Estonia delayed on Wednesday outsourcing of the portfolio of its venture capital firm Smartcap – including stakes in Lingvist, Monese and Jobbatical – and said this would happen in the first quarter of next year.
Estonia unveiled last month a plan to outsource the whole investment portfolio to a private fund manager who was scheduled to take over from the start of 2017.
The plan is related to the dismantling of 10-year-old Arengufond (Estonian Development Fund) – a public think tank/investor whose aim was to contribute to the economic development of Estonia.
Smartcap started investing in 2008 and has since made five exits, including high-profile sales of GrabCAD and Modesat. There are around 10 million euros of cash available for follow-on investments into the current portfolio of around 15 companies.
The exact details of the bidding process will be unveiled on August 17.