Finland’s VC/PE market is far from diverse. One-half of Tesi’s 41 portfolio funds, for example, have all-male investment teams. Director Heli Kerminen is nevertheless hopeful: “I’m convinced that companies will bring the requirement for diversity to the industry. Some tech companies already prefer an investor that shows evidence of diversity,” she says.
Diversity and inclusion are components of sustainability and goals for an increasing number of companies. Katja Toropainen, founder of the Inklusiiv organisation, points out the best ways to start.
Kaiku Health is an excellent example of a Finnish healthtech company shooting for the stars. The new owner Elekta, a global leader in radiotherapy technology, provides a global sales channel for Kaiku’s digital patient-monitoring platform. Tesi’s Investment Director Joni Karsikas and Kaiku’s CEO Lauri Sippola discuss Kaiku’s plans and the state of the healthtech sector in Finland.
Finnish healthtech company Kaiku Health already deploys intelligent digital monitoring to improve cancer patients’ lives in 6 countries. The business was acquired by Swedish Elekta in May 2020. Kaiku Health’s CEO Lauri Sippola ja Tesi’s Investment Director Joni Karsikas highlight the lessons to be learned from Kaiku’s success.
Marko Kyyrönen is the CEO of Sparkmind.vc, the first Nordic venture capital company to focus on the learning sector. He sees Finland as a superpower in education and believes the country should capitalise on its good reputation. What sort of EdTech companies does he think will succeed internationally?
Tesi’s new Venture Bridge investment programme offers financing to Finland’s innovative early-stage companies that are aiming for international expansion and a larger financing round. Companies must have completed a first financing round with professional investors. “We hope some of these companies will become global leaders in their field,” says Tesi’s Juha Lehtola, Director, Venture Capital.
The latest Market Pulse survey by Tesi, Business Finland Venture Capital and the Finnish Venture Capital Association shows that a smaller proportion of companies in VC & PE portfolios currently face immediate difficulties. “Now we should ensure that financing is sufficient also over a longer period of time,” says Matias Kaila, Tesi’s Director, Funds.