FVCA: Finnish Fundraising Continues Strong

    The Finnish Venture Capital Association released their H1/2013 report last week, and with it comes more good news about the Finnish startup scene; things seem to be moving upwards and to the right. In the first half of 2013 new funds were raised by Finnish firms worth €319 million, which is very strong compared to €99 in the first half of 2012, and the €467 raised in the entire year. A big chunk of that could probably be pointed to Supercell’s $130 million April round that went to the owners.

    Private equity firms have had good luck raising funds as well. This year the Annual New funds raised by Finnish PE firms are above €300 million. Looking at these numbers as a halfway projection for this year, it seems that we won’t hit 2007-8 levels, which seem to have been boom years for raising funds.

    Finnish VC investment activity has grown nicely, as the report points out. Just looking at the number of deals, Finnish VCs have invested in 110 companies in the first half of the year, which shows higher activity compared to 146 investments in the entirety of 2012. These investments have already raised a total of €59 million, while last year we were looking at €82 million total.

    The statistics here are based on PEREP_Analytics private equity database and only include Private Equity firms’ investments. This means that data like corporate or Angel investments, which do make up a significant piece of the funding landscape. Additionally, this data picks up more than just the ICT sector (which we focus on), but it does give you some picture of what’s happening in Finland.

    A breakdown of how the money is moving in Finland can be found below, and the full report can be downloaded on this pagea.