable advice and guidance that has significantly helped to build my startup in a challenging field,” Pauliina Meskanen said.
